Do you cover or leave open your crown board holes

[jackbee]

Then there was the retired maths teacher who kept his bees in logs.. he found that they multiplied more quickly that way... exponentially in fact!

brilliant

 

[george]

Holes open in Summer , open fully if its a big colony and temps are warm .
Piece of glass over in Winter with a 2mm gap . They propolise as needed , it happens rarely though .
Empty super on to clean brace comb or to clean wet supers sometimes .
Solid floors . May have to rethink if I go omf , which I probably wont anyway .
G

 

[REDWOOD]

No holes, no ventilation, colony has built in air conditioning in the shape of wings,
no unnecessary wasted energy building comb in roof,
no condensation or bees fainting in the heat,
no colony losses
happy days

 

[Poly Hive]

Voted other.

My crown boards being proper ones have no holes.

PH

 

[beestie]

I voted 'holes closed all year' as they don't have holes. I do have ones with holes which get used with fondant or rapid feeders if required, but not for ventilation - I have OMFs for that.

 

[Bates]

I voted "other" as we do not use crown boards on any of our hives.

 

[MJBee]

Voted "other" as I use 3 boards:-
a. Solid - most of the time
b. 1 hole - when feeding
c. vortex clearer when clearing supers.

 

[Chris Luck]

Closed, simple as that, although older common practice in this region was to leave them open.

Chris

 

[crateman]

Open

 

[Polyanwood]

Voted 'Other' because have them closed in Winter, or closed with fondant if I am feeding them and in Summer I leave them open 2 bee spaces. I find that if I open the roof and find lots of bees there I know they need more room and add another super without having to go through the whole box.

 

[oliver90owner]

No holes or closed. In the past originally left open, until I changed to OMF. I actually checked and found the roof vents propolised, and any screens left over the holes (for transport) have been firmly propolised. The truth from me as usual; I have never claimed one thing and then moved the goal posts when it suited. I might wonder at some replies, though, but that does not seem to be an issue as yet with this poll.

I would have preferred the poll to be a little more specific re floor type, but that seems to be fairly irrelevant to the results.

I do notice the 'This is what I was told, so do it that way' replies without so much as any thoughts of why that might be a good idea (at the time) or consideration re any changes in the beekeeping methods over the years....

 

[tonybloke]

well, here's a different answer
holes in crown-board closed all spring/summer/autumn with a piece of glass (so I can see if supers are being worked) with insulation added
holes in crown-board with porter escapes fitted in winter, to allow trickle ventilation. no insulation

colonies kept on solid floors, in sheltered garden.

 

[MandF]

"Open as needed"

It is common practice at our association apiary to leave feed holes open all year round, with no (dramatic/noticable) effect for the last 50 years.
This is what I during my first season (ie spring/summer/winter), as as a previous poster has said, with no problems - the hive came through winter just fine.

So, anecdotal evidence shows open cover holes does not kill bees.

What I did notice was the roof was damp, and after joining here and reading perfectly reasoned and scientific advice I decided, primarily to prevent the damp, and to reduce the amount of stores the bees used over winter, to INSULATE above the CB - which effectively closes it. Not to save bees lives, not because it was a huge faux pas, simply to increase the odds for the hives to make it through winter.

As it happens, one hive starved itself, the other superceded at some point and I had a DLQ.

Goalpost free facts; with open feed holes over winter, 100% survival rate. With closed feed holes, 100% loss rate.

However, of course, these things happen, and bees will survive, or die, despite what we do to them (within reason), and open feed holes is within reason.

What do I do now? Open most of the time during the summer as I have them cleaning frames/comb, and INSULATE over winter to help prevent damp and reduce the amount of stores used.

In my view, covering feed holes has negligible effect, INSULATING does however (summer or winter).

Until such time as I hear a reasoned argument to change these methods, after all I am just a humble beginner beekeeper who wants to learn and is more than happy to take up new methods.

 

[victor meldrew]

Open mesh floors in combination with open feed holes hasn't bee around anywhere near 50 years! .
I observe the bees Put mesh over the feed holes Winter or Summer and it is sealed with propolis by the bees ASAP , now that's enough for me
VM

 

[MandF]

Who said anything about the use of open feed holes with OMF for 50 years? not me

 

[victor meldrew]

Mis-read . However, my point still stands bees will seal all top ventilation regardless of subspecies . Bees create their own air conditioning by astute manipulation of both air currents and humidity , adding moisture if necessary and removing moisture again as necessary . Interfering with the known physics , whilst not being noticeable to the less than observant , will none the less create extra work for the bees in their task of optimising hive conditions ,thus having them consume more stores, sometimes to the point of starvation
Bees don't starve themselves
VM

 

[MandF]

That seems to be the consensus, and why I only (deliberately) leave mine open these days to feed them. Having said that I am less worried about one or both holes being open in the summer.

VM you might want to contribute to my other thread about bees and thinking. You seem to have some knowledge and I'd be interested in your thoughts. For example, do the bees know why they are doing whatever tasks they do to optimise hive conditions...

 

[Chris Luck]

For example, do the bees know why they are doing whatever tasks they do to optimise hive conditions...

Only God can answer that or perhaps one of the higher angels, I don't think we have any on here.

Chris

 

[MandF]

no comment

 

[MandF]

for example, why do bees fully propolise one of those propolis sheets, even if it sits underneath a fully closed CB - therefore not optimising anything by propolising it?

Although for obvious reasons I would prefer to get off the feed hole/CB specific issue