Winter brrrrr

[badger65]

Do I put my solid floor on for winter? About November?

 

[tindam188]

As a new beekeeper this year I already have mine in to check for varroa and treat as this is what I have been told, I guess others may disagree as some have said they don't at all

 

[huntsman666]

I leave my National open mesh floors open all winter. My hives do not have top ventilation.

I only put the trays in to check varroa drop. 24 hours once a week will be enough when treatment is on.

 

[Black Comb]

Open mesh floor open all winter is the way to go these days.
With top insulation.

 

[busybee53]

Agree with Peter S

 

[Nic Rhodes]

open mesh floors are designed to work as open mesh floors, the only time you would change them is during medication (to keep thymol fumes in) or during a Varroa count. All other times are open unless your are in 'extreme' conditions (99.9%+ of UK fine and not extreme).

 

[oliver90owner]

I might reduce any draught, but the floor stays open all winter. Ventilation to keep the hive dry is paramount IMO. Through the floor is as good as any and better than a lot of top ventilation. I daresay a solid floor may make some difference to brooding in the spring, particularly with the shorter box (they can brood that much further up in a 14 x 12).

If I were to close the mesh in the spring for a few weeks it would be a slider on top of the OMF, not under it, and only when the bees were active (not continuously tightly clustered).

The Dartingtons seem to brood early, and they just have a 'baffle' well below the mesh floor and I allow them to extend the brood nest to a shallow - I simply want as much brood as possible. The poly hives (6 frame jumbo 'nucs') were early and prolific with brooding last year, needing stores frames to be removed, to accommodate the accelerating lay-rate. They have OMFs too.

I have found that raising the brood box from a solid floor by about 3-4mm maintains a dry hive environment but gives the option to lower it in the springtime when brooding gets under way.

The John Harding floor utilises a much reduced 'open' area and this demonstrates how little is actually needed to keep the hive dry while the bees are inactive.

So your choice, but I went to OMF and no top ventilation (plus insulation) and don't intend to change back to solid floors, as I found it a problem to avoid damp frames while avoiding a chimney effect. It was my first couple of years beekeeping but after I tried an OMF, I changed all my hives for the next winter without hesitation.

RAB

 

[BKF Admin]

The simple answer is: Cold does not kill bees,damp does...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I overwintered 3 cedar nationals last year on open floors and 50mm kingspan in the roof. Two had an empty super under the floor to baffle any wind the other had the super under the brood box as they had honey to move up.
Two of the colonies are now in 14 x 12 one poly and the other cedar. I did have polycarbonate crown boards on both but I noticed that there was quite a bit of condensation under the one on the wooden box while the poly one remained bone dry so I replaced it with a wooden one.

 

[Poly Hive]

Open floors should be on all year round. With top insulation.

PH

 

[Arfermo]

RAB,
I leave the OMF open with no top insulation. Had no problems but would appreciate a recommendation as to what to use if I change my mind. The 1" silver foiled Celotex I have lying around would do I imagine but is there any better stuff?

 

[mystil]

What do you all use for top insulation?

 

[Flatters]

I have OMFs. The monitoring board is just that, it is not a floor, it is used only for very short periods of time to monitor varroa drop then it is left out.

I put a super at the bottom then the brood box. No top ventilation but I have insulation above crown board. I do modify the middle bit of the insulation to access the fondant which I put on the crownboard with the feeding/clearer hole open. This allows me to monitor/feed without lifting the crownboard.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's amazing how warm that crown board gets. I have rapid feeders on as I can visit the apiary every day and I've noticed the heat when I've topped up.

 

[huntsman666]

Last winter was the coldest here for many, many years. Minus 17C at night, minus 10C during the day for about ten days.

My Natonals had the omf open, no top ventilation and no insulation. All just had the brood chamber.

Came through with no loses but then my bees are native dark bees Apis mellifera mellifera.

 

[drstitson]

top insulation - kingspan or knaufboard - the latter was on offer at B&Q last october (at under £4 each). each sheet does 2x national sized blocks leaving a strip deep enough to fit behind a dummy board in either a national or 14x12 size brood box.

 

[Heather]

Slightly different area but may I mention- if lots of snow please put a sun barrier over the exit- so that the bees can leave the hive if warm enough -but they are not enticed out by the glare of the sun into cold air where they will die.

 

[oliver90owner]

What do you all use for top insulation?

Cheap, cheap EPS. There is already 25mm in the National sized roofs I made this last year and another 25mm will be sitting on top of my ply crownboards. The roofs were all deep ones, equivalent (and a bit more) to the Th*rne 6" offering, but only about half the weight.

The Dartingtons have a similar arrangement, but there is a roof space between the sheet on the coverboards (those are 18mm ply) and the EPS lining the roof (gabled roofs on them).

Broken/damaged sheets of insulation can be obtained, at times, for a good price (otherwise they would go in the skip), so insulation is low cost, if sourced at the right time. 'Skip dipping' would get it even cheaper.

The offcuts from the damaged sheets were used for any brood box end panel they would fit, and for filling insulated dummy frames.

Only ten frames being left in my hives this winter. Might need to heft them before the end of Feb (but some will be on 'spring brooding encouragement' by then, anyway). The frames of drawn comb (removed) will be ready to provide extra laying space, without the need for wholesale comb building by the bees in March.

RAB

 

[itma]

Top insulation -

Are you all closing off (ie not deliberately leaving open) any airway between hive and roof?
I can see that something to permit fondant feeding would be good, but it sounds as though that should be made to be part of a sealed top to the open-bottom hive.

Presumably its good to leave open whatever under-hive-roof ventilation as was sufficient during the rest of the year, so as to avoid damp, mould, etc above the insulation?

 

[Heather]

Scrounge roof insulation builders yards, skips. One Assoc member found a whole roll in a skip!- bung it in a poly bag and stuff in top of empty super above crown board.

Dont forget- when handling roof insulation- hard hat, protective glasses,gloves, mask, apron and heavy boots- or just protect hands & throat and handle gently.

Fondant goes flat onto the brood frames- then maybe a 1" eke then cover board then super with insulation then roof on- no need to leave any gap at the top for ventilation- this was done before OMF