Finished the Ph.D...

[user 6228]

Completed the viva to day. I was awarded PhD subject to fixing typos.
Thesis "Thermofluid engineering of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) nest"
School of Mechanical Engineering
University of Leeds

cheers

 

[fian]

 

[pargyle]

Completed the viva to day. I was awarded PhD subject to fixing typos.
Thesis "Thermofluid engineering of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) nest"
School of Mechanical Engineering
University of Leeds

cheers

Well done Derek... Are you at a loose end now - What are you going to do for entertainment ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Completed the viva to day. I was awarded PhD subject to fixing typos.
Thesis "Thermofluid engineering of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) nest"
School of Mechanical Engineering
University of Leeds

cheers

It’s been a long time coming. Well done.

 

[almostBees]

Congrats !!!!

 

[Black Mountain Honey]

Congratulation Derek

 

[Murox]

Tremendous news, well done.

 

[madasafish]

Congratulations.
Hope your talents are suitably recognised.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Marvellous news, does this mean you will have more time to post on the forum now.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Well done Derek. Keep us up to date with any further work!

 

[Amari]

Completed the viva to day. I was awarded PhD subject to fixing typos.

Gosh, that must have been deflating! Well done. Is there a fairly brief synopsis we could read?

 

[Sutty]

Well done Dr Derek!

 

[user 6228]

Gosh, that must have been deflating! Well done. Is there a fairly brief synopsis we could read?

shortly you will have the full thesis public

 

[Sutty]

I remember checking for typos in stuff I'd written - I found the best way was to read it backwards - it makes you look at each word rather than "see" what you expect.

 

[johnh]

My congratulations and enjoyed reading the article in Beecraft, particularly as it's something that's a bit of a hobby horse with me. Not being used to losing colonies over winter due to starvation, I was a bit upset when it happened when we had the "Beast from the East". Isolation starvation and they were about 1.5 ins from 15lbs of honey, so I decided they needed insulation. Since then, all mine have been insulated with 50mm PIR insulation and I haven't had any problems. I was asked to write an article for BBKA News about insulating and it came out about October 2020, if I remember right. I was quite used to locals negatively commenting about why I spent so much time insulating and regularly weighing my hives (not a big fan of hefting) but nothing from my article (not sure how many people read the mag). Perhaps with what you have done there will be a bit more attention paid to using insulation. In December, I was checking a monitor board and it felt warm so I put my hand underneath the mesh floor and there was a nice bit of warmth coming down, so I can confirm your comment in that article about heat being lost through the mesh floor. I'm going to replace my floors this year and I'm debating whether to revert to solid floors with insulation. Also, you seemed to imply that we should run all year with insulation on if using wooden hives. That's something I would agree with as it would stop the temperature going sharply up and down through the day during summer which must be stressful for the bees. I have some colonies in my apiary which can catch the sun in the afternoon and get very hot, sometimes making the comb unstable. I have been using reflective foil draped over them but that's something a bit iffy 850ft up in the Pennines on a windy day. Using insulation like mine as per the photo below would be more stable but with up to 3 or 4 supers on a double brood, inspections would be a bit tricky lifting it off, but I'll give it a go on my largest to see what happens. However, what I've found is that the amount of stores used over winter has been drastically reduced. Since closing up, my 14 colonies have averaged 2.5lbs of stores used. My largest was just over 1.5lb and smallest 5lbs. I accurately weigh using a parcel scales jacked up under the hive, stand included. A full check of my hives once per fortnight takes just under 2 hours, so time well worth spending to have zero losses. The video shows bees walking around my smallest colony quite happily with the outside temperature 3°C. It was quite windy as well. I've even looked down through the perspex crown board and seen them moving around on the top bars at -4°C. Couldn't have been much of a cluster.
Must have been good combining beekeeping with your Ph.D. I did electrical engineering at Leeds (spent a lot of time in the Pack Horse) but my hobby at the time was woodwork. Took up beekeeping after retiring but I may now use some of my knowledge designing and building electric harps! That is, of course, if the little devils can take Pennine weather.
View attachment IMG_0039.MOV

 

[Fellstoflats]

Congratulations- I'm looking forward to your talk at our association next Wednesday!

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Which association, if you don't mind?

 

[Fellstoflats]

South Chiltern Beekeeper's Association
https://www.scbka.org/

 

[user 6228]

The thesis https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/34266/