"In Quinslund?
... sorry, couldna resist that wide open door :-D"
Mate used to it!
Yeh.. I reckon, standard initiation ritual for K1W1s --- in my Life experience.
Longtime fan of John Clarke and Murray Ball (Wal &Dog) both Countries
are so much richer for the sharing.
Blow the froth off a few pots when reading my posts..heh :-))
They are also good for alerting our black belly friends (of which there are many around here) that I am on my way.
At your lat you must need aircon to keep the girls cool. Any special challenges keeping bees at your temps?
For many many a year I followed what was taught me (both formally
and in field) running standard 10frame Langs, ventilated bottomboards
and ventilated migratory lids, all with the same woes my brethren also
endured.
Then it came to me - over a box(slab) or two of XXXX - there had to be another way.
I went down many a dry gully to finally get to somewhere that works
in maintaining colonies at near on swarm conditions.
Simple, really.. let the bees choose.
So today every super has a 60mm screened penetration at the top (below
frame rest) and felts (8mm wide) fitted to the bottom edge.
Migratory lids are filled with 50mm of polyurathane - no vents - with a
fixed in place polycarb liner inner,and again, felts to the edge.
Entrances are full width, fully open all year on colonies at "critical mass", and
are fitted with an adjustable bar for locking down, or queen restriction.
Bottom boards are one piece, wholly solid with 8mm risers fitted to maintain
beespace.
This last week we (like you) have had record breaking heat swells where
every day has seen at least 35celcius @45% rH. No colony "bearded" and
fanning was minimal. Interestingly enough my newest adventure into
wholly built polyurathane walls - without the ventilation penetrations
mentioned above - has seen no bearding and little to none fanning in the
same conditions. These colonies are a lot smaller at maybe 20K of bees
and in a space of maybe 30L max. That field testing goes on.
And yes... Joe Blakes (snakes) will always run first, bite last, on hearing us.
One exception is our Eastern Brown aka "Mulga Snake" which in September
will hunt you down and killya... if you carnt climb a tree in ya gumboots :-))
Cheerio... maaate
Bill