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Post by hammerga on Jan 26, 2014 15:52:15 GMT 1
From what I read, having a top entrance hive seems best to me I believe the ventilation would be a plus. I have watch a hive beetle hit the front of a hive and land on the landing board. With a top entrance it would have fallen to the ground. But top entrance hives are clearly in the minority and so most people believe the bottom entrance best. You see many hives with the big angled landing boards and yet you see large swarms taken out houses where there was only a small hole to enter. I also wonder why if bees build down, why boxes are added to the top. I have lots of questions and looking forward to testing some theories in the spring. |
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Post by beekeeper01 on Feb 1, 2014 7:49:03 GMT 1
very interesting questions but alas i have no answer for them
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cam
Egg
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Post by cam on Mar 9, 2014 19:01:34 GMT 1
"I also wonder why if bees build down, why boxes are added to the top"
Bess build the comb from the top down but prefer to build overhead and that is where the store honey, above the brood cluster. If they have too much honey overhead, they will swarm, so keeping open comb above the brood nest is important.
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Post by hammerga on Jul 28, 2014 1:36:55 GMT 1
My First hive was a queenless swarm. A friend gave some frames of brood, honey and a mated queen. a couple weeks later i bought a nuc. The nuc took off strong. The swarm grew slowly. Now, the swarm is catching up despite having fewer bees. The two hives act very differently. The Nuc has the front of the hive covered in bees milling around while the swarm bees have almost no bees outside the hive. Guard bees hang just inside the entrance also the swarm hive has 3 to 4 times the foragers coming and going compared to the nuc. I added a box to the Nuc thinking they needed the room. Nope. It also is not heat related as the strong hive has better afternoon shade. I saw the recent hive intelligence video and wonder if the swarm hive is thinking we need to be getting it and the Nuc thinking we have this and slowing down.
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Post by edgallop on Aug 1, 2014 15:02:35 GMT 1
"I also wonder why if bees build down, why boxes are added to the top" Bess build the comb from the top down but prefer to build overhead and that is where the store honey, above the brood cluster. If they have too much honey overhead, they will swarm, so keeping open comb above the brood nest is important. Bees have a accurate sense of gravity that I wish I had. I plan to experiment with a foundationless brood chambers by putting a frame with no foundation between two drawn out cells. The hive must be as level as possible so they build straight down. They will build from the top down, hopefully without bridging, using gravity as a guide. It is important, as you say, to maintain plenty of room above the brood chambers. The queen needs to lay and if there is no room below she will go up looking for empty cells. |
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Post by hammerga on Sept 10, 2014 21:14:38 GMT 1
With plenty of room above, is there a need to check to see if the brood area is honey bound?
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