Apishield - wasp or hornet trap floor

[TooBee...]

ensure your colonies are strong, warm, and use underfloor entrances.

You need your bees to have enough individuals at fighting temperature from in the morning and until dusk

Do you know at what temperatures Wasps (and Hornets) can be active? Are they similar to Bumble Bees in that they can operate at lower temperatures than Honey Bees?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

ensure your colonies are strong, warm, and use underfloor entrances.

You need your bees to have enough individuals at fighting temperature from in the morning and until dusk

I find they are - without some ridiculous tea cosy.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Am I guessing correct that you are using the ApiShield, and not the newest version VI (referred to as ApiBurg in the Article in The Beekeepers Quarterly) with the longer tunnel?

Neither - just Brynmair underfloor entrance OMF's

 

[user 6228]

Do you know at what temperatures Wasps (and Hornets) can be active? Are they similar to Bumble Bees in that they can operate at lower temperatures than Honey Bees?

havent got data but they appear to fly until later in the evening in summer than the honeybees

 

[user 6228]

I find they are - without some ridiculous tea cosy.

So you feel the need to ridicule then... ?
or do tea cosy's make you feel ridiculous? hmm interesting
(in the voice of zaphod beeblebrox's psychiatrist)

 

[Swarm]

We should not need too as they are wasp proof apparently, anyway they are good in a good kind of way..

No entrance is Wasp proof with a weak colony, IMO, the UFE gives a proper colony the best alround options. There is no limiting reduction, the full width 8mm entrance does not cause forager build up and is easily defended by design. I see the odd Wasp get past the 'lobby', they don't come back out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

*******

 

[Erichalfbee]

Neither - just Brynmair underfloor entrance OMF's

I do like these floors. Do you notice, though, that when the bees are really busy they do hit the floor of the landing area with a huge thump when they leave the entrance slot?

I find they are - without some ridiculous tea cosy.

Hurrrrrrumph!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So you feel the need to ridicule then... ?

No, but like a lot of others on here I'm a tad cheesed off with the constant banging on about the bees needing to be wrapped up in celotex or they'll all die.

 

[user 6228]

No, but like a lot of others on here I'm a tad cheesed off with the constant banging on about the bees needing to be wrapped up in celotex or they'll all die.

so you associate an occurrence of the word "warm" with persecution? Very interesting!!!

Were you frightened by a tea cosy as a child?

Were you wrapped up in clothes as a punishment?

(still in the voice of zaphod beeblebrox's psychiatrist)

 

[Beefriendly]

Soon people will be taking their hives indoors to keep them nice and snug for the winter...
Ohhh just like this lot in Miami.

That's Miami Canada...

 

[TooBee...]

havent got data but they appear to fly until later in the evening in summer than the honeybees

I've observed wasps on days that I thought would be too cold and damp for bees.

It would certainly be a clear advantage for wasps to be able to fly in such conditions, especially in competition to bees; interesting though that the bees best defense would be then to do what they do best and be a hive, keeping the temperature up for them to remain active at the entrance for defense, which would put hives within thicker tree trunks and smaller entrance holes at a considerable advantage!

I think it's accepted that the average thickness of a tree wall in wild hives is around 100mm, that's quite a bit of insulation, throughout the entire year, especially when compared to our e.g. National Hives. When you consider that there is some evidence / thought that clustering may be a survival mechanism occurring less often in the wild than in our cuboid hives, insulation for warmth and a small entrance (less drafts & easy to defend) could play a significant part in the stronger surviving - as there's no beekeeper in the wild to feed a weak colony in a cold hive.

 

[Millet]

I do like these floors. Do you notice, though, that when the bees are really busy they do hit the floor of the landing area with a huge thump when they leave the entrance slot?

I have noticed that D , quite a lot seem to land on there backs and frantically wriggle around till they get back on there feet and take flight.

 

[user 6228]

I've observed wasps on days that I thought would be too cold and damp for bees.

It would certainly be a clear advantage for wasps to be able to fly in such conditions, especially in competition to bees; interesting though that the bees best defense would be then to do what they do best and be a hive, keeping the temperature up for them to remain active at the entrance for defense, which would put hives within thicker tree trunks and smaller entrance holes at a considerable advantage!

I think it's accepted that the average thickness of a tree wall in wild hives is around 100mm, that's quite a bit of insulation, throughout the entire year, especially when compared to our e.g. National Hives. When you consider that there is some evidence / thought that clustering may be a survival mechanism occurring less often in the wild than in our cuboid hives, insulation for warmth and a small entrance (less drafts & easy to defend) could play a significant part in the stronger surviving - as there's no beekeeper in the wild to feed a weak colony in a cold hive.

if you send me a pm with an email address I will send you a copy of a paper that goes into the detail.
Derek

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have noticed that D , quite a lot seem to land on there backs and frantically wriggle around till they get back on there feet and take flight.

That’s it!

 

[Swarm]

I think it's accepted that the average thickness of a tree wall in wild hives is around 100mm, that's quite a bit of insulation, throughout the entire year, especially when compared to our e.g. National Hives. When you consider that there is some evidence / thought that clustering may be a survival mechanism occurring less often in the wild than in our cuboid hives, insulation for warmth and a small entrance (less drafts & easy to defend) could play a significant part in the stronger surviving - as there's no beekeeper in the wild to feed a weak colony in a cold hive.

What you must remember is the description above is what 'we' consider their ideal choice of home. Feral colonies live in so many varied situations, they are not all four inches deep in a tree with a small entrance. Hivemaker posted a photo of a feral colony that was on open comb in the canopy! Let's just hope whoever removed them has not killed them with kindness.

 

[Mycroft Jones]

Soon people will be taking their hives indoors to keep them nice and snug for the winter...

That's Miami Canada...

I tried that one year, kept my hives in the living room. Nobody was stung, but they messed everywhere. They decorated the walls with yellow rain. Never again.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I tried that one year, kept my hives in the living room. Nobody was stung, but they messed everywhere. They decorated the walls with yellow rain. Never again.

Welcome to the forum Mycroft
The middle of the night is a bad time to post, unless of course you are a night worker and completely sober

 

[Mycroft Jones]

Welcome to the forum Mycroft
The middle of the night is a bad time to post, unless of course you are a night worker and completely sober

Thanks for the welcome, this forum is fun to read.

The woman who teaches the local beekeeping course taught that if the bees broke their winter cluster, they wouldn't go back into it again. She was against insulation, and I had just started to hear rumors of Derek's work. The rumors were so vague it took another year before Derek's name was credited. Took another three years to find his posts here. Been learning a lot. . When I'm done, I have some questions for him.

I put 3 inches of PIR on a lang deep in late March, and by July they'd drawn out 2 more deeps of empty frames and were filling a super with honey.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The woman who teaches the local beekeeping course taught that if the bees broke their winter cluster, they wouldn't go back into it again.

Hmm - suggest she attends some beekeeping lessons
As a student