I am still playing with top setup. Both hives have top vents but they are a bit different. In both bees are allowed to adjust size of the vent as they like.
One (at the front) has plywood inner cover with cut-out and mesh cover:
Another (blue at the back) has full mesh cover and I put a mat on top of it. I did it before winter as I thought such opening will be too large for cold weather and left it there:
Now, at 20:50 the outline of the beard is the same but contains more bees. I cannot see surface through them. Again, this happens when the temperature is around 40°C.
I wonder what is going on inside the hive for the bees to combat the heat rising up through the screened floor. I know a local lady using Blue boards, which are screened got excess condensation in her roof with a strong colony. Whereas I get minimal condensation in my roof with a strong colony, while I get more condensation in the roof with a weak colony. The stronger a colony is, the more efficient they are at regulating the optimum hive temp.
In our climate, I think, one needs to put a special effort to get condensation in warm/hot part of the year. Winter is a different story.
Again, I am not trying to say that it is an ideal setup. It is a compromise between various limitations. Climate, product availability, what I can afford⌠It works well within those constrains. If I could expand my apiary, first thing I would try is better insulated hives to see if +30% cost of it is justifiable. In this case my approach to ventilation may change too. It is all about adaptation.
Hereâs a couple of pics which show the importance of having a good supply of water close and handy for the girls. This is a brand new super which hasnât been on this young colony for long. I have noticed how they put water in the cells on hot days. Itâs clearly visible as water in a brand new frame but hard to distinguish from nectar in previously used frames.
I would argue that theyâre storing nectar/honey in the honey cells. One of the colors of honey is white, on the extreme end of the light colored honey, which looks almost like water.
They certainly do deposit water, however I donât believe itâs in the honey cells. They deposit it in the passage ways so they can fan over it in order to evaporate it, in the cooling process.
If was a betting man I would load up on this one. Weâre in a real dearth at the moment and also it only ever happens on days over 38deg. there is absolutely no colour to it whatsoever. I donât want to open the hive to confirm when they are already working hard to maintain the temp. Last night by the time it had cooled back to 30 deg there was no sign of the water anymore. So my conclusion at this point is water. ( My wife has informs me that I have been wrong before though).
Youâre probably right Tim, especially seeing that it was gone by the end of the day. I learned something new today. They must store it to use later on as water becomes scarce, especially seeing as they canât gather it after dark. I see bees at my water chestnut plants really gulping it down when itâs hot.
People often ask me how the bees cope during hot weather. Itâs hard to answer the question without going into great detail. I guess the short answer would be âthey cope well as long as they have access to waterâ.
