sbb

[woodmann98]

i have six hives with sbb, and i have them closed up. i was wondering if i should leave them open? it's been getting down in the low 30's at night mid 50's day. so if i should remove the bottom cover, is it okay to do it now or wait til warmer weather. some say leave open, others say close them up. one more question, they are bringing in lots of pollin does this mean nector to? going into my first winter with the bees. thanks

[RayMarler]

Just because the girls bee bringing in pollen, does not mean they bee bringing in nectar. Depends on what the bloom is. I've found here in my location, in late fall into winter, they bring in pollen some but not as much nectar.

As far as the cover for the SBB, It's a matter of personal opinion as far as I can tell. The heat from the cluster is contained mostly within the cluster, if any escapes it rises, so having the SBB covered makes no difference as far as heat. What might be considered is, are your hives positioned such that strong gusts of wind might blow up through the SBB into the hive area? If so, I'd say to close off the SBB.

Here where I'm at and the way my hives are placed, I leave all SBB open year around.

[indypartridge]

I leave my sbb's open all winter, and here in Indiana it's considerably colder than California. However, Putz made a good comment about wind. If my hives were subject to a lot of cold wind, I'd probably close the bottoms.