Absolutely.
My experiment is over, though we still have a few more days in the high 30s. What I take from it is that ventilation is counterproductive and in this hot dry climate, insulation trumps ventilation.
My shade solution was staring me in the face - use the vented roof on top of a non vented migratory lid.
Whether down the track, in winter maybe, I’ll have a condensation problem I’ll deal with it then.
hey Numbat- last year in adelaide we had a heat wave on and on one day temps hit 47c at some places in Adelaide. On that day I lost two hives- both were single broods with no supers in an exposed location. They both had fresh comb with nectar in it- which collapsed setting off a chain reaction killing both hives. Around the state on that day thousands of hives died. I saw one apiary where maybe 50 Nucs had all melted down. It was in the media. I noticed that in almost every case I heard of the hives that died were all single box hives. Basically they roast in the sun. The lid become so hot- the bees cannot bring in water fast enough to cool the hive. Once honey leaks the chain reaction starts.
I think hives can tolerate temps up to 43c pretty well. But over that all bets are off- and especially so for single brood hives. We are looking at an entire week here in Adelaide over 40c- so yesterday I went around and covered all of my hives in shade cloth. Shade cloth can really help a hive in full sun- when it is 40c in the shade it can be well over 50 in the full sun.
I agree that upper ventilation may be couter-productive in high temps as it can create a chimney affect int the hive and stop the bees from being able to regulate temps with evaporative cooling. Insulation in the roof and/or shade on the hive will definately help the bees stay cool- and protect the fragile combs near the roof from melting down.
Hey Jack do you have any insight on why that is the case? I can only speculate that double brood hives (plus super) have more bee numbers to bring in water - but they also have a larger volume to regulate.
At this stage my hives are still building the numbers to fill the first brood box. I think putting an empty brood box between the crown board and lid will also somewhat help in extreme heat.
Yesterday it hit 43°C briefly here on my property but the heat is relentless now for days. They may ‘tolerate’ that heat, but I can only assume it doesn’t mean they are comfortable. It’s a lot of work and stress to cool the hive down.
I think the main reason is that the roof gets so hot baking in the sun- and if the box is crowded- these factors combine and the humidity in the box gets very high. I think if humiidty gets too high the bees cannot effectively cool via evaporative cooling. I think in a larger hive there is more room, the bees can spread out, and the heat from the top is limited to a smaller area. Also the brood is lower down and more protected.
the hives i had that died were both very full- and I had planned to add supers to them the next week. That was the critical factor- that the hives were so full of bees. Had they been half empty I think they would have made it.
adding that extra box- and/or covering the hives in cloth will definitely help them if you ask me. Anything to keep the worst of the radiant heat off the brood chamber. If the hives are easily accessed and you are around- i would even put a towel over the hive with either end in a bucket of water. You will see how the bees love you for that as they suck the water out of the towel. It’s amazing to see how many bees start collecting water over 40c. On those days there are bees everywhere in my yard drinking water from everywhere they can find it. The easier the access- and the nearer the hive- the less work for them.
So its currently 1130am and 37deg now. This time yesterday it was only 32 and they were bearding like crazy. closing the middle entrance must have definitely helped airflow. i will set up my future hives in the configuration. the onky other thing i might do is build and addition roof that sits over the current one so that takes all the heat instead of using the wet towel.
Can you have just two small entrances open on opposing ends on your contraption John?
Yes thats it. it has 3 discs all with 3 differebt settings. either fully open (think its about 55mm entrance). reduced entrance (wasp guard) or shut and can configure it any way you like. i just had then set to all open as i wasnt sure what i should do really. but now ive left the 2 outside ones to full open and the middle one to full closed. ive kept the oil traps in below too so there is no ventilation from underneath.
(now with photos)
Cheers
I’ve been doing some theorizing.
If we look at bees in the natural world, they naturally choose hollows in trees. Our bee boxes are mainly about 20mm thick. I think very few trees that contain a hollow would have a wall thickness of only 20mm. I would imagine that tree wall thickness’s would be much greater than 20mm.
What about the top of the cavity, or top of the hive. It usually has the rest of the tree above it with lots of shade - fully shaded.
