Hive Insulation - October BBKA News

[pargyle]

If you have solid floors there is every need to get rid of condensation in the hives hence the matchsticks under the crown boards. The cold will kill but the cold an damp will do it a lot quicker.

Old school thinking ... Why do you think bees make every effort in autumn to seal the top of the hive to the crown board and build brace comb at the top bars ... Perhaps they are trying to tell you something ??

Drop the matchsticks, no holes in the Crownboard, put a slab of 50mm Kingspan/Celotex/PIR on top of the CB and under the roof and you will have no damp problems. You probably didn't have any damp problems anyway - you just listened to the matchsticks under the crownboard lobby and accepted the tripe that they peddle.

Sorry - You need to get up to date ..

Read pages 40 - 46 of Bill Bielby's Home Honey Production and listen to what people on here are telling you.

It's a free to read on line:

https://archive.org/stream/Home_Honey_Production/Home_Honey_Production_djvu.txt

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Which country are you referring to : you are in wales , he is in Scotland, and I'm in England.

The one that was Wales before the squatters came and pinched bits of it - Britain it was called in them days

 

[Finman]

.
Nice to read your ideas about insulation..

Mellifera got an innovation when it started to make nests kntl tree cavities. Compared to Apis cerans, very few colonies live on tree cavities. Thanks to cavity insulation mellifera can live in cold areas.

Like in my country all colonies die in brick chimneys during winter.

It is simple thing. Bees save they their food stores and theey must have such up to next yield season.. Most of natural swarms will die. As you have seen, colony can loose its stores even during summer time and it starve to death. Then new swarm occupy the ready combs.
.

 

[Finman]

.
In succesfull beekeeping the most important thing is spring build up that the colony reaches ability to surplus foraging. IT takes its own time.

To get the colony alive over winter, it does not need much skills or experience. But when to get the colony ready to catch yield, it is every year a challenge.

Good insulation helps the spring build up a lot.
.

 

[Millet]

The only difference being there seems to be more tits on the second publication you mention

 

[Erichalfbee]

Old school thinking ...
Read pages 40 - 46 of Bill Bielby's Home Honey Production and listen to what people on here are telling you.

It's a free to read on line:

https://archive.org/stream/Home_Honey_Production/Home_Honey_Production_djvu.txt

Thanks for sharing that. A very interesting read

 

[Millet]

Old school thinking ... Why do you think bees make every effort in autumn to seal the top of the hive to the crown board and build brace comb at the top bars ... Perhaps they are trying to tell you something ??

Drop the matchsticks, no holes in the Crownboard, put a slab of 50mm Kingspan/Celotex/PIR on top of the CB and under the roof and you will have no damp problems. You probably didn't have any damp problems anyway - you just listened to the matchsticks under the crownboard lobby and accepted the tripe that they peddle.

Sorry - You need to get up to date ..

Read pages 40 - 46 of Bill Bielby's Home Honey Production and listen to what people on here are telling you.

It's a free to read on line:

https://archive.org/stream/Home_Honey_Production/Home_Honey_Production_djvu.txt

It just goes to show they know best, the bees i have have blocked all the ventilation holes up in the roof with propalis, next spring when the cosey comes of and the roof goes back on i will permanently block all the vent holes apart from one.

 

[justsmith]

Just to open one more can of worms did they say anything on inspection boards? in or out?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just to open one more can of worms did they say anything on inspection boards? in or out?

Post 14

 

[Finman]

It just goes to show they know best, the bees i have have blocked all the ventilation holes up in the roof with propalis, next spring when the cosey comes of and the roof goes back on i will permanently block all the vent holes apart from one.

I have main entrance and upper 15-20 mm upper entrance on every give. Bees never try to shut upper entrance with propolis, but the main entrance they try.

 

[Millet]

I have main entrance and upper 15-20 mm upper entrance on every give. Bees never try to shut upper entrance with propolis, but the main entrance they try.

That goes to show Helsinki Girls (bees) do not like bottom entry,

 

[REDWOOD]

Has anyone worked out how much oxygen an over wintering colony consumes, and does a fully insulated hive have enough movement of air to replenish the oxygen used. If bees need to fan to move air in a hive how much stores will they consume. It's interesting what finman said about the top entrances, could this be something to do with fresh air movement


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[Madge]

Old school thinking ... Why do you think bees make every effort in autumn to seal the top of the hive to the crown board and build brace comb at the top bars ... Perhaps they are trying to tell you something ??
...

Perhaps - but I think 'they're trying to tell us something' might also just be a convenient cliché we tend to repeat.

They'll store propolis where they find a convenient space. That's what they do when you put a propolis screen above their heads, and that's what they're doing in my new Abelo hives. The crownboards have five holes each with ventilation screens that can be blocked with polystyrene - and although I've kept the holes blocked, they fill the ventilation screens with propolis.

 

[Millet]

Has anyone worked out how much oxygen an over wintering colony consumes, and does a fully insulated hive have enough movement of air to replenish the oxygen used. If bees need to fan to move air in a hive how much stores will they consume. It's interesting what finman said about the top entrances, could this be something to do with fresh air movement


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Does Carbon dioxide not sink as it is heavier than Air / Oxygen thus causing a natural exchange like a side ways round about effect if you get my meaning.

 

[REDWOOD]

Does Carbon dioxide not sink as it is heavier than Air / Oxygen thus causing a natural exchange like a side ways round about effect if you get my meaning.

Not sure but if there are a lot of people in your living room it can become quite stuffy and hot after a short time and if you open a window you can feel the cold air around your feet as you can expect as cold air is heavier than hot air. Now apply that to a hive with a top entrance will give fresh oxygenated air falling to the bottom of the hive whilst the top remained warm, if you use open OMF that's a different kettle of fish. Size of top hole is an important factor


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[user 6228]

Does Carbon dioxide not sink as it is heavier than Air / Oxygen thus causing a natural exchange like a side ways round about effect if you get my meaning.

Sudaarsan et Al did a CFD study on this, however he assumed a perfectly insulating hive. My own CFD studies (unpublished) show that the heat losses of realistic hive reinforce the flow (still quite small) by causing sinking current of air at the hive walls.



Sudarsan, R., Thompson, C., Kevan, P. G., & Eberl, H. J. (2012). Flow currents and ventilation in Langstroth beehives due to brood thermoregulation efforts of honeybees. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 295(November), 168–193. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.11.007

 

[Finman]

That goes to show Helsinki Girls (bees) do not like bottom entry,

What do you understand about girls?

 

[Finman]

Does Carbon dioxide not sink as it is heavier than Air / Oxygen thus causing a natural exchange like a side ways round about effect if you get my meaning.

How do you explain that carbon dioxide does not sink to lawn level ? Why it is spread all around the atmosphere?

 

[Swarm]

I think people worry over nothing.

 

[For want of a better word]

How do you explain that carbon dioxide does not sink to lawn level ? Why it is spread all around the atmosphere?

Simples... put a couple of matchsticks under the crown board at the corners to allow a bit of ventilation and let all the stuffy CO2 to flow through the hive.

Yeghes da