Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: twb on March 09, 2009, 09:04:35 pm
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I have a couple of hives that have bees at the top by the inner cover hole and the hives seem light. So I placed a little granulated sugar around the inner cover hole and moistened the inner edges of the sugar with sugar syrup. But, because I did this I took out the small sticks I put under the tele cover for ventilation (so foreign bees could not enter there). Could that cause a moisture problem? Should I replace the sticks?
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I wouldn't worry about the moisture one way or the other at this point. It should be close to spring and the sugar will absorb and give off some moisture plus they need some to eat the sugar. I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it at this point.
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I Think you did just right. With that sugar right up on top of the inner cover, you don't need to be attracting other bees and yellow jackets into the sugar. This time of year, I would go for the protection from robbing over the risk of moisture.
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Howdy Neighbor!
Be cautious that you inner cover doesn't sag. This can imped traffic to the sugar. A sagging IC could also funnel dampness to the hive center and cause it to drip on the cluster. Our temps can still get cold enough that you do not want a damp or even moist cluster to have to fight for warmth to survive. Just keep an eye on it.
PS - still do the sugar on several sheets of newspaper, on the inner cover (it makes it easier to cleanup).
If ventilation is an issue, you can add a super (shallow/medium) above the inner cover for a dead air space.
You could also notch the inner cover for an upper entrance (if so desired).
When combined together, the outter cover wll be raised enough not to imped the inner cover notch.
A little inner cover opening is easy to defend and should minimize robbing issues, while allowing ventilation and egress.