Okay, if you knew me you’d know if have problems - but right now let’s only talk of two of my bee problems.
- Bug. I found a bug / roach? / beetle in my hive today. I think I’ve seen a relative before but never more than one at a time.
What is it? What should I do (if anything)?
Next, its been raining a bit this week.
B. Condensation. When I looked at my flow hive window it had lots of condensation and water droplets on it.
My hive entrance is fully open. I have the standard screened bottom board. I cut a one inch (2.5 cm) piece off the middle of a short side of the top cover. This gap is facing down. It has been like this from the start.
The girls had to stay inside due to rain yesterday and the temp dropped to 65 degrees F (18 degrees C). I did feel quite a warmth when I took the cover off.
Do I care about the moisture now? This could be an issue in the winter I guess. Also, won’t thus cause issues when making honey? (Also disappointed that there’s no nectar at all in flow frames. Boo hoo!
Hi, what you have there is a young cockroach, nothing to worry about. They will feed on detritus within the hive and is most likely there for the warmth. Next is the condensation, this is normal. If there is brood then the bees must keep the temperature at around 34C, this temp differential between warm moist air and cold outside air causes the water vapour in side the hive to revert back to liquid as soon as it touches anything cold.
Not sure of your location, if in Winter I would normally suggest a hive mat over the brood box, that warm air you felt when you took the lid off will take some time for the bees to regenerate and get the temp back up for the brood, bees can tolerate cold temps but the brood cannot. I don’t inspect unless the temp is above 20C and sunny, additionally the bees will consume more of their stores than normal to generate the heat needed in th brood chamber.
Do you notice any floral activity in your area, large flowering trees? This will help in determining if there is any chance of your Flow frames being filled. Its not been a great season where I am in Sydney apart from a bit of stringybark and scribbly gum, felling the weight of the hive, I can usually tell if honey is coming in but sadly it has not. I have resisted the urge to check the bees thus far but with spring just round the corner I am waiting for a warm day to check on them.
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I’ve had quite a bit of condensation like that in my flow boxes over winter. In the end I put the coreflute slider in the bottom slot to increase aeration and it has helped reduce the condensation. Another option would be to put fly screen over the hole in the inner cover - and possibly drill an air-hole into one of the A frame parts of the roof.
the roach is nothing to worry about- anytime I look under my flow roof there is generally one roach enjoying the warm flow attic space. They are harmless.
@Rodderick and @Semaphore, thanks for the replies. I am in New York, just north of New York City. This hive was stronger than my other for a while - or so I thought - but now appears to be the weaker. I do wonder if I had a swarm.
As a first year hive (and a first year beek) my main goal is to have this colony next spring. So while the flow is empty I’m not toooo disappointed.
Thanks for the roach and condensation info.
Well @lipinsky, I hope you have already gotten rid of these issues. Because last month I too had seen this type of pest in my backyard, I was also a bit confused of this post, then, later on consulting some professional pest control in Queens, New York City, they said that it is a roach and nothing to worry about it.
