Once upon a time two colonies of honey bees decided to spend an autumn weekend away from the suburbs. They packed their tents, sleeping bags, and plenty to eat before they took off into the foothills. One colony went into a sheltered valley. The other colony flew up to a wooded ridge. Before the first […] Read more
Record-breaking temperatures over much of North America have beekeepers wondering how to keep their bees from over-heating. Think of it as a question of comfort and do for your bees what you would do for yourself. The basics come down to lowering humidity, maximizing air flow, and providing plenty to drink. Okay, margaritas with little […] Read more
A ventilated gabled roof is one of my favorite pieces of beekeeping equipment. Warm air holds moisture, and the warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold. Since a summer beehive is loaded with moisture from both bee respiration and drying nectar, the hive can quickly become a damp, mold-infested environment that is not […] Read more
Here is an update of a previous post: my five favorite ventilation aids for a summer beehive. After experimenting for another year, I have dropped the ventilation eke from my favorites and replaced it with a ventilated gabled roof. The ventilated gabled roof is more efficient in my opinion, and assures a nice dry hive […] Read more
Screened inner covers can give your hive a lot of good ventilation. They are used in place of regular inner covers and are designed the hold the telescoping cover up on two ends (or two sides) so that air can flow from the hive and out from under the telescoping cover. The screen is tacked […] Read more
Summer is coming to a close even though it was nearly a “non-summer” here on the Pacific Northwest coast. The corn hasn’t tasseled; the peaches look like walnuts. Nevertheless, my bees are healthy and I had a good honey harvest—much better than expected. My honey was capped and my hives are dry inside. What more […] Read more
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 cap […] Read more