If u have worm farms water and ice bottle them- last heatwave worm farms were decimated 
If you could set a hose with a super slow drip to top it up? I did that with a bird bath and had mint around it to catch the overflow at my old house.
I have an irrigation station dedicated for just the frog pond. It will top up once a week plus I manually top up from a rain water tank. With a bird bath it is more tricky. I’m always tweaking to minimise water wastage - it’s an oddly undervalued commodity for such a scarce resource over here. Rainfall is on steep downward trajectory year on year in Perth… this year being particular bad.
1 Like
Clever idea Jack…and you’re not only saving your hives with that idea…isn’t that cool when you get that positive feedback from from the bees?
2 Likes
Hey Jack, what’s the humidity there?
When we just had the warm spell it was around 20% and I didn’t see as many bees at the watering holes as I expected.
The bees moving to the wet towel is amazing. I remember as kids, mum putting a towel half in the pool half out to keep the bees out of the pool.
2 Likes
humidity is just 11% at the moment. Adelaide tends to be pretty dry in the summer months- but the last few years we have been having some higher humidity tropical feeling weather. This heatwave however is pure desert style- hot dry wind. The UV is off the charts and the sun feels very brutal- you burn in minutes.
2 Likes
I thought of you (and other beeks who lost hives from melt out last time) when I was told Adelaide was going to experience 46 C… glad to see the bees enjoying the drink.
The bush fires here have decimated a few commercial bee keeper apiaries. One guy I heard lost over 120 hives.
Stay cool and hydrated.
1 Like
just now it is 44c and suddenly the sky here is a muddy color and smells of smoke. It sure is nasty- the poor bees have had to put up with over 40c now for 4 days straight. I would be getting quite concerned now if I hadn’t supered them up and shaded them. Even as it is I imagine they are about as sick of the weather as I am- only they cannot come inside poor things. All of nature must be struggling- I cannot hear a single bird chirping outside. Not one! It’s deathly quiet except for the wind. I wonder where all the birds have gone? Bees must really be suffering all over Australia today. Hives have been swarming which is highly unusual- I think they may be more abscoding than proper swarms. I caught two this week and had many more calls I couldn’t go out to.
If all this doesn’t make our backward stupid government wake up nothing will. This is probably the new normal. Yesterday was the hottest day ever record as an average day for Australia- the day before was the previous record- today will probably break it again. We have been warned and warned by the experts- and lied to by the politicians who claim to represent us and who we pay! I have had enough of their lies- which have risen the the level of criminal negligence if you ask me.
5 Likes
The government is on holiday mate. Don’t expect anything to change. My only hope now is that there would be enough people that actually change things themselves.
2 Likes
Forcasting 48C here in the Mallee today, have put a bucket of water with towel in at front hive and shade cloth like your pics Semaphore, hoping they can survive.
Jack, remember while we point the finger, we have 3 pointing back at us. We can’t blame the government entirely. We’re all part of the problem & contribute to it. Some more than others, but we’re all guilty.
I have a little story: Wilma & I visited an Amish community in Ohio. We visited a working Amish house which was set up for visitors. We took a ride in an Amish buggy. I got talking to the Amish driver. The topic of fishing came up. The driver told me that a group of them go down to Miami once a year to charter a boat that takes them out deep sea fishing.
I’m sure Miami is too far for them to go by horse & buggy. Even the Amish contribute to the problem.
4 Likes
yes- we can not afford to wait for them- however one day- and it may be sooner than later- their denailism won’t hold up in the face of reality. How are they going to deny climate change when Sydney is choking in smoke every year? When the barrier reef is bleached to kingdon come? They may be able to afford to holiday in Hawaii- but when their business mates start telling them how much it is costing productivity- maybe then they will wake up.
The fact that Australia, the US and Brazil were just trying to water down the Paris accord last week- as all three countries are suffering from devastating wildfires- just goes to show how little we can trust them, and how stupid and short sighted they are. Of course it is all motivated by GREED- nothing else -certainly not science. They deny the science in favor of their greed. Well you can only do that for so long. The day of reckoning is coming.
3 Likes
yes- agreed we are all to blame.
But politicians stand up and say they want to represent us- and to lead us. When they deny the reality in front of them- their denial has far more affect than some individual denier typing away on a keyboard somewhere. They chose to lead- they get paid to lead- and they are lying to us. They are using dodgy accounting to (not) meet their C02 targets, they are blaming greenies, they deny the science. Just a few months ago the Morrison government claimed it had ‘saved the great Barrier Reef’- when in reality it’s situation has been downgraded to critical. They are keen to push the corrupt despicable Mr Adani project- and they are lying through their teeth about the jobs it will create.
