What Is Everyone?s Bees Doing Outside?

[Acebird]

What are your coldest temperatures?  Why do I not see this device on the hives in Canada?  How does a feral hive get by without it?

[rast]

What are your coldest temperatures?  Why do I not see this device on the hives in Canada?  How does a feral hive get by without it?

Old piece of equipment, they have been used in all climates. If you run screen bottom boards the queen will lay lower in the frame, back when I used them, my only advantage here in Fl. was reduced bearding and I don't care if they beard or not.
 The feral hives in trees with upper entrances use them.

[The15thMember]

What are your coldest temperatures?  Why do I not see this device on the hives in Canada?  How does a feral hive get by without it?

   It's true though.  It's an optional piece of equipment.  Rast about covered it; they aren't just for winter.  I use them year round.  I purchased them for all my hives my first year or two because they were recommended by Rusty Burlew, who has a very similar climate to mine.  This past summer I had more hives than racks, and I didn't notice a big difference between the two setups, but I have them, so I use them.  They can't hurt and they may help.  Feral hives are not in langstroths, and as rast alluded to, wild honey bees do often leave a gap between their entrance and their combs, and with an upper entrance they certainly have a gap between their entrance and their brood.                 

[Ben Framed]

It?s been a while but it seems I remember some of the older topics discussing these racks and reasons, >plural< they used them. One I remember was for the aid in varroa control. When folks used powered sugar for aid in varroa control, the idea was >groomed off< mites would fall through the slated racks to the ground not being able to reach the bees, die.

[The15thMember]

It?s been a while but it seems I remember some of the older topics discussing these racks and reasons, >plural< they used them. One I remember was for the aid in varroa control. When folks used powered sugar for aid in varroa control, the idea was >groomed off< mites would fall through the slated racks to the ground not being able to reach the bees, die.

That's how screened bottom boards work, but not slatted racks.  The slatted rack is between the entrance and the brood nest, so the bees walk through it when they come and go from the hive. 

[Ben Framed]

In that case we may be taking about two different things. The slatted rack I read about was on the bottom of the hive as I described. With nothing but space and ground in-between.

[Ben Framed]

In other words, the hive had no bottom. The slatted rack was the bottom of the hive, leaving the hive sort of bottomless.. It has been 'some time' since I read something on this, but I faintly remember Brian D Bray speaking of this bottomless hive, using slatted racks as his bottoms.

[The15thMember]

In that case we may be taking about two different things. The slatted rack I read about was on the bottom of the hive as I described. With nothing but space and ground in-between.

In other words, the hive had no bottom. The slatted rack was the bottom of the hive, leaving the hive sort of bottomless.. It has been 'some time' since I read something on this, but I faintly remember Brian D Bray speaking of this bottomless hive, using slatted racks as his bottoms.

Yes, that is something different than what I have.  If my slatted rack was used as a bottom board, the bottom of the hive would be entirely open to bees. 

[Ben Framed]

Yes, that is something different than what I have.  If my slatted rack was used as a bottom board, the bottom of the hive would be entirely open to bees.

Then in that case we might still be talking about the same thing after all?   Uses  ">plural<".   Mr Bray shared his reasoning for this type of bottomless use, using only the slatted rack and some advantages of doing so. (If I remember correctly). Adding, I do not know anything about these. I have never seen one. I was just adding one more use that had not been mentioned here that I had read a long time ago.

[BeeMaster2]

I have been planting/over seeding rye grass in a lot of my fields. I have also been plowing the field behind my house and today I harrowed it to start smoothing it out. The first picture is after it was plowed, the second picture is after the first run with the harrow and the third is after the second harrow run. I am going to get more fuel so that I can run the harrow one more time and then I will run my brillian  grass seeder with no seed in it first to really smooth it out and then do it again with rye seeds.








Jim Altmiller

[.30WCF]

I have been planting/over seeding rye grass in a lot of my fields. I have also been plowing the field behind my house and today I harrowed it to start smoothing it out. The first picture is after it was plowed, the second picture is after the first run with the harrow and the third is after the second harrow run. I am going to get more fuel so that I can run the harrow one more time and then I will run my brillian  grass seeder with no seed in it first to really smooth it out and then do it again with rye seeds.








Jim Altmiller

I like my coffee black with two sugars. It goes real nice with a piece of pie for breakfast.


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[Acebird]

Jim, how was the field plowed?  I don't see defined rows and I do see tuffs of grass which should be buried when the plow turns over the soil.

[BeeMaster2]

Jim, how was the field plowed?  I don't see defined rows and I do see tuffs of grass which should be buried when the plow turns over the soil.

This field, as are most of my fields, is filled with old stumps. I had to use my new ground plow/disc plow. On the first row I hit a sunken log and the castle nut that holds the first disk in place stripped out. I cleaned it all up and put it back together with 5/16?bolts replacing the cotter pin. I thought for sure that would hold but it didn?t. I took the disc to a machinist and he made a smaller castle nut and cut new threads.
That did the job.
It seemed like every ten feet I was cutting a stump. All of the stumps are now at least 10? below the surface which enabled me to harrow it properly.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

Beautiful place Jim..

[.30WCF]

I was just joking about the randomness. Hope you didn?t take offense. It looks like a good food plot for the deer too.

[BeeMaster2]

I was just joking about the randomness. Hope you didn?t take offense. It looks like a good food plot for the deer too.

I had no idea of where you were coming from.
Still don?t. 😊
Jim Altmiller

[The15thMember]

I was just joking about the randomness. Hope you didn?t take offense. It looks like a good food plot for the deer too.

I had no idea of where you were coming from.
Still don?t. 😊
Jim Altmiller

Yeah, this thread kind of took an unexpected turn.    It's my fault for titling it what I did.  Hopefully I'm not the only one who refers to my bees as "everyone".       

[Ben Framed]

I think was 30 kidding Jim about his till work? I suppose Ace was too?


randomness |ˈrandəmnəs|
noun
1 the quality or state of lacking a pattern or principle of organization; unpredictability: we accept randomness in our own lives but we crave logic in art.

[BeeMaster2]

Here is a final picture with the field fully planted.



I was supposed to rain today so I was rushing to get the seed in the ground. It is now raining pretty hard. I?m hoping it doesn?t rain so hard that it washes the seed away. I?m glad that I didn?t use my broadcast spreader. It would all wash away.
With a brilliant seeder, most of the seed is covered with a little dirt.
Jim Altmiller

[.30WCF]

Not so much the till work, it looks nice. I think Ace made a solid compliment. I was just amused.


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