Gilberdyke John
Queen Bee
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
- Messages
- 5,784
- Reaction score
- 2,082
- Location
- HU15 East Yorkshire
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 10
One of the frequent problems that newcomers to beekeeping face is the amount of 'headlining' that goes on amongst beekeepers. You know how newspapers operate - trying to capture a whole complex issue in just 4 or 5 words. Bit like how politicians use sound-bites.
One of these is: "cold doesn't kill bees, but moisture/ wetness/ condensation does."
A more complete version of this 'sound-bite' would be that moisture dripping onto the colony can kill bees. [Hint - if you tilt your hives during winter, then moisture will run down the walls, and NOT onto the cluster]
Bees rather enjoy a high humidity - once the honey has been dessicated, of course - that's why they seal-up their cavity by propolising any gaps which exist. People who are obsessed with thermal insulation interpret this as keeping the heat in - whereas I'd bet money it's to keep the moisture in. Even in the dead of winter - if the temperatures are favourable - you'll find bees taking water-gathering flights. Bees NEED water.
But doesn't lack of ventilation cause a build-up of mold ? Sure - and that's something humans think must be avoided at all costs. Mold in our homes is a sure recipe for respiratory disease - but bees are well used to living amongst extreme forms of mold, fungi and rotting wood. That's their natural environment.
But we clever, over-brained monkeys, now think that bees should be living in clinically-clean and thermally efficient plastic boxes which mirror our own habitats, whereas throughout north-western Europe they've survived for a helluva long time - without any assistance whatsoever from humans - often in damp, wet and cold conditions.
LJ
I'd commend you to read the research regarding the effective inhibition on successful varroa reproduction in conditions of high temperature and high humidity.
Derek refers to this in his paper for a starting point.