Varroa Mesh Floor / Solid Floor.

[Hawklord]

I have just bought a green house to stick them in and a paraffin heater..

I have heard of a beek who used to over winter his colonies in the cellar of his house.

 

[Millet]

I have heard of a beek who used to over winter his colonies in the cellar of his house.

Frig that.. lol .. i'm still 50/50 on the open mesh floor scenario but i draw the line as to moving them inside..

This little colony is doing good now Col as far as i'm aware in between the odd unsure dilemma when i panic..and i never get bored of sitting there watching the activity around the hive and i learn something new about the bee's everyday from watching them at close quarter's..
Thank's
Steve.

 

[BeeJayBee]

So can I conclude that if I remove the draft excluder from under the varroa mesh Bernoulli's principle will not apply?

That seems about right. The mesh slows and reduces air movement, not least because air passing beneath the hive is likely to be moving sideways rather than vertically through the mesh.

 

[GlenJ]

I'd be delighted to know if you managed to take something useful from this Millet? If nothing else it will be that there is more reading - of books and such - to do!

 

[Millet]

I'd be delighted to know if you managed to take something useful from this Millet? If nothing else it will be that there is more reading - of books and such - to do!

Funny enough yes and i have some idea's buzzing around in my cranium..

I might cut the inspection board in half that way i will have everyone's method's and ideas covered.. lol

 

[rayz_x]

We put the screen in under the mesh for varroa monitoring and remove it and clean off afterwards. If January or February are particularly cold and dry we may put it back in. Depends on the hive and the weather though. Last winter was mild and wet so we left it out as it seems the condensation can be worse than the cold. As with most things in beekeeping there probably isn't a definitive answer but observation may help you decide what to do.
We only lost one colony last year and that was in a shaded area and was the only one without a concrete paving slab under the stand. I have assumed this was due to rising dampness but this could all be a coincidence. Another 30 years keeping bees and I may have the answer.

Ray

 

[Millet]

We put the screen in under the mesh for varroa monitoring and remove it and clean off afterwards. If January or February are particularly cold and dry we may put it back in. Depends on the hive and the weather though. Last winter was mild and wet so we left it out as it seems the condensation can be worse than the cold. As with most things in beekeeping there probably isn't a definitive answer but observation may help you decide what to do.
We only lost one colony last year and that was in a shaded area and was the only one without a concrete paving slab under the stand. I have assumed this was due to rising dampness but this could all be a coincidence. Another 30 years keeping bees and I may have the answer.

Ray

That makes more sense to me than many other answer's i have received.. Thank you ..

 

[Finman]

It is hard to position my hives to avoid the wind. If you use windbreaks...you cause turbulence which could blow up under them. atm the poly hives are sitting on slates, on a stand...which stops a lot of the wind...but I have been thinking of putting a piece of wood across the back of them where the varroa tray goes in...the wind is so strong here that it is often difficult to stand up. It takes the varroa trays out from under the hive and I have had to go search for them!

Beeks cannot understand what rules in hives. Beeks love to see nice things, but not nice things actually give borders to brooding.

Just now we have odd weather type. We have 25C at afternoon and 5C at night. In the morning hives seems to have half box bees and in high temperatur they ventilate vigorously. Night temps and amount of bees give limits to brooding.