Oh No! Not Matchsticks Again?

[CaptainCymru]

Behold the match sticks

 

[elainemary]

I have just started reading January’s BeeCraft. They have a new writer doing Beginners in the Apiary - Lorraine Ragosa-Rout who has kept bees for 10 years and has apiaries in Surrey and Hampshire.

Under the heading ‘Ventilate’, she writes “More ventilation is required in winter because, as honey is consumed, water is given off (a bi-product of metabolism). Water is needed to break down stores or fondant. The Rev. Langstroth advocated upward ventilation by providing an upper entrance and space beneath the roof in winter, i.e. by placing spacers beneath the cover boards. The moisture-carrying capacity of cold air is small (the colder the air, the less water it can carry), so more air passing over the cluster helps reduce the humidity. By raising the crown board by 10mm, moisture can escape through the roof and moulds will be discouraged. Place matchsticks at the corners of the crown board to provide ventilation because removing the Porter bee escape can produce a chimney effect and allow heat to escape.” [my bold for emphasis].

I thought we had got away from matchsticks under the crown board years ago. This article is especially worrying as the writer has only been beekeeping for ten years - there’s no excuse for using such out-of-date and illogical thinking - it’s ok to put matchsticks under the crown board so that moisture can escape but not ok to leave the feeder hole open because that causes a loss of heat. Am I missing something? Rev Langstroth was a brilliant inventor who died in 1895 and although he graduated from Yale, he studied Divinity not Physics. Anybody with a modicum of knowledge would understand allowing air to escape at the top of a hive means that the bees have to work harder to maintain a liveable temperature. A heavily insulated enclosure, similar to a tree hollow in which bees evolved, is far better than a squat, thin-walled box with holes at the top and bottom.

How can we nail the ‘matchstick’ myths once and for all?

CVB

I read that article too & was surprised. Why not write to Stephen Fleming /Richard Reckitt the joint editors, with your views? They’re v good at printing reader ‘rights to reply’, I sent one recently and they printed it in the next issue. Good way to give constructive feedback to the writer as well as help a few beginners. The email is [email protected]

 

[WoodenBeam]

I read this myself & initial thought was how long until a comment on this forum - surprised it took so long

For the same reason a proportion of the human race cannot be convinced a pot noodle is nothing other than shite processed food chap........ simples

Matchsticks I can forgive but sorry Hachi, the pot noodle is a thing of great beauty that just has to be enjoyed from time to time

 

[Hachi]

I read this myself & initial thought was how long until a comment on this forum - surprised it took so long



Matchsticks I can forgive but sorry Hachi, the pot noodle is a thing of great beauty that just has to be enjoyed from time to time

I knew you'd be out there

 

[Erichalfbee]

View attachment 23916
Behold the match sticks

Mike Palmer has a great video feeding pollen sub to bees with snow on the ground

 

[Pugmitch]

I now know why I stopped reading BeeCraft! I too have been beekeeping for 10 years; pontificate to others, I think not. Rather pompous if you ask me! I’d rather listen to those with a little more experience.....such as those on this forum. Even then I’d have to try it out first. What works for one doesn’t always work for another. Anyway my experience is that, invariably, the bees never read the same books as me!

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

You can not learn it all from a book.

No, but I can't imagine trying to learn beekeeping without books.

 

[pnkemp]

It seems logical that you wouldn't open a roof to let all the heat out, you wouldn't do it in your own home !

I wish that were true. UK builders weirdly like all the lofts to be "properly ventilated" so even our new homes are about as efficient as German homes from the 1970s. As soon as I can afford it I'm getting a Passivhaus built. Airtight with controlled ventilation, bugger all cost to heat/cool, and no draughts.

 

[Heather]

When will people realise.. the 'bottom board' as they call it is an INSPECTION board.. just that. pop in, leave 3 days, inspect and remove!!

 

[Apple]

No, but I can't imagine trying to learn beekeeping without books.

Books are for historians and archivists... I have a book cupboard absolutely groaning with beekeeping books, many first editions given to me and or my Grandfather and signed by the author.

A lot of cut and paste carrying on the myths that abound.... most copied seems to be Yates who (IMOHO) was the BBKA leader in misinformation.... now taught by teachers who mostly seem to have little or no experience in keeping bees.... and teach there "facts" to new beekeepers who obviously hang onto every word, preached by their "master beekeerper" ,,, certificated or mostly not!!

Better ( and worst ) can be viewed or read on the internet... yootube has some super howlers!

Chons da

 

[Antipodes]

This not a problem, Fizzle.

Condensation is supposed to run down the walls and out of the floor: warm moist air rises from the nest, fails to condense on the underside of a heavily insulated crownboard, rolls over, condenses on cooler walls and runs down and out.

Second asset: moisture in a hive is useful as it helps to create a humid environment which reduces varroa efficiency; please read the intro to thermodynamist Derek Mitchell's paper on thermal conductance, humidity regulation and Varroa destructor.

