Mouldy Roof

[Heffy]

Hey All

I have the following:-
A national hive with cedar wood BB & Supers.
The roof is gabled and constructed with ply wood roof boards, cedar sides with a metal capping over the roof.
The inside of the roof is untreated ply wood.
The roof also has two of the plastic cone type ventilation holes, one at each end.
The hive is three months old and is situated in very open woodland with dappled sunlight throughout the day.


What I'm now seeing, is mould on the inside of the roof. Is this a problem ?
I'm also seeing that the ventilation holes are blocked with propolis and if removed it will be replaced with seven days. Is this a contributory factor ?

I would greatly appreciate your views & advice.

Cheers
Matt

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Sounds like you don't have a solid crown board between the roof and the supers.

Is that right?

You need one.

This will solve the propolis problem and allow free passage of air in the roof space to prevent the mould.



Dusty

 

[Heffy]

Hey Dusty

I have a wooden crown board with two oval holes in for Porter bee escapes ( I think there called ) but non fitted, so you are right on the money there.

Much appreciated.

How do I edit my post ? I've misspelt mold.

Thanks
Matt

 

[user 6228]

Coldroof: you need a vapour permeable membrane on the ceiling (crownboard) , should have no gross leaks from the room (colony) to the roofspace. Insulate on top of the ceiling (crownboard) and ventilate the airspace above the insulation.
Warm roof:
A vapour proof and water proof membrane is placed on top of the roof decking (crownboard ) this is surmounted with insulation. The roof protection is placed on top of the insulation.

 

[ratcatcher]

Coldroof: you need a vapour permeable membrane on the ceiling (crownboard) , should have no gross leaks from the room (colony) to the roofspace. Insulate on top of the ceiling (crownboard) and ventilate the airspace above the insulation.
Warm roof:
A vapour proof and water proof membrane is placed on top of the roof decking (crownboard ) this is surmounted with insulation. The roof protection is placed on top of the insulation.

sod all of that, just put the crown board on, sorted

 

[Heffy]

Hey All

Just to clarify, the crown board is fitted minus the two Porter bee escapes.

Cheers
Matt

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hey All

Just to clarify, the crown board is fitted minus the two Porter bee escapes.

Cheers
Matt

Block them with a piece of slate or a fillet of thin plywood the bees will soon propolise them fast and you can always take them off if you fancy a laugh and use the porter escapes for clearing the bees from the supers

 

[itma]

Hey All

Just to clarify, the crown board is fitted minus the two Porter bee escapes.

Cheers
Matt

Matt, multipurpose top covers don't do anything well.
A no-hole coverboard works IMHO best, for most of the year.
And I think see-through ones are a fabulous investment.

Porter escapes aren't the quickest, simplest or most reliable means of clearing supers. A rhombus works faster and is utterly simple and reliable - though some believe that it can be modified to work even better. Anyway, they don't need strange oval holes.
And neither does any feeder I've yet seen.

Close off the holes (while getting/making a better coverboard), if possible add some building insulation foam board (like Celotex) above, and your mould won't survive in the drier, colder, vented roofspace.

 

[REDWOOD]

For all beekeepers who have a solid crownboard with no holes, how do you feed fondant in the winter when your hive gets a bit light, see if it goes like this, smoke hive, remove roof, remove crown board, (probably stuck down) replace with feeder board and all on a cold winters day. I'll stick to my one round hole in the centre covered by a thin bit of ply.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Hi Matt.

Solid crown boards are dead easy to make and can be transformed into the various incarnations you might require - for feeders, clearers, top entrances when doing a Demaree, putting your tea on, Apiguard boards, ekes for fondant............

If you get your thick ply from B&Q they'll cut it into squares the right size for you. All you need to do is decide on the appropriate depth of rim for the task in hand (esp if you use rhombus bee escapes, which are quite deep).

As for editing your posts, when you have posted, there is an "Edit" button at the bottom of the post - but it's time limited.

Dusty.

 

[pargyle]

For all beekeepers who have a solid crownboard with no holes, how do you feed fondant in the winter when your hive gets a bit light, see if it goes like this, smoke hive, remove roof, remove crown board, (probably stuck down) replace with feeder board and all on a cold winters day. I'll stick to my one round hole in the centre covered by a thin bit of ply.

+1 .... The bees will stick the hole cover down with propolis as fast as you can say 'There's a hole in my crownboard' ... Takes them a lot longer to reseal all the edges round the entire crownboard. I use aluminium tape to seal the edges of the crownboard to the top of the hive when I winterise them .. sealed top of the hive with insulation on top of that - by far the best for the bees over winter.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

For all beekeepers who have a solid crownboard with no holes, how do you feed fondant in the winter when your hive gets a bit light, see if it goes like this, smoke hive, remove roof, remove crown board, (probably stuck down) replace with feeder board and all on a cold winters day.

Not really - after apiguard, ekes come off and feeder boards with covered holes go on, ready for any necessary feeding later on (and by that time they are not so free and easy with the propolis so they don't get stuck down so hard)

 

[Itchy]

Coldroof: you need a vapour permeable membrane on the ceiling (crownboard) , should have no gross leaks from the room (colony) to the roofspace. Insulate on top of the ceiling (crownboard) and ventilate the airspace above the insulation.
Warm roof:
A vapour proof and water proof membrane is placed on top of the roof decking (crownboard ) this is surmounted with insulation. The roof protection is placed on top of the insulation.

Picture please?

 

[pargyle]

Picture please?

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=25354&page=6 Post #53

 

[BeeJayBee]

Just to clarify, the crown board is fitted minus the two Porter bee escapes.

Block them with a piece of slate or a fillet of thin plywood the bees will soon propolise them fast and you can always take them off if you fancy a laugh and use the porter escapes for clearing the bees from the supers

Either that or convert them to clearer boards by using a rhombus escape. Throw away the porter escapes, the modern ones need adjusting too often, rhombus are more efficient and more bee-friendly because the hive scent rises through the mesh, meaning the bees get less stressed than when a porter escape gets clogged.

 

[user 6228]

This is what is being promulgated widely in the U.S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdA1SnRKi90&feature=youtu.be

Look 29 minutes to 30 minutes in.

it shows how large groups of people can succumb to a "group think" that is based on completely false assumptions, which in other contexts are known to be false.by the same group.

The north american bee keepers fail to apply the same physics that applies to human habitation to hives. The two types of building have animals that generate heat and moisture, with animals that need to keep warm. The only difference is scale
contrast this with the above ftp://ftp.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/cmhc/Attics-roofs.html note the emphasis on vapour barriers.
Don't be misled by "they have colder winters so its different" argument.

The mystery of CCD is not why it happens in North America its more why didnt it happen earlier.

now for some comments from our Helsinki correspondent

 

[user 6228]

Picture please?

to equate to hives in the cold roof Crown board =ceiling
warm roof crown board=timber sub deck

 

[Itchy]

Thanks Derek
Looking to start insulating all my wooden nationals.....just trying to figure out a good durable design.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Last year I cut pieces of 50mm kingspan to fit tightly inside the rooves(all between 6 and 8 inches deep) of all the hives and glued them in there. I did get carried away as i was given a lot of buckshee kingspan and ended up making far too many rooves - remedied that this year by getting more bees