what is going on (#2)

[Brian Gould]

Should I be worried?

[h. adam steinberg]

Quick answer, they do that when it’s really hot. Others will give more details.

Consider removing that queen excluder. Do a search of the madbee list on google, you’ll find that almost no one uses them.

> On Jun 18, 2018, at 8:52 PM, 'Brian Gould' via madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
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> Should I be worried?
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> Brian W. Gould
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[Myke]

Google "bearding". Everyone's bees look similar to that lately with the extreme high temperatures. 

[John Thompson]

Also try increasing the ventilation. I put popsicle thin sticks under the inner cover on mine. Seems to help a lot.

[Paul Zelenski]

Giving them more space and/or more ventilation might help, but it is nothing to worry about. Especially since it looks like it’s going to cool off soon. 

PS, Queen excluders are fine if you use them correctly, but can also cause difficulties. It is also possible to manage your hives successfully without them. 

[Tom Borchardt]

I use nickels for extra ventilation.  I usually have some in my pocket, so they are handy, and just about the right thickness.

Tom B

[Paul Zelenski]

I use sticks. They’re everywhere. 

[marvin]

No, you shouldn't be worried...but, you seem a bit under-ventilated.  Sticks at the top are a good suggestion, but I'd try to do something at the middle levels as well.   The approach I take is to put a wine cork sized hole in each of those boxes which permits better ventilation and more rapid entrance and unloading for field bees.  Holes also get around the negative aspects of queen excluders.  And if you have a source for wine corks, you can easily close the boxes off if you need to.  I leave them open year round, including winter, and they help a lot with dissipating winter moisture.

Another trick is is to offset the boxes about 3/4 of an inch which provides both a chimney effect and a rapid entrance for the bees. 

Saying all that, no matter how well you ventilate, you're going to see bearding during  hot, humid summer days. especially with a booming hive. 

[Greg V]

In a similar case, I suggested to a guy to just place a block of rigid Styrofoam on top of his hive.

It was sufficient.

Bearding stopped and did not come back.

His hive was in direct sun, to be sure (with burning hot top cover and no insulation under it).

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[marvin]

I don't know if insulation is the way to go in summer.  I would think air flow is more desirable than a set termperature.  You have all that uncapped honey in there that needs to dry down, plus metabolic moisture from the large bee population.  Any help you can give the bees to move air (and moisture out) is to their advantage.  

[John Thompson]

What you could do is make the sheet of insulation (extruded, not styrofoam, less messy) larger than your cover, put it between cover and brick that holds the cover on. Provides shade as well as insulation in top of cover.

On Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 11:13 AM marvin <marvin...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't know if insulation is the way to go in summer.  I would think air flow is more desirable than a set termperature.  You have all that uncapped honey in there that needs to dry down, plus metabolic moisture from the large bee population.  Any help you can give the bees to move air (and moisture out) is to their advantage.  

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[Joseph Bessetti]

The bees are really good at directing air flow for purposes of removing moisture, or cooling the hive,  but only when they can control it.  

If the problem is bearding, and insulation on top fixes it, then that sounds like the perfect solution to me.  In that case the lack of ventilation is only secondary to the top of the hive being too hot.  Address the root of the problem.

Providing more ventilation only makes it harder for the bees to maintain optimal conditions throughout the hive as temperatures fluctuate over days and weeks.

Joe

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[marvin]

"Providing more ventilation only makes it harder for the bees to maintain optimal conditions throughout the hive as temperatures fluctuate over days and weeks."

So where do screened bottom boards fit in?  That's the pinnacle of increasing ventilation for the summer and (depending on your top openings) probably leads to the widest daily temperature fluctuations. 

[john smith]

We have been using what we call a vent shim on the top of all of our hives including the nucs. It is basically a 2-3/4 inch shim, the size of a box or super, with three 1 inch holes on two sides. The holes are covered with 1/8 inch screen on the inside of the shim. The vent shim is placed in between the inner cover and the telescoping cover.
This is an idea we came up with and use it along with screen bottom boards to allow for better ventilation.
Of course we remove the vent shims in the fall.
The bees have never built comb in the vent shims as some had predicted.

[Joseph Bessetti]

I don't use screened bottom boards.  As far as I'm concerned they shouldn't be used unless the space below them is entirely enclosed rather than open to wind/drafts from outside the hive.

Joe

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-------- Original message --------

From: marvin <marvin...@gmail.com>

Date: 6/19/18 20:58 (GMT-06:00)

To: madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [madbees] Re: what is going on (#2)

"Providing more ventilation only makes it harder for the bees to maintain optimal conditions throughout the hive as temperatures fluctuate over days and weeks."

So where do screened bottom boards fit in?  That's the pinnacle of increasing ventilation for the summer and (depending on your top openings) probably leads to the widest daily temperature fluctuations.