You'll find plenty of baloney gathering dust in hobby beekeeping circles because too many find it easier to copy and repeat old habits than explore, assess and adopt new ideas and better practices.

Correct about the water running down and out. I've regularly seen water out the entrance of colonies, not from a leaking hive as it was following rain free times, but only after cool/cold nights.

 

[Apple]

When will people realise.. the 'bottom board' as they call it is an INSPECTION board.. just that. pop in, leave 3 days, inspect and remove!!

NICE ONE...
I got a good telling off when I corrected a "MasterBeekeeper" on just that.
Left the training apiary vowing never to return when he got out the MATCHSTICKS!!!!!!

Chons da

 

[Michael ECB's]

Mike Palmer has a great video feeding pollen sub to bees with snow on the ground

If only I had bees with such temperaments..... It would be a much more enjoyable experience...

Jokes aside, I have to Leopard crawl in to some of my apiaries in fear of "waking the demon"...
Daily decisions - Tick bite or Bee sting?
Tick bite fever 8 times to date.... Doing great so far...

Really have to start breeding Queens here... Just to find the right genetics first....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hmm... I think it depends on the entrance.

Yes, the smaller winter entrance is more than sufficient (whatever the season)

 

[Into the lions den]

Tbh...tip 374 on ventilation is..indeed very oput of date but it really IS i9n the categlry of the shrugged shoulders and a 'whatever' thought bubble. Its is a country mile from the biggest isses we have to think about...accidental top ventilation is common...the broken rebate, the warped or incorrectly placed cover...and it does not make a big difference.

Tip 375 is worse imo. Winter feeding with fondant is common and effective....feeding with frames of honey that may have come from other colonies is a huge flashing red light.

 

[Apple]

Tbh...tip 374 on ventilation is..indeed very oput of date but it really IS i9n the categlry of the shrugged shoulders and a 'whatever' thought bubble. Its is a country mile from the biggest isses we have to think about...accidental top ventilation is common...the broken rebate, the warped or incorrectly placed cover...and it does not make a big difference.

Tip 375 is worse imo. Winter feeding with fondant is common and effective....feeding with frames of honey that may have come from other colonies is a huge flashing red light.

...feeding with frames of honey that may have come from other colonies is a huge flashing red light.

Perhaps the tips for beginners do not include "how to prevent the transfer of foul brood"
Let alone DO NOT BUY A SWARM !!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sorry if this has been discussed a million times. I should clarify a few things. The standard Commercial hive comes with vents in the roof space.

It doesn't mean the vents are needed. They are just a throwback to the days when people didn't know any better
I have a little pocket ot the top of the right hand pocket of my Levi jeans, designed for the wearer to have a safe place to keep his fob watch apparently. I've never felt compelled to get my great grandfather's pocket watch out of the safe, wind it up and use it whenever I wear them though.
The vents aren't needed, when I build my own roofs I don't include vents, when I put together flat pack roofs, I construct them with the vent scallops on the inside so there is no air flow. I permanently glue a slan=b of 50mm celotex inside all my roofs. I have never had an issue with excess moisture inside my hives - not in the ones with OMF or solid floors

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Books are for historians and archivists...

You don't know what you're missing! There are wonderful books, there are wonderful blogs, there are wonderful YouTube videos, there are wonderful online lectures, and there are wonderful contributors on this and other forums. There's rubbish in all these areas too, like in all of life. But it's a shame to dismiss all the good stuff because of inferior efforts. It's not a crime not to be a genius, an original thinker, an experienced teacher, or just special. Lots of people just do their best and give what they have.

Pick and choose, and take delight in a good find.

 

[user 6228]

Stephen Fleming has asked me to write for Bee Craft but I've been busy with the research as i recently had a major set back and had to redo 12 months work. I need to get to doing more articles, but to be honest I always prefered maths to writing essays.

 

[Boston Bees]

feeding with frames of honey that may have come from other colonies is a huge flashing red light.

I always find this one a bit double-edged.

Yes, plainly, moving honey frames from one colony to another carries risk of spreading disease.

But often I find that the same people who scorn this idea then, in other threads, advocate moving frames of brood between hives to equalise their strength, or using a "test frame" from another hive to assess queen-rightness, or combining hives, or shaking colonies out in front of other colonies etc etc. All of which would seem to carry much more risk of spreading brood disease than a frame of honey.

Plainly you can inspect for disease at the point of doing all of these things, but then presumably you would also be doing that when taking honey supers off ....

If the belief is that each hive should be treated as completely sacrosanct, and not given any frames from other hives, of any kind, at any time, then fine. But treating honey frames as potentially lethal, while shifting brood frames around as part of standard management practice, seems inconsistent to me?

I agree that the article is nonsense though, though plainly, a slab of fondant above the bees isn't as good as honey in the frames, for wintering bees.