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Author Topic: THE HEAT  (Read 2713 times)

Offline crispy

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THE HEAT
« on: November 26, 2020, 07:52:36 pm »
Hi all well its that time of year where we all see the mercury start to rise here in aus , today where i live we are expecting around 40 degrees celcius and this will continue on and of all through the summer months until around march april time .

So i have heard that sometimes if the weather is very hot hives can melt down which got me thinking about what i could do to help keep the hive a bit cooler during the day and long afternoons ,so i thought i would try some shade cloth over the top with air space between it and the hive as i have noticed that during the afternoon sun bees are gathering outside presumably to try to cool down the hive by fanning .

My hive faces east west so the entrance is facing north and although it may get sun on it it is not full on beating down on it ,unfortunatley my calculations on amount wasnt up to speed so may have to get some more but for a prototype i think it will do a fair job for the time being .[/attachment]

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: THE HEAT
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2020, 11:16:17 pm »
I would not worry about it being too hot, just make sure they have a safe water source nearby.
I have seen hives one top of flat gravel roofs do just fine. My father kept 5 hives on his black roof.
Do not use screen tops unless you use insulation boards over the screens. I use screen top boards and if I do not have the insulation over the screens when it is real hot, it causes heavy bearding.
Adding insulation under the lid does help keep them cool.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline crispy

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Re: THE HEAT
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2020, 12:21:10 am »
Thanks jim that was going to be my next course of action insulation with sisalation over it watch a guy in tennasee on you tube he used what looks like a cut down wind sheild sun deflector in the tp f his hives
 

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: THE HEAT
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2020, 08:06:08 am »
If you are talking about the foil insulation with several layers of plastic quilted together, I started using that this year. Works real well.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Skeggley

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Re: THE HEAT
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2020, 04:52:06 pm »
Hiya Crispy, my hives are in full sun here, sun up to sun down and we cop the heat too although you guys seem to be copping more than us nowadays. I?ve added 20mm foil backed foam insulation inside the migratory lid and painted the lid white and having done this it has dramatically reduced the bearding.
Full sun is recommend in all the books I?ve read so I pass on this advice however last year I heard from a beek around your way who had comb within a hive collapse on a stinker of a day. It was a mess. I think it was a single brood box colony from memory, the double deep colony?s were ok, so it can happen and adding some shade on hot days as you have makes sense.

Offline crispy

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Re: THE HEAT
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2020, 07:07:19 pm »
Hi skeggley i have heard that story as well there has been bearding and a lot of bees outside the hive on warm days and this is why i tried to lower the heat inside the hive . I did see a guy do something similar in the riverland here the problem being is because it is in a fairly enclosed area  the wind flow on still hot days would be zero as it is surrounded by fences which when hot cause radiant heat and in the afternoon with the western sun they get hot , i am hoping that it is doing some good i even thought about buying some sun deflectors for car windows and lacing them together to reflect the heat on hot days , we havent even hit summer yet and already we have had a number of days up to and 40 degrees .

Im lucky as i live not to far from the coast rather than out the northern areas which seem to get 2 -4 degrees higher temps ,anyway i can only try to look after these little creatures the best i can ,plenty of water on hand for them gets changed every day so nice and clean quite often watch them on the edge of the bird bath getting a drink , this is still a work in progress .