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Thread: Any casualties yet?

  1. #251

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Bee View Post
    Open mesh floors with the tray removed are the invention of the devil.
    Hmmm...I think this is an area where a multitude of beekeeping opinions is at work. No definitive answer either. My bees have done very well on open OMfs since I started beekeeping 9 years ago. I leave them open through the winter, usually with Kingspan on top of the crownboard. And all is dry and cosy within. My hives are on 12 inch high stands with sides about 3 inches deep so are protected from direct wind blowing up through the floor.

    Where I try to overwinter bees in my solid floored nucs they're invariably damp and unpleasant come Spring time. I tried and succeeded to overwinter a couple of Paynes polynucs with OMFs and the bees did very well in them - dry, warm and cosy even here in the frozen north!

  2. #252

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    Quote Originally Posted by drumgerry View Post
    Hmmm...I think this is an area where a multitude of beekeeping opinions is at work. .................................................. .............................................polyn ucs with OMFs and the bees did very well in them - dry, warm and cosy even here in the frozen north!
    I agree that people have different experiences of OMF's and solid floors are certainly an unpleasant sight after bees have overwintered on them. My own experience of OMFs is bees seem to consume more stores and seem to suffer more fatalities. In the spring the bees are always clustering in the top 1/2 box whereas in hives with the floor closed they are spread out and have, in so far as one can gauge, more brood. I have 6" deep skirts on the floor and keep them as you do about 12" above the deck. The legs are splayed to resist the wind and enough draught gets into the bottom of the hive to keep it dry. What works in one area may not work in another and each must do what he considers best for his bees. I have lost far more colonies with the hives open to the elements than when the removable tray was used and friends in a well known bee breeding group have reported similar results. It is possible that a damper climate is a contributory factor i.e. frozen and dry v frozen and damp. There is an Irish gentleman, intelligent but with surprisingly little practical experience, who contributes copiously to various forums and chat groups. He advocated the use of the open OMFs, but now seems to have changed his mind after suffering "heavy casualties" on more than one occasion. It is certainly a subject worth investigating and establishing a consensus.

  3. #253

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    Into my 6th year now and always overwintered on OMF.
    My hives face SE with shelter from the prevailing south westerlies.
    This winter we had a long spell of very cold east winds (unusual on the west coast) and I think the OMF's cost me.
    Next season I plan to make some ply inserts with a small mesh hole in the middle - best of both worlds?

  4. #254

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    You may have a point about differing climates. I'm a native of Glasgow and when I first moved up here I couldn't believe how little rain we got. We get the cold and we get the snow but rarely (he said touching wood) do we get sustained day after day rain. I should have added that I do generally add the floor inserts from February until about late April having read that it helps with initial brood raising. But when they're tight in the cluster I keep the floors open. No scientific basis for what I do but it's worked for me so I've stuck with it.

  5. #255

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    Quote Originally Posted by Black Comb View Post
    Into my 6th year now and always overwintered on OMF.
    My hives face SE with shelter from the prevailing south westerlies.
    This winter we had a long spell of very cold east winds (unusual on the west coast) and I think the OMF's cost me.
    Next season I plan to make some ply inserts with a small mesh hole in the middle - best of both worlds?
    Your reference to the east wind does have a resonance for me now that you mention it. I had forgotten it, but about ten years ago there were 3 or 4 colonies on omf's which were open to the elements - no tray. They were in front of a mobile home, sheltered from the south and the south west winds, but after an unseasonally long period of east wind, there was no longer a buzz if the hive was tapped. Hives on the other side of the structure survived.
    I am at a loss to understand why the hives failed - the east wind is cold but very dry, it dries the land very effectively. Dampness is a killer for bees and most mammals, so why did a dry wind cause the hives to fail? In hindsight I suspect isolation starvation was the primary cause.
    Last edited by Dark Bee; 20-05-2013 at 03:42 PM.

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