Temperature

[Gower]

I know from previous threads that recomendation is not to open up hives if its not warm enough for the beek to be in shirt-sleeves, but can anyone give a rough indication as to what degree C should be the minimum please? i'm guessin in reality this would be around end of March/ early April?

many thanks

 

[george]

Better to go with the shirt sleeve suggestion . The thermometer can say 15 deg but with a chill wind its too cold to inspect properly .

Like lots of things in life dont rely on numbers .

G

 

[RoofTops]

Around 15C is usually given as a good guide but I think you can also take a hint from the bees. If they are flying strongly and bringing in both pollen and nectar then you should be able to open them up to inspect. They will probably let you know if they are not happy.

However, you should be quick and especially quick with frames with open brood. I would suggest all you are really looking in the first inspections is to check the queen has room to lay and there are stores to see them through times of bad weather. No doubt there are exceptions but I wouldn't expect to find queen cells in March or the first week or so of April - so no point slowly going through the colony looking for them.

 

[oliver90owner]

Four years ago hives could be opened now and gone through. Trying to put a date on it is rediculous. Another three weeks will see it warm enough at times to peek in, add a frame feeder, etc, as the bees should be flying more, but it may only be a week or maybe a month, who knows. If it is the end of March, just for a quick look in, we will be in trouble for the OSR. Common sense needs to prevail - or even be invented perhaps - for things like this.

 

[Razvan]

Minimum temperature to open the hive is over 12 degrees.....

 

[Pete D]

This may also depend on what you want to achieve when you open them. As George said it needs to be right to do a full inspection, even then it depends how quick you are, last year was my first and I was slow initially and even when it was decent temperature they started to lose their patience with me after 15 minutes.... !
(I have probably halved that since for a full inspection of all brood) Having said that I was eager back then to look at every comb and find the queen every time, now I might only be 3 minutes or so if I just want to check for eggs/brood/stores etc.
I opened mine on Sunday afternoon, 3 degrees here at the time, but I was just checking fondant and had the crown board off no more than 30 seconds and the insulation for less than 10 seconds.
Fair to say the bees will let you know if its too cold, but my beginners course told me it needs to be 16 degrees minimum for a full brood inspection, if its windy I normally stand up wind so as to shelter them a bit and sometimes use manipulation cloths.
Did that help....... got too much spare time at work.......... or shouldnt log on during the day !
Pete D

 

[Gower]

This may also depend on what you want to achieve when you open them. As George said it needs to be right to do a full inspection, even then it depends how quick you are, last year was my first and I was slow initially and even when it was decent temperature they started to lose their patience with me after 15 minutes.... !
(I have probably halved that since for a full inspection of all brood) Having said that I was eager back then to look at every comb and find the queen every time, now I might only be 3 minutes or so if I just want to check for eggs/brood/stores etc.
I opened mine on Sunday afternoon, 3 degrees here at the time, but I was just checking fondant and had the crown board off no more than 30 seconds and the insulation for less than 10 seconds.
Fair to say the bees will let you know if its too cold, but my beginners course told me it needs to be 16 degrees minimum for a full brood inspection, if its windy I normally stand up wind so as to shelter them a bit and sometimes use manipulation cloths.
Did that help....... got too much spare time at work.......... or shouldnt log on during the day !
Pete D

thanks Pete D, yes that did help.

i wasnt suggesting a full inspection, merely a quick check to assess presence of any brood, laying area and availability of stores etc

 

[Pete D]

Way hey, I'm a newbie and I may of helped someone.
Or confused them, misled them or ill advised them !
We will soon be put right on which but I will stand by what I said and have a look when my common sense, training and the bees tell me too.
As a footnote an old keeper told me....... when you hear the first cuckoo......
Pete D

 

[victor meldrew]

As a footnote an old keeper told me....... when you hear the first cuckoo......Pete D

Now that would be a blast from the past in these parts. I haven't heard a cuckoo for years except for cuckoo clocks
VM

 

[The Cumbrian]

As a footnote an old keeper told me....... when you hear the first cuckoo......

I am glad there are alternative methods - haven't heard a cuckoo for a number of years now!

I have always understood the shirt sleeves rule as being a sound rule of thumb.

 

[Pete D]

Hey there's more.............. when the geese come in for winter thats when........
oh er bugger forgotten already
Pete D

 

[Poggle]

As a footnote an old keeper told me....... when you hear the first cuckoo......
Pete D

Oh dear..............The last time we heard a Cuckoo here was three years ago in May......................

John

 

[drumgerry]

my beginners course told me it needs to be 16 degrees minimum for a full brood inspection

Hmm...a mite too cautious I would say. If we stuck to that rule up here there'd be a fair few days in the height of summer that hives couldn't be examined. And at that time of year they sometimes have to be opened come hell or high water. Manipulation cloths are your friend for sure. Spring inspections though shouldn't take longer than a few minutes per hive.

 

[Finman]

.
When I add pollenpatty on frames, temp is often near zero C.

But it seems that 4-5 frame nucs does not stand openng. They get eailychalkbrood.

I do not pull frames out .

I have solid bottom. I suppose that mesh floor catches cold easier.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I am glad there are alternative methods - haven't heard a cuckoo for a number of years now!

I have always understood the shirt sleeves rule as being a sound rule of thumb.

well, i've seen the cuckoo who lives next door out in the garden on Christmas day with no shirt at all! where does that leave me?

 

[Rosti]

well, i've seen the cuckoo who lives next door out in the garden on Christmas day with no shirt at all! where does that leave me?

eves-dropping on your neighbour?

 

[tonybloke]

still get plenty of cuckoos her on the reed-beds nr Burgh Castle, laying eggs in marsh-warblers nests

 

[burren]

yep, have heard a "cuckoo" here for last 2 years

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

eves-dropping on your neighbour?

When I glimpsed his missus preparing to do the same one bright summers day is when I agreed to let him put up a six foot fence (and offered to help build it) it could have been a very nasty old business as it was a lot of skin to expose.

 

[victor meldrew]

still get plenty of cuckoos her on the reed-beds nr Burgh Castle, laying eggs in marsh-warblers nests

They used to lay in Blue Dunnock nests around here
VM