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Maybe I’m becoming too cynical, but here’s another beekeeping discussion that makes me crazy. It usually begins when someone asks this reasonable question: “If I’m using a screened bottom board, do I still need to tilt the hive forward?” The answer is “no.” Tilting a hive forward is important for anyone using a solid [...] Well . . . not exactly. But mention moisture quilts to a beekeeper and his creativity takes flight. Although our “quilt show” wouldn’t feature bright cotton fabrics meticulously cut and sewn, I’m sure it would be equally inspiring. The post I wrote last year about making moisture quilts for a Langstroth hive garnered more [...] Overwintering successfully requires four basic things: Plenty of healthy bees A strong queen Plenty of stored food Good ventilation If you lack one of these items, you won’t have a strong hive in spring whether you wrap or not. But if you live in a very cold climate, and you’ve met the four basic [...] This question was redirected to me from another website. It is such an interesting topic that I decided to do an entire post on it. The beekeeper who wrote was concerned that ventilation above the honey supers would cool the hive so much that the bees would not be able to dry (dehydrate) and [...] Yesterday I began reading The Quest for the Perfect Hive: A History of Innovation in Bee Culture by entomologist Gene Kritsky (2010). The book is a history of hive design from ancient times to the present, including drawings, photos and descriptions of what worked, what didn’t, and why some hives were more popular than [...] Whenever I think of summer ventilation, I think of the White House beehive. Beekeeper Charlie Brandt uses a large eke with a hole cut in each side. The eke is mounted above the stack of honey supers, just below the telescoping cover. The holes are large—I estimate about three inches in diameter—and are screened [...] Since I published “How I overwintered ten out of ten” several people have asked me what I did with the slatted racks during the winter. Since I always leave slatted racks in place, I didn’t think of them as an overwintering strategy, so I left them off my list. Now I see that my [...] Here’s another interesting question. A reader asked if each box in a hive should have the same number of frames in order to maximize both mite drop and ventilation. In other words, if you use nine frames in the brood box, should you also use nine in the honey supers in order to align [...] My inbox was full of questions about slatted racks this morning. One of the questions concerned the direction of the slats. The slats should go the long way—they should run from the front of the hive to the back of the hive. The idea here is that the slats should line up with the [...] |
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