Warm Way Best???

[susbees]

I'm changing all our square boxes to warm way for the winter and plan on keeping them that way next season on OMF (and yes, may put an empty box underneath the OMF to reduce northerly chill in the winter )...big field and the willow windbreaks will have lost their leaves.

Logic: bees will hopefully cluster at the south side by the entrance hole as their numbers drop. Most of ours seem to have little Lig/Carni make up so that is more probable?

Easier to defend for them.....and easier to inspect for us as the guard bees will mostly be on the one frame at the front at other times of year rather than on several enabling us to continue with the no smoke policy unless handling when there is no choice in the rain/wind or a very snotty requeen.

As the stores start to be consumed the cluster will move back towards the back (north) but will not miss the outermost frames and starve. In theory. Is this what has happened sometimes when people open up hives with dead cluster and full frames of uneaten stores?

 

[VEG]

Which ever way you put them the bees will cluster where they want, which is not always where you think they should be.

 

[BobsBees]

Also Susbees, if you have an OMF floor with inspection tray you can monitor where the cluster is by looking at the droppings say every other day without opening the hive.
Bob

 

[Finman]

I. Is this what has happened sometimes when people open up hives with dead cluster and full frames of uneaten stores?

It is tracheal mites which do that

 

[Finman]

you can monitor where the cluster is by looking at the droppings say every other day without opening the hive.
Bob

That is not beekeeping. It is beedisturbing.