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Date: | Thu, 13 Jan 2022 17:10:16 -0500 |
Content-Type: | multipart/mixed |
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Yesterday, after two and a half weeks of abominably cold weather, where temperatures got stuck below -25C, I headed over to check on someone else's hives. In the fashion of the day, the owner had hermetically sealed the hives, leaving only a bottom entrance.
I've listened to people pontificate and speculate and philosophize about how top ventilation could be negatively affecting thermodynamics in the hive, with unclear impacts to colony health. I've always used two entrances for the simple reason that bees can get trapped in the hives by drifted snow or dead bees with only a bottom entrance. It's been convention for at least 40 years to have two entrances on the Prairies and that's the simple reason why.
Well, yesterday I was amazed to see nearly all of the bottom entrances on the person's ten hives completely sealed by ice from condensation during the cold snap. The bees were trapped in the hives, although shockingly still alive. The biggest impact seems to be the bottom boxes are so iced up the bees have effectively lost access to those food reserves. The ice has forced them into the top box, where they now sound like they're close to starving.
I do think its fascinating they have had no fresh air for quite some time but they haven't asphyxiated. But I feel like these photos should end the debate about whether an upper entrance is needed. It sure has for me.
Tracey
Alberta, Canada
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