I have no time anymore for politeness- or holding my tongue. I have friends with young children- what world will they have to live in? When is enough enough?
I am with David Attenborough- NOT Tony Abbot, the Koch Brother, Barnaby and Lord Monckton who can all go to hell.
As beekeeeprs in a way we are on the front line of all this- since 1970 75% of all the bugs in parts of germany have been wiped out! Do you remember the bugs on the windscreen last century Jeff? Today? How many? They are the canaries. We are the coal miners…
I may sound alarmist- but that is because this is an alarming situation! we are talking about the future of Life on Earth- ours included.
2 Likes
The government, of this country and elsewhere is entirely in charge of climate policy, and to whether take the indisputable advice from climate scientists, or greedy vested interest Jeff.
Even if we really want to be narrow sighted, climate change is not good news for beekeepers.
Our government, like some others of its ilk, are choosing to push climate denialism instead of acting. History books won’t be kind.
Hate me as you will, but after 30 years following the subject I don’t have time for climate change deniers anymore.
2 Likes
Hi Stefan, I don’t nor ever will hate you. I’m certainly not a climate change denialist. However I don’t blame the government entirely for the problem. I’m also a big fan of David Attenborough. The planet is in a mess. Did anyone watch “Drowning in Plastic” on SBS the other night? Very disturbing, to say the least.
Governments in democratic countries get into power because broadly speaking the majority of the population want them in there. As a civilized community, we have to go with what the majority wants.
Things might be better if the Greens were in power, but that’s not what the majority of the population wants.
1 Like
That is entirely true Jeff, and I was not having a go at you. Still, I blame this on governments as THEY have the power and resources to lead in any direction they want. And they are failing us abysmally. People ARE dying.
We can keep it on topic, and small target. Beehives are burning.
Unfortunately, climate change has become a political issue, when it should be a scientific and environmental one. Well, actually a humanitarian one… yet with the air con on and eyes planted on digital gizmos, some people barely notice the climate change.
Others are also getting disaster fatigue, and add to that the barrage of misinformation on facebook and other news crap sites … and swaying governments is more complicated than common sense makes you think.
I’ve been following this subject closely from when I was a teenager, and I tell you, when I see entire ecosystems being wiped out due to climate change, ecosystems that my kids will never be able to enjoy when they grow up, I get tears in my eyes and a bloody fire in my belly… especially when some people here on this forum say that ‘global warming’ is good for farming and generation Y are sensationalising this.
Gen Y and those after them have the most to loose. Boomers will be dead.
2 Likes
I don’t know what to say Stefan, we’re only here during a short window in time. In the lottery of life, we’re probably winners merely for the fact that we live in Australia for starters.
We observe what’s going on during our lifetime, however there’s nothing we can do to alter what will be written in the history books for future generations to read. I’m old enough to remember bread getting delivered with a horse & cart. Now it doesn’t get delivered at all. People who buy bread go to supermarkets to buy it. I used to ride a pushbike to school. Other kids went by bus. Now kids get delivered & picked up in mostly 4x4 station wagons, or similar.
The daily consumption of fossil fuel world wide must be staggering. A lot of it is purely for people’s enjoyment. Or shipping cheap Chinese junk all around the world, that mostly finishes up in land fill. Consumerism is a big part of the problems of today. Also people consuming food that was grown thousands of miles away. Then what about the millions of tons of plastic that makes it way into the oceans.
2 Likes
I mentioned a few posts above about putting a corflute cover over my hive. Thursday morning I went to a local real estate agent and they were happy for me to have some old signs.
It was an easy thing to fold one over the hive and position it with a bungee cord.
Thursday was stinking hot and here near the lake were we still around 44c. I took my laser thermo gun to the hive to measure some temperatures.
The solid treated pine legs of the frame were 48c!
The outside of the white board being hit by the sun was 44c.
The inside of the board and the hive outer was 42c.
The rear face of the flow frames in the extraction door were 38c.
This is the eastern side of the hive, photo taken through the window of the shade house.
This is the western side. The magnolia tree to the left shades the hive from about 11am to 2 or 3pm.
4 Likes
That’s excellent Kim. Your site may be more protected than mine, but just be careful from wind - you’ve got a mighty sail there.
That looks really good Kim and must help in keeping the internals of the hive cooler, and that is going to become a bigger issue in time. Brilliant and simple.
Cheers