Derek Mitchell

• M.Sc.
• PGR student at University of Leeds

Since the early twentieth century, the outer layer (mantle) of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in the winter cluster has been said to insulate the cluster core. This has encouraged enforced clustering, by the beekeepers' dominant use of inadequately insulated hives and, in North America, refrigeration. This is often seen as a benign or even a necessary...

Heat transfer is key to the survival of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera L.) in the wide range of hot (e.g. sub-Saharan) and cool climates (e.g. maritime-temperate) in which they have evolved and adapted. Here, a validated computational fluid dynamics, conjugate heat transfer model was used to determine the heat transfer of honey bee colonies in...

This theoretical thermofluid analysis investigates the relationships between: honey production rate, nectar concentration, and the parameters of: entrance size, nest thermal conductance, brood nest humidity and the temperatures needed for nectar to honey conversion. It quantifies and shows that nest humidity is positively related to the amount, and...

The desiccation of nectar to produce honey by honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) is an energy intensive process, as it involves a quasi-isothermal change in the concentration of sugars from typically 20% to 80% by vaporisation (honey ripening). This analysis creates mathematical models for: the collected nectar to honey ratio; energy recovery ratio; ho...

B eekeepers have been discussing the subject of the top ventilation of hives for over a hundred years. This interest peaked in the 1940’s and it was taken to be accepted practice, especially in the United States, to have top entrances or vents open in winter. The 1975 to the 2015 editions of “The Hive and the Honey Bee”[1,2,3] say that “Heat is not...

In the absence of human intervention, the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) usually constructs its nest in a tree within a tall, narrow, thick-walled cavity high above the ground (the enclosure); however, most research and apiculture is conducted in the thin-walled, squat wooden enclosures we know as hives. This experimental research, using various hive...

An experimental study was made of the improved neutralizing performance which could be obtained from a fine wire passive neutralizer by heating it. This improvement resulted from a decrease in the critical field for onset of corona at the hot wire due to the locally reduced ambient air density.It was possible to construct a twin-wire passive neutra...