🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[R2elk]

For air flow?

I believe so, but not sure.

 

[drstratton]

I believe so, but not sure.

When Dale built the bottom boards, he left about an inch of space between the screen and the top of the bottom board on I think all but one of them. Building equipment has sure been a learning process.

Wish we would have known to add slope. We could probably shave some off at some point.

 

[Sally PB]

Wish we would have known to add slope. We could probably shave some off at some point.

We (hubby) lifted the back end and put a board underneath.

I patted the cinderblock on the top of the hive and said, "Have a good winter, girls! See you in a few months."

 

[drstratton]

We (hubby) lifted the back end and put a board underneath.

I patted the cinderblock on the top of the hive and said, "Have a good winter, girls! See you in a few months."

Hope we all have bees make it through the winter. I'll kind of see my bees when we feed them.

 

[Sally PB]

When I walk out that way, I'll stop by and put my ear by the entrance to listen for the hum.

 

[R2elk]

We (hubby) lifted the back end and put a board underneath.

I patted the cinderblock on the top of the hive and said, "Have a good winter, girls! See you in a few months."

Chilly, windy and in the 40°F range but sunny. Many bees were out. Quite a few at the pond for water.

 

[R2elk]

For air flow?

"You leave the inner board in the screened bottom board during the winter to prevent drafts and retain heat, while the screen is left open for ventilation to manage moisture and condensation. Leaving the screen open in humid climates helps prevent condensation from dripping on the bees and causing them to freeze. Beekeepers in colder, drier climates may seal the screen completely, but this requires more active management to prevent moisture buildup."

 

[drstratton]

"You leave the inner board in the screened bottom board during the winter to prevent drafts and retain heat, while the screen is left open for ventilation to manage moisture and condensation. Leaving the screen open in humid climates helps prevent condensation from dripping on the bees and causing them to freeze. Beekeepers in colder, drier climates may seal the screen completely, but this requires more active management to prevent moisture buildup."

Thank you. That makes sense. We're pretty dry here, with very low humidity. So, I think well be good with how Dale built them. I guess we'll know soon.

 

[drstratton]

Got the wax rolled on the pieces needed for winter, I also have two mediums to wax. I will do those after I'm finished with the first group. Still need to hit about half of the pieces with the heat gun. I'll finish them up tomorrow.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Our latest bee club meeting was about setting up a "condensing" hive. So that's what we did today. The hive is insulated with 2" thick foam on all sides (4" on top of the cover) and propped up in back about 1.5" to make any condensation run down to the front and not drip on the bees.

Nice. Our group went over that a couple of months ago. Dale is finally getting around to implementing it. It's been crazy busy here. We're pretty much just going to insulate the top and have burlap with shavings in it to help with the moisture. Which is what everyone in our local group does. I'd kind of like to wrap too. We will also be putting the wooden boards into our screened bottoms. And make sure they all have some slope to them.

Seems like we're all in the same church, different pews. Two inch foam insulation on top of inner cover shimmed an eigth inch in back for venting condensation under top cover. Boxes wrapped with 1" foam insulation painted black. When deep winter sets in and stores get low will remove inner cover, add solid sugar block shims with access hole for bees and venting. Sugar absorbs condensation. As with politics all bee keeping is local.