David Tharle's experience is similar to ours in the mountains of MT. I stopped using top entrances years ago. As Randy know, we set our research hives on top of stands to keep skunks from feeding on bees (they are poor climbers).
We do wrap in roofing felt to block cold winds, and we reduce the bottom entrances. We tend to be rather dark (not a lot of sun) in winter, so we want maximum radiant energy on sunny days, so the cluster can move, if needed.
One recent post talked about wrapping, with straw used to insulate hives. Adding straw proved to be a bad idea. As snow melted, water at times would seep under the wrappings. Then when it turned cold again, it would freeze into a block of ice, that later melted, creating a wet blanket effect.
Lots of us old-timers found the straw on top of hive covers and/or around the hive, under the wrapping material, to be more of a problem than a benefit.
As per ventilation - I've run bees on both coasts. In these areas, especially next to bodies of water, condensation under the lid can be a real problem. Lots of folks in these areas use shims or put small rocks under one end of hive covers to hold them open. Migratory lids sitting a full inch open are not uncommon, and slated bottom boards are common in some of these regions.
I once killed several colonies of bees in MD, moving them with entrance screens. They died in less than 20 minutes, one hot, humid night. It looked like it had rained inside the hives.
In MT, like David reports for his area, we tend to have dry winters. We usually don't have a moisture problem, unless we leave wrappings on too late in spring.
For those who say - you have to have an upper entrance, I point out, a feral colony in a tree in western Montana in the fall will use propolis to close their entrance hole down to the size of one bee. The combs are usually oriented across the entrance, so that any wind coming through the entrance hole is blocked by the surface of the outside comb. All combs are attached to the roof and sides of the cavity. There's no place for air to circulate above the combs.
I have always wondered why standard beekeeping boxes hang combs with the frames perpendicular to the entrance, and why the entrance is at the bottom. In windy areas, that's a bad design, channels the wind right into the cluster. Given a choice, the bees generally turn their combs so that the comb face, not end, is toward the entrance. I should also note, during nectar flows, if there is a top entrance, such as a slot in an inner cover or a bore hole in the honey super, or a warped migratory cover, the nectar gatherers often by-pass the bottom entrance.
Jerry
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
