Hive Observations

[Floyd]

Managed a lighting quick inspection yesterday and noted that hives 1 and 2 which are on OMF are so different from hive 3 which is on a solid floor.

Hive 3 have brood on 3 frames, ample stores with one frame of stores looking freshly capped due to the white cappings compared to the darker capping of the previous years stores, how can this happen as there has been no flow and they have been on fondant that has hardly been touched?

Hive 1 has no brood, but has a patch of stores in the top right hand side on 5 frames, which I scored to hopefully make them use it. Very Active. Reduced entrance

Hive 2 1/2 frame of brood and no stores, some mouse damage, must have got in before the guard was on. Reduced entrance

Have put inspections trays in both hives and will feed 1:1 later today.

All hives have top insulation. I thought that OMF was the right way to go in respect to flooring and followed the recommendations of leaving the tray out. I dont suffer from Varroa, would it be better to move over to solid floors for the following season.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[oliver90owner]

Working on designing my first pot still.

Your reasoning? If you haven't got any, don't. Don't, anyway, is my advice, but hey, your choice in the end.

 

[Polyanwood]

Some old beekeepers laugh at us leaving our OMFs open when it is cold. Certainly my poly hives are 3 weeks ahead of my wooden ones.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My colonies have had part floors in most of the winter where it has been regularly getting down to -8 or so over night. They are out now.

Your OMF doesn't have to be the whole floor for it to be effective. You can get away with shutting off three quarters of it and still have the benefits, I'm sure

 

[madasafish]

I always have solid floors under the OMF all year round in my TBHs. (There is a small air gap - by no means air tight).

In an exposed and windy location with cold wet winds from the Peak District, the impact of wind is considerable on open floor TBHs. Most other TBH keepers # round here have given up - using OMF without a solid floor = winter death

# that I know of.


.

 

[beebopalula]

I use OMFs but close them off after OA at the winter solstice.

 

[Snail368]

I think that certainly during cold spells, inserting the tray and sealing with gaffer tape reduces loss from cold - obviously you still need to remove and clean the tray at regular intervals!

If the winter is warm and wet than a different rule would apply and I would leave the tray out.

However I am still learning!

 

[Floyd]

Thanks for the replies.

However why would one frame of stores be freshly capped?

 

[BeeJayBee]

Have you been feeding them?

 

[user 6228]

Solid insulated floors, Insulated roof, Insulated sides. But still haven't had a frame out for inspection yet. The bees are flying strongly and looking in through the perspex inner lid all appears well. Might have a look at weekend

 

[beekeeping4you]

The all year use of an open wire mesh floor should result in a reduced reproduction of Varroa due to an earlier stop of brood rearing in autumn and a later start in spring. This is what I was told during my first beekeeping course in Germany back in 1988.
If strong colonies are overwintered on double brood boxes temperature regulation should not be a problem. The bees are 'heating' the cluster, not the 'hive'....

Regards
Reiner

 

[user 6228]

The all year use of an open wire mesh floor should result in a reduced reproduction of Varroa due to an earlier stop of brood rearing in autumn and a later start in spring. This is what I was told during my first beekeeping course in Germany back in 1988.
If strong colonies are overwintered on double brood boxes temperature regulation should not be a problem. The bees are 'heating' the cluster, not the 'hive'....

Regards
Reiner

"The bees are 'heating' the cluster, not the 'hive'...."
here we go again...

And what if varoa are reduced in numbers if the environment is warmer and more humid?

And what if Bees remove more mites if they are warmer?

and what if bees in the same thermal habitat as a tree nest don't cluster except for a few dark days?.

And how do you define the boundaries of the hive and the cluster in an insulated nest?

if "The bees are 'heating' the cluster, not the 'hive'...." is based on The Thermology of Wintering Honey Bee Colonies

By CHARLES D. OWENS, Agricultural Engineering Research Division, Agricultural Research Service. Then you should realise thats a seriously flawed study since the bees were placed in such high loss environments that the bees could only have heated their environment by breaking the laws of thermodynamics

 

[beekeeping4you]

And what if varoa are reduced in numbers if the environment is warmer and more humid?

And what if Bees remove more mites if they are warmer?

and what if bees in the same thermal habitat as a tree nest don't cluster except for a few dark days?.

And how do you define the boundaries of the hive and the cluster in an insulated nest?

Hi Derek,
If you want me to reply to all four questions I will try my best, but let me do this one for a start:

Question:
And what if Bees remove more mites if they are warmer?
Answer:
You will not find out without an OMF!

Regards
Reiner

 

[Hivemaker.]

And what if varoa are reduced in numbers if the environment is warmer and more humid?

And what if Bees remove more mites if they are warmer?

What if, but it is obviously not enough, as they have serious varroa problems in hot places,and the bees have to work to keep the temperature down.

 

[user 6228]

What if, but it is obviously not enough, as they have serious varroa problems in hot places,and the bees have to work to keep the temperature down.

Yes, its a complicated thing as we are also dealing with different subspecies in different areas as well. That's why I challenge some of the common doctrines that appear to have developed on some very narrow premises, apply a false simplicity and are then used to justify keeping bees in a much higher heat loss and higher heat gain than the natural habitat for their sub species.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes, its a complicated thing as we are also dealing with different subspecies in different areas as well.

CY last year, temperatures around 44C, so hot that some bees died of heat exposure, but still the varroa problem.

 

[itma]

... noted that hives 1 and 2 which are on OMF are so different from hive 3 which is on a solid floor.

Hive 3 have brood on 3 frames...

Hive 1 has no brood..

Hive 2 1/2 frame of brood ...

It is pretty standard advice to close an open floor (for a brief period) in late winter/early spring to help promote brood rearing.
So its understandable that your closed floor hive would be brooding more at this point than those on open OMFs.
But broadly speaking, for the rest of the year, the advantage is said to lie with having it open.

 

[user 6228]

CY last year, temperatures around 44C, so hot that some bees died of heat exposure, but still the varroa problem.

Were they dying in wooden hives or poly? did they have top entrances? was it a heat adapted subspecies? simple? dont think so

 

[Carmel]

It is pretty standard advice to close an open floor (for a brief period) in late winter/early spring to help promote brood rearing.
So its understandable that your closed floor hive would be brooding more at this point than those on open OMFs.
But broadly speaking, for the rest of the year, the advantage is said to lie with having it open.

Hi,
Is it too early now to take the insert out from the OMF?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Were they dying in wooden hives or poly? did they have top entrances? was it a heat adapted subspecies? simple? dont think so

They fried in the sun if they looked over the top bars when the crown board was lifted,answer work on hives early, any kind of hive,yes local bees....still had varroa problems though.