Hi. I am asking about hive ventilation. Unfortunately a lot of what I read doesn’t apply to where I live. Where I live we have very mild winters. I live about 150km north of where Cedar and Stuart are located and I am hoping for some local knowledge here.
I have the WRC hive and I have noticed that the Hoop Pine Flow Hive has the logo cut right through on the top. Is this to allow for ventilation as this product is for the Australian market? And if this is the case do I need to put a ventilation hole in my WRC version. All of the Langstroth hives locally have up to 4 ventilation holes in their lids.
I installed a Nuc in January and I am still waiting for the brood box to fill out to 80%. Other hives around me have moved a lot faster with a second brood box on already. Is this a problem associated with poor ventilation or just a lazy Queen?
Today 28/3/16 expected temps (Celsius)are 20deg min 30deg Max.
The most important thing for me is. Should I add ventilation?
Thank you
Hocking, if the close locals have extra holes I might be prone to doing that too ! Sorry but I am dealing with ventilation n moisture issues here ! I live near Seattle in the States. I try to follow somewhat what local beekeeper are doing successfully.
Not sure about the progress of your colony n hive. I just spent all day on Saturday helping in an aquIntance at his apiary. We have just entered Spring and each of his hive were at different levels.
I’m returning back to raising bees after away from the hobby for 55 years. I spent this winter gathering n building four complete 10 frame Langstroth n 2 five frame double super Nuc hives … I only have 3 new Nuc’s of bees coming our mid April but wanted extras around for future needs.
Not sure I even came close to helping you. Do you currently have fresh layed eggs as well as all stages of brood… Is your brood pattern really spotty ? And do you have a lot of worker bees to do all jobs in the hive, defending the entrance n foraging ? Just tossing you a few questions to think about. When you get into your hive for next inspection check all these things out each time. You might take few clean pix’s if you have a phone camera or just a camera. Others looking at your collection of pix’s might see problems. And if you can get another beekeeper over to look at your colony that might be helpful too.
Take care bro. Nice to meet/text ya!
Gerald in the States.
Hi Paul, I’m a bit further North again at Buderim. You don’t need any extra ventilation. The bees normally propolize those vents in the lids over. The only vent required is the actual bottom entrance. The bees will do the rest.
It’s hard comparing the strength of colonies, because each colony is a secret society. One colony might find a terrific nectar source & the other wont. That will put that colony behind the eight ball, so to speak.
I never think of a queen as being “lazy”. The queen is governed by how much food she is fed & how many cells the house bees prepare for her to lay in. The queen is basically just an egg laying machine. If she doesn’t perform to the hives expectations, she’ll be done away with & replaced.
Thank you everyone for your replies it has help me in many ways. I will leave the hive to maintain their own temp, and I will just watch and learn from there.
I will make sure I take photos next time I open the hive to share with you all. Thanks again.