Yesterday a reader from Florida asked for specific instructions on how to keep a hive well ventilated in a hot and humid climate. This is a good question. Although colonies can usually survive hot and humid conditions, they will produce more honey and be less stressed if they don’t have to spend all their energy cooling the hive. Here are some suggestions:
- Keep the hive up off the ground. By placing the hive on a stand, you allow air to circulate on all sides—including the bottom.
- Use a screened bottom board without the Varroa tray. A screened bottom allows air to circulate into the hive from underneath, and it has a much larger surface area than a standard entrance.
- Use an upper entrance. An upper entrance, either drilled in the top hive body or cut into an inner cover, allows the hive to behave much like a chimney. Air will come into the hive from the bottom entrance or screened bottom and exit through the upper entrance.
- Even better than an upper entrance is a ventilated inner cover. A ventilated inner cover is screened in the center and has end pieces that are higher than the side pieces. These end pieces hold the telescoping cover aloft so air can circulate through the sides. The screening should be small enough to keep out robbing bees. (see photo below)
- Keep your hive in the shade. Left to their own devices, bees will usually select shaded areas in which to live. A little morning sun is fine, but a shady location will allow the bees to spend their afternoons foraging instead of fanning.
- Hives in hot locations should be painted light colors and have a white or metallic roof.
- Place a slatted rack under the bottom brood box. Slatted racks can aid ventilation by reducing congestion below the brood nest and providing more space for air movement.
- Do not allow your hive to become too crowded. If the bees need more space give them an extra brood box.
- Make sure your bees have a source of clean drinking water.
Rusty
Ventilated inner cover--end pieces are shimmed to provide maximum air movement.
“Do not allow your hive to become too crowded. If the bees need more space give them an extra brood box.”
I use all 8 frame mediums. When you say give them an extra brood box, is that meaning to insert it down low? With all mediums, 4 boxes are my basic hive. I wouldn’t want to put the box on the very top, but does it matter where else I would put it?
Thanks. Love your website!
You should put a new brood box either on the top or the bottom of the stack–just don’t put it in the middle.
SHB [small hive beetles] need 45% humidity or better in order for their eggs and larvae to mature. Anything under that and they can’t reproduce, anything at or over and WATCH OUT!!! Ventilation for our colonies is vital to helping our unnaturally kept bees in painted wood boxes that can’t respire. Remember, unpainted wood can and will wick a certain amount of moisture to the outside. Swarms living in house walls can stay there for years because, in most cases, the walls leak air like a sieve and the drywall and siding wick moisture. Bees kept in our hive boxes must be allowed ventilation, MUST!!!
Hi, Rusty,
Was wondering if you could explain how you made these screened inner covers . . . specifically, what dimension wood did you use, and did you use something on the bottom of the cover as a spacer to preserve bee space? Was thinking I could use the spare Imirie shims I have, staple the hardware cloth to the bottom, then cover the edges with some flat trim . . .
Joel
Joel,
Someone else asked me this and I never got around to posting my instructions. I’ll try to get it up this week. The biggest problem is supporting the lid above the screen so you get air flow, but there’s an easy way to do this. You could also alter your Imirie shims, if you want. I’ll give you a head’s up when I post. Thanks. Good question.