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Author Topic: Screened Inner Cover  (Read 8245 times)

Offline twodogs

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Screened Inner Cover
« on: June 01, 2011, 01:56:24 am »
Hi all,
New guy here. I have 2 new Hives I started from Nucs 2 weeks ago. Using all 8 frame mediums with 1 deep on bottoms.
I have added hive top feeders to both mainly to get some Honey-B-Healthy into them and to assist with all the new comb they must make.
They are nice bees to work with so-far and I see them bringing in a lot of pollen.
It is starting to warmup a bit here in Mass. and I was concerned about the temp inside the hive.
With these Brushy Mountain feeders the inner cover is left off and the telescoping cover is directly on top leaving no ventillation thru the top.
So, I had ordered a couple Screened Inner Covers from Brushy Mtn. and I installed them today on top of the Top Feeders. This gives a Lot of Ventillation but no access in or out..(afraid of robbing).
An hour or so after installing these screens I noticed on my usually quieter hive an awful Lot of activity ...in the air, at the entrance and all around this hive...
I was afraid I had started a robbing situation but it all quited down after a while and the bees just acted normally again within a relatively short time. I did not see any fighting on the front porch at the entrance..(medium size hole being used).
and the other hive next to it was just carrying on as usual.
I even put my new bee suit on and just sat and watched them up close for a while to be sure...All looked ok..
What do think happened?
Thanks guys,
God Bless,
Paul
Using 8 frame medium hives, with 1 bottom deep.

Offline Jim134

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2011, 06:14:08 am »
Hope to see you at the Massachusetts Beekeeper's Association Annual Field Day

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,23082.0.html





       BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Offline Jim134

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2011, 06:26:08 am »
<An hour or so after installing these screens I noticed on my usually quieter hive an awful Lot of activity ...in the air, at the entrance and all around this hive...>


 About what time of day was it  :?
 Was the sun out or in  :?
 What was the temp.  :?
 Was at a good flying for bees  :?
 Was it raining  :?         


         BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2011, 08:32:00 am »
Probably orientation flights and nothing to be concerned about. I would think that you would be beginning your flow in Mass and typically robbing isnt too bad during that time. I tried the screened inner covers once.the bees propolized the screen completely over.

Offline twodogs

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2011, 02:43:22 pm »
Jim and Volunteer,
Thanks for your help. To answer your questions,

About what time of day was it    ........Around 3-4 pm.

Was the sun out or in   .........Sun was out, nice day, light wind.
 
What was the temp.   ........70's

 Was at a good flying for bees   .........Light wind, nice day.
 
Was it raining .........No, it was really nice for man and beast. 

My 2 Hives are elevated about 14" on blocks and planks with about 3' between them.
The other  hive seemed unaffected by the addition of the screened ventillation given them.   
I guess I am looking for reassurance that feeding a new colony is a help for them and not the reverse.

Thank's again,
paul   

Using 8 frame medium hives, with 1 bottom deep.

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2011, 02:56:51 pm »
they may have thought they could access that feeder through the top.  figured out they couldn't.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Jim134

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2011, 03:09:43 pm »
<An hour or so after installing these screens I noticed on my usually quieter hive an awful Lot of activity ...in the air, at the entrance and all around this hive...>


 About what time of day was it  :?
 Was the sun out or in  :?
 What was the temp.  :?
 Was at a good flying for bees  :?
 Was it raining  :?        


         BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)


  Orientation flights are about 11:00 AM to about 3:00 PM on a nice day.


    BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Offline Grieth

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2011, 04:47:32 pm »
Mine seem to like to take a very excited joy flight after they suck up some sugar water, sounds like yours are doing the same.
"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kingsā€
Lewis Carroll

Offline twodogs

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2011, 01:38:25 am »
hi,
Today while I was checking the top feeders to see how much syrup they had left I noticed on one hive that there was a Large cluster of bees just hanging upside down on the screened inner cover just over the slot they use top access the feeder...?
What are they doing?
Not aggressive, calm..I just closed them up & scratched my head?
The other hive was not doing this.
90 degrees + today.
Oh, I still have the entrance reduced to the medium size entrance hole due to still feeding, this ok?
One more, should my SBB mite board be in or out?

Paul
Using 8 frame medium hives, with 1 bottom deep.

Offline tillie

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2011, 07:46:13 am »
Orientation flying at my hives generally takes place between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. 

It's fun to watch if you can stand to the side of the hive.  The bees fly up and out, turn and look at the hive and then fly back to the entry.  They do it over and over.  When I first saw it, I thought a swarm was happening.  Now I know to just watch and enjoy!

I have several ventilated hive covers that I use in the summer.  The bees do like to propolize them, but they really help with ventilation. 

I helped a friend remove some hives from someone's house who had neglected the hives for five years.  Each hive had a ventilated cover and each ventilated cover could no longer call itself that because it was solid with propolis. 

I like them for ventilation but don't like it that I have to remember to replace them with solid inner covers as winter approaches.

Linda T in Atlanta

Offline SmokeEater2

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2011, 12:00:59 pm »
Linda T, I've had the same experience with the screened inner cover I have on one of my hives. They started covering it with propolis so I removed it and cleaned as much of it off as I could and reinstalled it and they did it again.

 Apparently my bees don't see the need for a screened inner cover so I just use solids now.

Offline twodogs

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2011, 12:33:13 pm »
Hi Linda & Smokeeater,

New guys are a pain aren't we?
I have no propolis as yet on the screened inner covers.

Also saw a little bearding for the first time around 10:30 am on my smaller hive, it was only 75 degrees.
Was this bearding? A staggard line of bees about 4" wide and about 8" high on the front of box.?

I looked inside and saw no unusual activity in the feeders and I removed the inspection boards from the SBB.It's supposed to be 95-99 degrees today

Still wondering what that hanging on the screened inner cover was.Any Ideas?
Paul
Using 8 frame medium hives, with 1 bottom deep.

Offline tillie

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Re: Screened Inner Cover
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2011, 12:57:10 pm »
Probably what you saw on the inner cover were bees bearding/fanning the hive as they would do if you had a slatted rack on your hive above the SBB. 

Definitely when it is hot you don't want the insert in your SBB - blocks ventilation. 

A bee beard can bee some bees on the front of your hive or bees covering the entire front of the hive, depending on how hot it is - they keep the hive at 92 degrees so if a lot of bees are outside, they need to be there to help keep the temp constant on the inside.

Linda T in Atlanta

 

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