Many thanks PH - I was hoping you might reply as well!
Many thanks PH - I was hoping you might reply as well!
If you specifically want my comments then at times it will be more speedy to mail me via my site as it can be days before I read this site.
PH
Morning all.
Rejuvenating this thread. So I have a MB poly lang and its currently on 2 brood boxes and super on top.
I am starting to think the Queen excluder (crappy flimsy plastic thing as supplied) is hindering the bees filling the supers and here's why. I put it on a few weeks back with a super of undrawn foundation on top. Its a bit saggy but I'm not experienced in this honey milarky so didnt think this was odd. Nothing happened and nothing drawn, not even a handful of bees had investigated after a week even though the weather has been cracking. So I removed the excluder and put some of the undrawn super frames into the 2nd brood box to get them to start drawing. Wee peek after a day and fully drawn and they had even started on the frames in the super. Bingo thought I. So I repeated the swap and ended up with 8 drawn frames up in the super with some honey getting stored as well. I then added the excluder again at this point and low and behold after checking last night they have removed all the honey back down stairs and very few bees in the super. I might just take it out and let them get on with it ....thoughts ?
I've no personal experience with the MB hives but a couple of thoughts:
I'd probably agree with your thinking. If personal experience is showing that it's hindering storage, consign it to the back of the shed until you have that eureka moment when you find a use for it.
Another possibility to consider (taking your local climate into account) might be to take advantage of the reversible nature of the MB roofs and use a top entrance so as to bypass the excluder -it won't be long before the bulk of the workforce show their preference...
That is a really cool suggestion. Especially if the weather stays nice as the added loss of heat out the top might not make too much difference. So you would leave both entrances and then expect them to start using the top ?Originally Posted by prakel
Nothing ventured nothing gained
Hi, yes, I do leave both entrances open(on wooden hives). Some will suggest closing the bottom entrance but that just adds more work (drones wanting to get out, supercedure queens not able to mate...). There's always some variation between colonies but in my experience most show a definite preference for using an upper entrance.
I thought I might address a couple of misconceptions.
Polys actually have a longer broodless period than timber hives in my experience. The reason for that happening as far as I can determine is water. If that makes you blink then possibly reading Mobus on wintering may be useful to you.
http://poly-hive.co.uk/damp-condensa...inter-cluster/
Blowing away. I had to laugh at this one. Why would a 100lb hive blow away? The roof might but I find that usually one brick on the roof is enough to keep it on but for winter I put on two and there they stay. Plus I use my bricks to tell me stories in a code so they are dual purpose.
Nor are bees so susceptible to isolation starvation as they do not cluster so tightly for so long as they are warmer. I have lifted CB's in minus 5C and the bees are strolling about quite loose. Nice to see.
Yes bees do winter better in poly and they behave in it in rather different ways. This year as per norm a swarm began comb building on the frame side next to the side wall. Colonies routinely have brood next to the walls due to the warmth of the material.
Sterilisation has been covered by the authorities here: https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/bee...cfm?pageid=167 2nd from the bottom of the list. Virkon S is good for general work including EFB but not for AFB for which a hypoclorite solution is recommended.
A purchasing hint is if the roof is thinner than 40mm then I would not buy one. Something else that is ignored is that OMF floors should be used in conjunction with top insulation esp with timber units.
There is a reasonable body of work on poly units on my site. poly-hive.co.uk
PH
Last edited by Poly Hive; 03-11-2013 at 12:59 PM.
Hi Pete
I don't have any Poly hives as they don't smell nice enough for my tastes but I have been doing some reading up at your very good website ,and the bit about beeways/beespace in Winter was very interesting and new(to me)
TW Cowan recommended 1 & 3/4 inch between centre of frames for overwintering which was so vague really that it just skipped my attention till I read your site then it made some sense
Really it is all about water and optimum cluster size. Too big and they fail, too weak and same same.
PH
I am planning to start beekeeping with MB Paradise Langstroths but so far have been unable to find anyone local to visit. I don't want to be totally isolated with no one to ask if something specific to these hives goes wrong. I note that Prakel lives on the Jurassic coast and so do I - Owermoigne, near Dorchester - Although in his last post in July last year he had no experience of MB hives, I do hope that numbers are growing and he or someone else may have a suggestion or two.
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