Summer is the beacon of the beekeeping year , calling to us from every other time of year , with hopes of nectar flow andsurplus honey , winter queen regnant and goodish brood . Everything we do in other parts of the year is to digest the work the bees do in summertime . When it come to beehive ventilation system , the winter rules are light : Give your hive enough airing to rid the interior of condensation because sloshed , cold bee are dead bees , and no one wants that .
The rules of summer beehive ventilation are a little fuzzier , and they get muzzy still depending on where you live . When we project our own human level of ease onto our little bee charge , we walk a fine line of acting out of pity or work out of knowledge and awareness . When you see your bees bearding at the front of the hive in early - August , when temperatures are in the 80s or 90s Fahrenheit , what do you cerebrate ? Are you apprehensive for them ? Think it ’s too hot ? That they are uncomfortable or , worse , choke ?
You might take natural process to cool down the beehive down , out of concern for their well being . Or , you might consider that brood is reared between 89.6 and 92.6 degree Fahrenheit , and that balmy summer Clarence Day means nanny and home bees do n’t have to run as hard to keep the temperature warm enough for rearing brood . Their goal , then , is perhaps to reduce the temperature small by small , and this might intend a few thousand of their Sister sleep outside , or take their rest on the hive ’s front entrance .
look at , too , that condensing plays a tumid character in the success of a summertime beehive and might hurt from unreasonable beehive external respiration . Typically , forager bee are conduct everyday flights , to find ambrosia of course , but also to forage for water . Water is critical in the beehive ( just as it is for us ) , and condensation might offer a most effortless generator of that precious imagination . The well - mean beekeeper might see condensation and remember the hive is drowning in its own heat — but unless you see other alarming signaling , it ’s best to trust the bees on this one .
Knowing these important point help us create a spry list of things to do — and not to do — regarding summer beehive ventilating system .
1. Inspect Hives Mindfully
Conduct inspectionsas common , but know how your action affect the bees . We apiarist have chosen to put these bees into the hive reconstruct for them , so it is our responsibleness to monitor them and ply care as needed . That said , keep in creative thinker that each inspection sets the hive ’s output back . It claim roughly a week for the bee to ameliorate the “ harm ” we do with a wide-eyed inspection . So audit only when you have a purpose in mind .
2. Reduce The Entrance
Bees like modest entrances . It is traditional exercise to remove the front entrance reductant during a honey flow ( to allow bees leaving and pass from foraging flight to come and go more expeditiously ) , but it also makes the hive ’s temperature harder to regulate , and the hive firmly to defend .
3. Don’t Try To Cool The Hive
New enquiry suggests that varroa tinge do n’t manage for the oestrus and humidness of a honeybee beehive . They also do n’t like the wetness from the condensation . It ’s potential the bee understand this on some stratum , and we might do well to intrust their judgment .
4. Leave Cross-Comb In Place
bad-tempered - comb is the stacked comb built between frame , connecting them sheer . A raw apiculturist might snap open a beehive and see this pattern and think , “ This does n’t look tidy ! ” ( and proceed to clean house it up ) or “ What were they opine ? ” or “ Why are they have this harder on me ? ” In fact , the cross - comb is a support structure , strengthening the exist cockscomb in the hot , wet condition of the summer beehive .
I often advise apiarist to trust their instinct when faced with challenge in the hive . But it ’s deserving rethinking that sentiment , especially forbeginning beekeepers , weigh there ’s a lot to understand about the Apis mellifera ’s behavior and habit to back up that human instinct . As in every area of apiculture , do your best to understand the mind and behavior of the honeybeebeforemaking the decision to interfere — after all , bees ’ instincts about what they need are far superior to ours .
