Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Arkwood on June 12, 2013, 09:09:46 pm
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There must be a point where a hive of bees can't cool a hive fast enough or is there? What is the max temp Bees just can't keep eggs, larva and all at 93F because it's to darn hot? Can it very depending on dry heat vs humid (Arizona Vs Florida)?
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It happens when water and/or ventilation is insufficient, or when bee numbers are too low.
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Bees cool the hive by evaporative cooling and we know swamp coolers don’t work very well in humid Florida. Last summer it was probably as hot, or hotter, in Michigan in July/Aug (Record heat for us). My bees were in polystyrene boxes with nothing more than a small top entrance or a small bottom entrance for ventilation. The top entrance hives really did the best since the hottest air could flow out the top and not be trapped inside the hive. Not much bearding in those top entrance hives. The polystyrene kept out radiate heat from the sun which is pretty significant in the summer. 100’s of watts of energy.
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I'm in Florida and the bees simply beard to regulate the temps. Mine have been bearding heavy every evening with the work force returning and by morning less than a cup of bees on the front.
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>There must be a point where a hive of bees can't cool a hive fast enough or is there? What is the max temp Bees just can't keep eggs, larva and all at 93F because it's to darn hot?
It becomes a issue both with too little ventilation and if you give them TOO MUCH ventilation and they can't control it anymore.
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SO I'm going to take a wild guess and say, if no bearding is seen on the hottest days then it either means there is plenty of ventilation and or there is too much ventilation.
To confirm all I would have to do is check the frames and making sure everything is thriving (Cap brood, larva etc...) insures the ventilation is good. However if checking what would a sign of too much ventilation show? not much cap brood and larva etc?
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>SO I'm going to take a wild guess and say, if no bearding is seen on the hottest days then it either means there is plenty of ventilation and or there is too much ventilation.
I've never been sure what it means when there is no bearding. Maybe it's a good sign. Maybe it's not. At one time that was my goal. More and more I'm suspecting that bearding is normal and maybe if I get them not to beard I may have made things harder on them...
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>SO I'm going to take a wild guess and say, if no bearding is seen on the hottest days then it either means there is plenty of ventilation and or there is too much ventilation.
I've never been sure what it means when there is no bearding. Maybe it's a good sign. Maybe it's not. At one time that was my goal. More and more I'm suspecting that bearding is normal and maybe if I get them not to beard I may have made things harder on them...
Being a second year beek I have observed that when you add a super it tends to help cool the hive a bit or at least keeps them inside a bit but shortly after the bearding builds back up with the temps. Amazing to see what seems like half the hive hanging out the box right now with temps in the 90's. The least stronger hives don't beard as much until numbers increase.
Blanc
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>SO I'm going to take a wild guess and say, if no bearding is seen on the hottest days then it either means there is plenty of ventilation and or there is too much ventilation.
I've never been sure what it means when there is no bearding. Maybe it's a good sign. Maybe it's not. At one time that was my goal. More and more I'm suspecting that bearding is normal and maybe if I get them not to beard I may have made things harder on them...
I think you are right on this. A bees natural nest is about 1.2 to 2m tall. when it gets hot they move down . Outside just above the entrance the smell of the hive is strong and on a warm day this is like being still inside the hive.