Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[Che Guebuddha]

[zaunreiter]

Gonna be a nice warm day, with 23 degree Celsius. Bees started to collect water in the early morning hours. For me this another example for the Bien being a thinking and planning creature. They do not simply react, but actually prepare for the hot day.

[sam_uk]

This is an interesting thread.

I'm thinking that a small condensation plate in the north side of each box might be useful?

A small 3cmx 3cm L shaped piece of metal on the inside, bolted through to a metal plate on the north face of the hive.

The cold plate on the outside would cool the bolts and the inner plate through conduction?

If this was combined with really good insulation generally?

[CharlieBnoobee]

Che— To buttress your argument in favor of top entrances/vents on hives, you mention a photo (fig. 3.3) on pg. 49 in Seeley's book Honeybee Democracy This photo is the 'exception that proves the rule' which is, as Seeley states on the very next page (50) at the bottom:

"Most nest entrances consisted of a single knothole or crack with a total area of just 10 to 30 square centimeters. And typically they were located near the floor of the tall tree cavity, on the south side of the tree, close to ground level." (my emphasis added)

The part about close to ground level he explains on the next page as being an error due entirely to observational bias in sampling.

Again I ask: Why keep beating this thoroughly dead horse? It's not going to get up and trot!

You remind me of the proprietor in the Monty Python Pet Shop skit with the irate customer's recently purchased—and dead— parrot (IT'S DEFINITELY NOT IN THE PINK!!) Google it—you'll love it.

Gotta admire your tenacity nevertheless.
Charlie

[zaunreiter]

Influence of Temperature on Rate of Development and Color Patterns of Queen Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
SPIVAK, MARLA; ZELTZER, ABBIE; DEGRANDI-HOFFMAN, GLORIA; MARTIN, JOSEPH H.
Environmental Entomology, Volume 21, Number 2, April 1992, pp. 364-370(7)
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/envent/1992/00000021/00000002/art00021

"Queens are significantly darker when held at constant temperatures of 30.5°C during the last instar and pupal stages compared to 35.5°C."
"This study and that of Spivak et al (1992) demonstrated that the expression of genes for color is modulated by constant temperatures."
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/file/index/docid/891063/filename/hal-00891063.pdf

[zaunreiter]

[zaunreiter]

Trying different winters etups at the moment. To see, how my super-insulated arctic hives compare to other setups. I am testing three types of insulation: 1. no insulation 2. wrapping with black fleece and 3. super-insulation.

I sewed a black fleece that is used to cover compost into a long tube, upper and lower end open. Pulled that tube over the hive, stapled and strapped it at the bottom end. Stuffed it with straw and closed it up at the top. The thickness of the straw wall is about 15-20 cm.

The mesh, that is used to prevent mice from entering the hive, also fixates the fleece, so it doesn't drop before the entrance, so the bees don't suffocate.

It looks like that.




The fleece gets stapled to the entrance.






Looks a bit crazy, but are very warm and cosy. In the sun, the whole thing warms up nicely. After a rain, the straw is damp, but dries up quickly.


That is the other type, just wrapped, no insulation.


And this another setup where I folded the wrap under the roof. This is the quickest setup, just fold, staple, done. There is no insulation with this setup. Just some solar gain and blockage of wind.


Those are the controls, which do not get any insulation or wrapping.


Just a mesh against mice.


To block the wind from blowing right into the entrance I use strawbales. Wind really kills bees, especially in case the wind is very continuous. (wind chill factor)


This year I took the exact weight of all hives, so can compare how much winter food they use in each setup.

Bernhard

[NewForester]

[zaunreiter]

I am currently looking into this article and find it highly interesting:

http://sageke.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2004/26/pe28

Epigenetic Regulation of Aging in Honeybee Workers
Stig W. Omholt, and Gro V. Amdam
Sci. Aging Knowl. Environ., 30 June 2004 Vol. 2004, Issue 26, p. pe28

I reckon there are some key elements in this article to understand the Bien as a whole - and problems made by beekeepers, pesticides and environment. I think the article is a key to a deeper understanding of the Bien and many observations I made completely fit into the picture of the hypothesis of this article. There is not much really new in it besides it summarizes things and adds the "double repressor hypothesis".

Don't know if it is just me, but I am thrilled. This is the description on how the inner Bien gets in harmony with it's outer environment.

Bernhard

[zaunreiter]

http://www.bijenhouders.nl/files/Bijengezondheid/Steen/vitality%20Bled%20okt12%20BGC%20Ento%20nutritionsept%2012%20BUokt%20sept%2012.pdf

[zaunreiter]

Ultrastructure and bacterial infection of wounds in honey bee (Apis mellifera) pupae punctured by Varroa mites
Ghazwan Kanbar, Wolf Engels
Parasitol Res (2003) 90: 349–354
http://www.biobees.com/library/general_beekeeping/pests_varroa/varroa_research_paper_1.pdf

There is a follow up study:
Communal use of integumental wounds in honey bee (Apis mellifera) pupae multiply infested by the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor
Ghazwan Kanbar, Wolf Engels
Genet. Mol. Res. 4 (3): 465-472 (2005)
http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2005/vol3-4/pdf/gmr0160.pdf

[zaunreiter]

A great book and bible to all who want to know about natural bee nests:

Honeybee Nests: Composition, Structure, Function
: H.R. Hepburn, C.W.W. Pirk and O. Duangphakdee
ISBN-13: 978-3642543272
Springer-Verlag; Auflage: 2014 (10. März 2014)

[zaunreiter]

[box]

This series is so very interresting so I got to hear how your trails with the hives earlyer
Vent , or maybe you have in another tread ?

[zaunreiter]

I am adding more insulation now. At the top the thickest insulation. Starting to think, that more insulation all around the Bien would be good, but you need to regulate the ventilation then.

[ingo50]

Thanks for posting the link to this interesting research article. It just reiterates how little we know of normal bee behaviour in the wild, and the fact that bees survive despite what beekeepers do to them.

[madasafish]

Read this definitive study.

https://oxnatbees.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/warm-hives/

[ingo50]

Thanks for posting Madasafish. I know Paul the author of the article. He has Warre hives. I think better insulation and less heat loss is definitely the way forward.

[Odisej]

My good beekeeper friend from Srbia (Europe) more than 20 years didn't use any treatment agains varoa.
His hives (mostli LR but also his special nukleus) have round entrance at the top of the hive if there are two boxes (bodies).

If there are three ore more hive bodies there are two entrances:

Here are two of his very old hives (and he did not change the comb in brood area last twenty years that's why it is very dark.






You can see the white small tube - there is a temperature sensor inside.

He found out that colonies in hives with round entrance (AND without classical horizontal entrance at the bottom) can maintain averagely 1°C higher temperature in the nest which is 'problem' for varoa.




The worst combination for microclime in the hive is combination of horizontal entrance at the buttom and (or mesh floor) onother one at the top . So: NO ventilation, ONLY good microclime in the hive.

He also performed serial measurment of temperature and CO2 in the hives and found out the round entrance is the best way to enable (help) bees keeping optimal microclime in the hive.

And it's not true that warm air is (always) at the top of the hive .

See this photo:



You can check at your own hives.