Thorne's news & matchsticks

[Finman]

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Winter ventilation is very simple thing, when you know its basics. But if you follow all kind of tricks, what you heard from guys, there is no end in it.

And when you get a good way, do not abandon it. I cannot call it method, it is too simple to use that term.

1) Mesh floor. No other holes open. - Note wind protection.

2) Solid floor, main entrance open. I use upper entrance because, like just now, I have main entrance is stucked with icy snow. Slant forward that condensation water and rain water drills out.

ded bees can stuck too the main entrance. 15 mm upper entrance in front wall is good, and it makes no harm to the bees.

I have same system what Canadians use.

*** Remember reduce the wintering room to the proper for cluster size.***

I have met huge installations in internet made by some inventors.
And huge theories how bees generate drinking water inside the hive. All vain rubbish.

.
Stethoscope = post mortem advice.

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[Hivemaker.]

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1) Mesh floor. No other holes open. - Note wind protection.

2) Solid floor, main entrance open. I use upper entrance because, like just now, I have main entrance is stucked with icy snow. Slant forward that condensation water and rain water drills out.

Why would you not also leave the entrance open on the mesh floor one?

 

[Finman]

Why would you not also leave the entrance open on the mesh floor one?

Because I not have any mesh floor.

 

[Fusion_power]

It is interesting to read finman's methods of winter beekeeping. They closely parallel the methods I use. I have a main entrance reduced to 80mm by 8 mm and an upper entrance about 12 mm X 12 mm. Many years, the upper entrance is the only entrance because the bottom one is plugged with snow. I tried leaving just the main entrance whether fully open or reduced and had major problems with moisture buildup in the hive. This occurs at the worst possible time in late February and early March just as the bees are preparing for spring fruit bloom. It has often been said that cold does not kill bees, lack of winter food supplies does.

The basics of wintering have not changed.

1. A properly populous colony defined as a cluster roughly soccer ball size to twice that

2. Enough stores, including pollen, to make it through winter to the next flow

3. Healthy bees, this means not mite/virus/nosema/etc laden

4. Adequate protection from the elements including rain and snow plus wind breaks

5. A good water source, mostly needed in early spring

6. Sun exposure so they can fly on warm days, but shade in summer

 

[Finman]

It is interesting to read finman's methods of winter beekeeping. They closely parallel the methods I use. I have a main entrance reduced to 80mm by 8 mm

I have exactly the same dimensions. And I use them outside flow season.

8 mm acts as mouse guard too.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why would you not also leave the entrance open on the mesh floor one?

They can sh!t out through the mesh?

 

[Finman]

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SYSTEMS

https://www.google.fi/search?q=nose...dyoSCfZvKpkEMC3qEaic-BPdixbx&tbo=u&gws_rd=ssl

 

[Noddy]

Does it have to be matchsticks, or could I use wooden tooth picks, for example??

 

[Finman]

Does it have to be matchsticks, or could I use wooden tooth picks, for example??

Tooth string is better.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

1. A properly populous colony defined as a cluster roughly soccer ball size

Is that anything like a football?

 

[Poly Hive]

Thornes have a small problem. For a big company it is actually a very big problem.

They are watching the tail light of the poly train leaving their station, and oooooopppppsy.......... They are on the platform with NO intention of making a move. So Gillian told me. May have the name wrong mind you but she was/is the heid bummer.

Ah well. some judgement calls are fatal.

PH

 

[Itchy]

Yes, they need to come up with their own poly hive, properly thought out with physics at the core of the design, not some mumbo jumbo guess. Perhaps they should talk to Derek.
Footprint needs to be the same as wood components too.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

They sure do and got about two months to sort it..... anyone in their right mind buys poly now

 

[pargyle]

I think, on this forum - despite the large number of members we have - we can forget that 'most' beekeepers are insulated from the forward thinking (at times experimental) ideas that we see on here. Their craft is often inherited because it is being taught by beekeepers who are passing on the ideas that originated over the years before and during WW2 ... and were passed on to them - good and sometimes very bad. The BBKA seems to hold back modern beekeeping and the rubbish trotted out by Thornes 'expert' really should be retracted as it is truly damaging advice coming from what many people would consider a legitimate (if not authorative) source.

But ... I see, in my association, a substantial ignorance and almost a denial (in many older members) of the benefits of even the most basic levels of insulation - mesh floors and matchsticks are commonplace and the basic laws of physics are poo poo'd in favour of 'well - I've done it this way for 'X' years and it works for me...'

