Thursday, April 14, 2016

Summer-izing the Hives





Today had me switching the hives over from the Winter build to a Summer one. For about half the hives all this really entails is removing the entrance reducers I have in place since I took the insulation off the end of March. The other half of the hives however takes a bit more work.

I use extra deep Winter inner covers on first year hives since those hives only have bottom entrances. These types of inner covers have extra ventilation holes and are deeper so I can add dry sugar on top of the Winter ball if stores become low.  They work well for Winter but they are deep enough that the bees will begin building comb in them come Spring so they need to be removed and replaced with traditional inner covers.

You may notice that many of my hives have bottoms with landing boards that I paint crosses on. These bottoms are my own design I use in place of purchased screened bottom boards.




The theory with screened bottom boards is that the screen allows mites and other vermin to fall through and not be able to get back in. They work moderately well but in my opinion are too open for Winters around here and the pine used for their constructions tends to dry rot quickly even when painted. So I designed my screened bottoms a bit more tailored for my local conditions.

I reduced the size of the actual screened portion and made the entire thing deeper and more sturdy out of much heavier pressure treated lumber. I also designed a pull out tray. This way if I need to treat the bees with powdered sugar so they will remove mites from themselves I can but the tray also acts as a staging area for other hive vermin like ants and roaches. The bees cannot enter the tray area which allows me to place insect traps down there safely.


Adding these traps below the hive body reduces the amount of vermin the bees have to defend the hive from and still allows me to treat or remove the tray to help ventilate the hive if needed. Bait traps for the ants kill off the colonies with no chance of the bees getting into them.




I must admit the hives seem to be handling the ant and roach problems much easier since I started introducing these bottom boards to my apiaries and placing these traps every few weeks.

Once the hives get to a full two brood chambers I also replace the traditional top cover with a hybrid migratory design that also includes it's own top entrance. Placed over a traditional inner cover it allows good ventilation and bee access without creating a space so large that the bees build comb in it.

As I said I have managed to supply about half my hives with my own bottom boards and will steadily phase out the store bought ones as they need replaced.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!


8 comments:

  1. I never thought about ants invading hives but I would imagine that could be a big problem.

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    1. Lisa - Ants are the number one problem around here. A healthy hive can keep them in check but it takes a lot of bees away from foraging to defend the hive from the ants and then other vermin can make matters worse too.

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  2. Couple of questions. First, do you use the bottom board with the smaller screen area in both summer and winter? I have thought about just placing a small piece of plywood under about half the screen in winter for the same reasons.

    Also, would you consider providing more detailed plans to build these bottom boards? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Perry - I use the ones I make and have the plywood shelf that slides in. I only remove the shelf if/when the hives shows signs of mites and I douse em with powdered sugar. Otherwise I never open the bottom screen unless it is above 105 degrees. Bees really seem to prefer solid bottom boards so I leave em closed. The screen is only there for the mites and a place to put pest traps where the bees can't get to them.

      I will make up some plans and do a post on it. So far I been kinda winging it when making the bottoms but I have all the kinks worked out I think to the point I can make an actual template plan.

      Oh ya for the BB's I purchased I made solid plywood inserts and leave them in all the time too.

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  3. Do you put any thing under the hives like gravel or something the mites and other insects wouldn't like. Maybe cedar chips?

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    Replies
    1. Sf - As I understand it the mites cannot move on their own except right after hatching in the cells. If they are picked off and fall through the screen they can't make it back into the hive without a host bee. So I never put anything under there. I tried some plastic trays as ant barriers but at some point vegetation got around the barrier or the bees drowned in the oil so I gave up.

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  4. What a genius idea Preppy. I never considered putting traps beneath the screens.

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    Replies
    1. TB - I actually picked that tip up from another bee keeper who was doing it a few years back. When he mentioned it I was like "Now why didn't I think of that?"

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