I'm sure i got to see a Paynes hive on Friday, i really liked the ledges where the frames sit and the bees had space to get out the way. So that was noted!!
I'm sure i got to see a Paynes hive on Friday, i really liked the ledges where the frames sit and the bees had space to get out the way. So that was noted!!
The long hives sound interesting and I'm in the same northern climate too.
Forgot to say, planning to join ADBKA too.
Hi I know it sounds self explanatory but what is isolation starvation? I'm trying to think why one way may be more lightly than another?
Thanks, thought it must be something like that but then I didn't take in to account them being moronic lol! Now I know its possible and to watch out for it.
To be honest, they do try hard to put their stores above their heads in autumn and perhaps we are to blame for rearranging things and putting them in boxes of shapes not to their liking . If we do that, then insulation (especially above their heads) helps them warm up enough to leave the cluster and collect stores from the colder parts of the hive to see them through the worst of the weather. Or give them more food immediately above them.
Your right there Gavin I don't much care for brood and a half overwintering because once they get up into the super they stay there and even that small gap between the brood frames and the super frames can become a real barrier
In the SBA mag Ian Craig advised two brood boxes with only 8 frames in each plus a wide insulating spacer either side, rearranged so all the food was above the bees in September when any top up feeding was done.
Wish I was as organised as he is
It's good to know you've found the same regarding nest arrangement/reading. I've only a few hives, so I've only made a few observations. & good to know I'm not alone in liking "warm way"! (I just call it "warm way" because other beekeepers usually know what I mean. All my floors are mesh, so warm/cold is almost certainly irrelevant in my case.)
I don't get to harvest that extra honey comb, alas. I came to beekeeping with a big heap of ideals, one of which is to overwinter bees on honey. It makes beekeeping even harder, and I don't know whether I'll stick with it in the long term, but that's what I'm aiming for at the moment.
Longhive entrance position can cause isolation starvation because in cold weather clustered bees have limited options for movement. If they move along and eat through all the honey at one end of the longhive, they may not have the energy (or the right decision-making ability) to double back to get to stores at the other end. If all the stores are packed at the back, then in winter the cluster will start moving backwards into the stores when they run low on food, and can then keep on moving in the same direction into more & more food.
That's the theory, anyway! So far I've found, as Prakel has, that if the entrance is at one end, the bees will tend essentially to start by building brood combs, & store any honey surplus at the back. So the first part of the theory holds. As to whether they'll keep eating backwards during the winter... It worked well for me with one colony, last winter. That's all I know so far, but it was an encouraging start. Most Scottish beekeepers (and most Scottish bee colonies!) will tell you that moving "Up" is what bees do best, but for various reasons I wanted to give "Along" a go.
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