Then I think about the hives we put our bees into: In reality, can anyone imagine why a colony would voluntarily move into an unoccupied langstroth beehive if it was sitting out in full sun on a couple of pieces of wood sitting on some besser blocks. I can’t imagine that happening.
More likely the super adds insulative value. I looked through the windows of the hives yesterday, north side, during the heat of the day and it was void of bees. I may have panicked had all the sun hives not been the same.
Really surprised at the lack of bearding recently. Perhaps, as the weather is warm, more bees were out and about as they didn’t need to keep the brood warm?
I was expecting bearding during the day but haven’t seen any at all on my hives during this heatwave. Not even a stubble.
I thought that’s because my hives are still building up the numbers and not as crowded inside.
Only bearding I saw was during the night and when I check at 5am the bees are already out and about.
The main time I get bearding is after sunset when all the foraging bees are back to the hive so over crowding and too much heat in the hive is an issue. The hotter the night the more bearding so I figure it is very internal hive temperature related.
Cheers Greg
I watched Fredrick Dunn on youtube conduct an experiment on feeding bees water in the dearth and droughts. So I use the salt water because I found his experiment convincing. https://youtu.be/KS9rMDKvH_I
Nice link Martha… I heard of a story (back in the horse and buggy days) where honeybees attacked working horses…bees filling their nostrils…and actually killing them. I think this discussion sheds a different light on that story…perhaps it wasn’t the viciousness of the bees stinging the horses…just their desire for salt/minerals.
When I ran some leaf cutter bees for commercial alfalfa seed production, fresh nesting equipment was always sprayed down with bleach (like how we coat new FH frames with wax). It was the dried residue/smell that seemed to attract them…lots to learn about those little winged critters.
Interesting Martha thanks for sharing.
I got amused with the Fredrick Dunn merchandise. Is he some sort of rockstar in the beekeeping circles? Was tempted to buy a Fredrick Dunn coffee mug for just 21 aussie bucks and 97 cents, and send it to Jeff. But then I cheaped out.
He’s a combo of old fashioned and experimental. He also is a flowhive fan.
Fred Dunn is a great presenter and it’s funny to think of him as a rock star. 
His presentation is always calm and measured and his answers are very complete in his Q&A sessions.
He’s got a background in art, has been some sort of teacher, does lots of stuff on keeping chickens, and is also a photographer - he mentioned in a recent video about heading off to do a baby shoot afterwards.
He makes it clear that his YT vids are for beginner beekeepers and deflects questions that he considers more advanced than his intention. And interestingly, it seems he does not raise bees as a commercial enterprise but to study them and understand how they do their stuff.
The merchandise is fairly recent, and all the art is his own work.
I worked 20 years in marketing in a previous life, a job that I hated, and I’m always bemused by the ways people come up with to make an extra quid.
He must be really respectable, to believe he can sell mugs with his name as a beekeeping guru. The funny thing is that I may have seen his videos before and didn’t notice his name, but now that I find this merchandise curious, I will remember him.
The problem is not him, but me. I am really crap at selling. In fact, I am dreading having too much excess honey that I might have to sell it. I only know how to give it away for free.
The honey will sell itself. You just have to weigh it out & take the money. You’ll meet mostly nice people. You meet the odd not so nice people. However mostly nice.
A lady presented us with a beautiful oil painting she did for us of a bee. I should take a photo of it to share on “bee photos”.
“Ask for money” ← and that’s the bit I’m not good at. I would rather exchange it with other produce, but this neighbour hood is not that hip.
Look, if I was tasked with starting civilisation from scratch, I’ll make some changes, and will definitely make do without money.
I love the barter system as well. When you think about it, exchanging goods for money is the perfect barter system. I treat people like I like to be treated myself. I offer goods at a reasonable price on a bring your own container basis. I’d like to buy honey like that if I was shopping for it & cut out the middle man.
Gumtree & Facebook are fantastic tools for getting the message out when you need to. If you consistently offer a good product, people will keep coming back.
I never give honey to neighbors, if they want it, they come & buy it from me.
The thing about bartering for money is: money doesn’t spoil if you finish up with a surplus.
