Vent Holes In Brood Boxes

[JOHN HINCHMAN]

Summer Heat Will Soon Be Here And Was Woundering If I Should Drill Vent Hole In My Top Brood Boxes And How Big Of Hole Do You Drill

[phil c]

when its really hot I remove the inner cover and prop the telescoping cover up at an angle. A friend of mine showed me this and it works well.

[Michael Bush]

A couple of shingle shims under the inner cover and slide the telescopic forwared or a couple of shims under a migratory cover will make some ventilation. Or just prop it with a stick. I hate holes in my equipment...

[BigDaddyDS]

I drill my holes in Imirie (or "medication") shims and keep my boxes intact.

I think my drill size was 7/8" inch or something. It's not all that critical.

DS

[Docking]

At what temp. do I need to be concerned about my hive getting too hot?

[Dan Williamson]

You could make migratory tops like the ones in my pictures. (see link in my signature) Using this type of top entrance, it can be closed when necessary by simply sliding the top back. Works nicely year round.

[BigDaddyDS]

At what temp. do I need to be concerned about my hive getting too hot?

Now there's a loaded question!

Bees will (try to) keep their hive (and cluster, and brood, etc.) right around 93-degrees Fahrenheit year round. But, the answer is not that simple. The bees will regulate the temperature within the hive pretty well themselves. They do this through fanning and through evaporation of water that they bring into the hive.

Rather that taking a "cookbook style" approach to beekeeping, watch for excessive clusters of bees hanging off the outside of the hive (bearding) in the summertime evenings. Also, watch for an excessive number of bees fanning the entrance versus the number of bees returning from foraging.

If you watch them... they'll tell you when they're too hot.
DS

[Joseph Clemens]

Summer heat? Be here soon! Yup, already here, 104.6F outside right now.

I run an evaporative cooler to keep my house cool, I use no chemicals (commonly used in evaporative coolers) because the bees are all over the pads drinking, I have many different plantings on our acre and use micro-sprinklers to keep them going, the bees are there too, whenever there is moisture present. I have a 300 gallon Koi pond, which is approximately 5 feet in diameter, a recycled old hot tub that has been sunk into the ground. Most of its surface is covered with lily pad leaves that, during daylight hours, are covered with bees, the pool level drops four or five inches per day (which I refill every morning), or about 50-60 gallons - I don't think much of that loss is due to evaporation. I plan to add a float valve to spare me the effort of the daily top-up. I'm glad I installed the Koi pond, or there might be so many bees on my cooler pads it might hinder its operation.

Vent holes: I have every honey super above the brood supers slid back 1/4" and the cover too, to provide extra entrances and ventilation.

[Jeffzhear]

A couple of shingle shims under the inner cover and slide the telescopic forwared or a couple of shims under a migratory cover will make some ventilation. Or just prop it with a stick. I hate holes in my equipment...

I hate holes in my equipment too...but I have a lot of it that has holes....
I also can't find the cedar shakes to make shims out of...no one that I can find carries them any longer.

[Michael Bush]

>I also can't find the cedar shakes to make shims out of...no one that I can find carries them any longer.

I find shingle shims at any of the lumber yards including the "home store" versions. They are not shakes, they are already cut into 1 1/2" wide shims.