How are you finding the quilt boxes?
I built a couple of quilt boxes and put onto my hives a week ago and instantly the humidity in the supers has dropped from the mid to high 90’s to about 75% whilst temperature in the super has increased from about 15 to 25 Celsius. The temperature and humidity in the (single) brood box has remained constant throughout at about 28 C and 65%.
so far so good. The chips are getting moist and then drying out and the amount of condensation in the viewing windows has decreased markedly. I don’t have the ability to read the humidity levels and temps like you so it’s good to hear your results. Also i don’t want to open up the hives much to look deeper as we have been having a very very cold winter. I plan to add some wool as a bottom layer beneath the woodchips when I get a nice warm day. I have just been reading about how wool releases heat when it gets wet- through a chemical process- they call it ‘heat via sorbtion’. I am hoping to turn it to good use helping the bees.
I have made three more and will add them to other hives once I have hot dipped them. I think I will be leaving them on hives in summer too as I am hoping they will help reduce radiant heat from the top of the hives.
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Yes it is bloody cold in Adelaide at the moment (I’m at Aberfoyle Park).
It will be interesting to see how you go in summer with the boxes on. I was planning on taking mine off. I have read that in the warmer months the bees chew through the cotton base.
How was that fog the last few days, eh? I am in Croydon Park. I put a metal fly screen mesh on mine- and then a layer of cotton to stop drafts. next time I will use pieces of a woolen blanket. I am just hoping the moisture will travel through the wool fast enough for the quilts to work. So sick of this endless cold- and so looking forward to spring!
We took out the plug in the inner cover last week and now as you have described the inside of the roof is now very damp to the touch. We’ve been taking it off each day while the sun is on the hive and letting it dry out. The condensation in the windows dissipates while the sun is on the hive but soon returns when it’s back in the shade. How cold does it have to be to put a quilt on a hive, what do they look like?
I made a few holes in the roofs of my flow hives to allow that moisture to escape. I made my quilt boxes just liek the ones pictured above only I made them a little deeper and used metal fly screen. So far they seem to be working and reducing moisture levels in the hives.
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