We've heard lectures from Derek and others who have told us of the benefits of insulation but the message still does not get through .... I took one of my polys to an event last summer and it was astounding how many had never even seen one let alone thought about using them. To be honest - the only things that excited some of them was the weight and the cost ...

I don't know what has to be done to change some of the ideas that perpetuate in beekeeping - the books don't help, many are well out of date - basic beekeeping courses still seem to concentrate on very traditional ideas and mentors pass on poor methods that are, inevitably, un-challenged.

New fangled in beekeeping ? Any idea less than 50 years old ???

 

[Eyeman]

I don't know what has to be done to change some of the ideas that perpetuate in beekeeping - the books don't help, many are well out of date - basic beekeeping courses still seem to concentrate on very traditional ideas and mentors pass on poor methods that are, inevitably, un-challenged.

I suspect those if us who try to keep up-to-date have long ago abandoned our local association, unless its to socialise with a few mates. Unfortunately I'm not one for mingling with the WI crowd that dominates a lot of associations so I won't be the one to change their ideas.

 

[For want of a better word]

I think, on this forum - despite the large number of members we have - we can forget that 'most' beekeepers are insulated from the forward thinking (at times experimental) ideas that we see on here. Their craft is often inherited because it is being taught by beekeepers who are passing on the ideas that originated over the years before and during WW2 ... and were passed on to them - good and sometimes very bad. The BBKA seems to hold back modern beekeeping and the rubbish trotted out by Thornes 'expert' really should be retracted as it is truly damaging advice coming from what many people would consider a legitimate (if not authorative) source.

But ... I see, in my association, a substantial ignorance and almost a denial (in many older members) of the benefits of even the most basic levels of insulation - mesh floors and matchsticks are commonplace and the basic laws of physics are poo poo'd in favour of 'well - I've done it this way for 'X' years and it works for me...'

We've heard lectures from Derek and others who have told us of the benefits of insulation but the message still does not get through .... I took one of my polys to an event last summer and it was astounding how many had never even seen one let alone thought about using them. To be honest - the only things that excited some of them was the weight and the cost ...

I don't know what has to be done to change some of the ideas that perpetuate in beekeeping - the books don't help, many are well out of date - basic beekeeping courses still seem to concentrate on very traditional ideas and mentors pass on poor methods that are, inevitably, un-challenged.

New fangled in beekeeping ? Any idea less than 50 years old ???

Lets put it this way.....
I love my vintage Norton motorcycles with their magnetos and 6V lighting sets..

But when I need to go somewhere on two wheels... and the weather is not too inclement .. I take the New Triumph.. with heated grips... ABS and cruise mode control etc etc.

I love my vintage WBC's with their solid wood cedar floors and pretty outers..

But when I need to get somewhere with the bees... and the weather is inclement... I put them in BeeHiveSupplies Polly hives!

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

I suspect those if us who try to keep up-to-date have long ago abandoned our local association, unless its to socialise with a few mates. Unfortunately I'm not one for mingling with the WI crowd that dominates a lot of associations so I won't be the one to change their ideas.

I attended a presentation from a Phd student that my local association helps to finance. Her work is pure research....a million miles from anything that could remotely be considered a commercial product....yet, what did I hear when it came to question time? A series of questions about what was the best varroa treatment to apply. I wonder whether we sat through the same presentation!
The format is always the same....an introduction where some committe member introduces someone they have never heard of and has no special interest in the subject, the guest speaker may just as well have been a visiting dignitary from another planet because few in the audience truly understand the matter being presented, then some polite vote of thanks and a round of applause....and the inevitable bout of socialising. I usually can't wait to get away from such gatherings! I suppose I'm a bit of a maverick and don't think like the others.

 

[For want of a better word]

Have you given a presentation of simple queen rearing for the hobby beekeeper...????

much the same response... except you get asked... Where can I buy good queen bees from!

Nos da

 

[B+.]

Have you given a presentation of simple queen rearing for the hobby beekeeper...????

much the same response... except you get asked... Where can I buy good queen bees from!

Nos da

Good God No!
I gave a presentation to another association a year or so ago on queen breeding. I barely even mentioned the real guts of the subject because there was such a chasm between what I wanted to say and their level of understanding.
I'm a believer in telling it like it is (warts and all). If I don't know the answer, I say it...but, I find out. I'm not ashamed to say that I've learned far more from the Dutch and German breeders than I ever learned in this country.

 

[REDWOOD]

They sure do and got about two months to sort it..... anyone in their right mind buys poly now

East Yorkshire's winters are a lot colder than in South Wales