In message <[log in to unmask]>, Automatic digest
processor <[log in to unmask]> writes
>Aaron Morris wrote:
>>
>> The discussion of width of hive opening has touched on ventillation,
>> which has also been discussed a bit on this list.
 
Ventilation is not the same as draught. How many of you open a window
for ventilation, but find there's a draught if someone opens a door at
the same time?
A friend of mine (also a beekeeper) lives in an old house with bee-boles
(for the unknowing, recesses in walls where straw skeps were kept out of
the rain and other inclement weather).
In the cellar of the house were found 'bee slates' that the hives stood
on. These are usually made of wood, but being about 800 meters from the
largest slate quarry in Europe, it must have been easier to use the
local materials.
From memory, the slates are about 450-500mm in diameter, with a lip for
the bees to land on. The unusual thing about them is that they have a
hole about 150mm diameter in the centre. No one knows what the holes are
for, but bottom ventilation would seem a good bet.
Any other suggestions for them?
 
--
Tom Speight