Very Very Low Store's

[Finman]

Some of that is back to front.

Finman, you can't compare latitudes, when the land masses are so different. .

Of course I can. I have studied geography in University 5 years from English books. But details surprises me.

Lets look 60 latitude, Helsinki, Anchorage in Alaska and Yakutsk in Siberia.

Yakutsk... Normal Winter temp in January -40C. 2 weeks ago 40C hot.

Anchorage is harbour city like Helsinki. Couple of degrees lower average temp than in Helsinki.

But the coast zones of Alaska have tundra and Finland has corn fields and bees at same latitudes.

In Alaska university recommends to kill beehives in late summer because they are bad to over winter.

 

[stucat]

Just out of interest, bow often do you open them to look.
Last winter(very mild) I looked in on my poly nucs weekly(love a perspex crown board) and there were bees on all frames until Mid January, by the first week in Feb. They had broken cluster again. Stores were good going into and out of winter, There was no did ernable difference between nucs with mostly buckfast or mostly Amm .
They built up beautifully, but did come close to running out of honey late in April.

 

[Finman]

When I feed my hives before middle if September, I do not open them until it is November and I give oxalic acid. Then at the beginning of Marsh I dig them off from snow. In late April I try to open them and look, are queens OK

I live 150 km away from my hives.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's not how mine are. They are tightly clustered through most of winter chomping through the stores. ..............There's nothing worse than a brood box jammed with stores when the queen starts laying at a rapid rate.

Well that's the advantage of the bigger frame. I'd rather take a frame or two out (pop in the freezer to use another time) than worry about lack of stores before I can open them up safely in the spring.

 

[Finman]

.
You may take extra food stores off.
It is normal procedure

 

[Moggs]

I've not read Wedmore's work so I'm not likely to be a sheep to it. The proof I have lies with my own colonies.

Have you tried any other way? All of my hives have clearer boards atop with the porter escape holes covered with slate (best Welsh JBM!).

There's a clue in the construction really. Why do you think the holes are almost exactly the dimension of a Porter bee escape? Ahhhhh..... (Or should that be 'baaa')?

Well, if it works for you(r bees)...




I've had that déjà vu before...

 

[Hawklord]

Have you tried any other way? All of my hives have clearer boards atop with the porter escape holes covered with slate (best Welsh JBM!).

There's a clue in the construction really. Why do you think the holes are almost exactly the dimension of a Porter bee escape? Ahhhhh..... (Or should that be 'baaa')?

Well, if it works for you(r bees)...




I've had that déjà vu before...

My crown boards have a single round hole in the middle, as supplied by Exmoor Bees.

 

[Finman]

My crown boards have a single round hole in the middle, as supplied by Exmoor Bees.

I bet that it is feeding hole.
It cannot be for escaper because you need that cover on the top of hive.

 

[user 6228]

Actually strictly by latitude you would thin they were similar. They are not radically different but different enough to be significant.

Weather systems in the N.E. Atlantic tend to travel in a SW to NE direction, driven along by semi permanent high pressure at the Azores and low pressure vaguely situated around Iceland. (It varies about but that is the long term average)

The statistics show that central Jutland, which is on a similar latitude to south central Scotland, actually has a climate more like East Anglia or even Kent. Scotland's is more like southern Norway. However even within Scotland the differences are vast. Fort William 140 inches of rain per year, East Lothian 29 inches. The further you get from the Atlantic and the vagaries of the Jetstream the more seasonally predictable the weather is. However in this area the warmest days in January CAN be warmer than the coldest days in July. So you never know just what you are going to get.

Temperature is not heat loss, The UK has higher rain and wind averages, wind and rain increase heat loss. although the UK has a longer summer it has less hours of sunshine. 30% less sunshine in the summer months than helsinki. Over the year UK 20% less than in Helsinki. Less sunshine less flying hours.
Heat loss is winter stores and summer crop.