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Has anyone worked with either of these systems? What are you experiances, thoughts and recommendations? Thanks - Martin
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Martin
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I purchased the DE Hive kit. It was worth the money. The hive with the kit has stayed dry all winter long. I had a hive that was weak and put the kit on it.
Like magic I fed them and with the increased ventilation they took off. They were strong enough to go into winter on there own. They are still alive today.
After putting the Kit together, placed it on a table, set a hive body with frames in it and placed my hand at the opening, you could actually feel air being pulled in to the hive.
I have one word for it awesome.
Thesurveyor
[This message has been edited by thesurveyor (edited January 17, 2003).]
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all right i've got an idea,if you could change the flow of the fan and blow air into the hive from the top,you could place essential oilsnear the fan and spread the vapors through hthe hive.i thinking of buying one to play mad scientist with it, does anyone who has one think this idea has any merit?
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the fan would have to be strong enough to counter the natural flow of cooler air down low warming and rising as it moves through the brood chambers (bees and brood create alot of heat). The taller your hives the stronger is this natural upward flow, and therefore the stronger your fan would need to be to overcome it.
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Wouldn't it make better sense to put a fan on the bottom and blow it up?
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Look under "Bee Equipment" on E-Bay.
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Ok, speaking of fans.
Here's a report on a little experiment
I did last summer. I've seen the bee cool hive advertised for several years. I've read the their reports. I thought I'd try the idea.
I took an old six inch honey super and add
a small computer fan. I cut a 4" openning in the back and attached the fan to the inside with the air blowing out. I screened around
the fan to pervent the bees from getting chopped up by the fan. I set the unit on top
of a strong colony that had a bee beard hanging off the front. Within ten minutes or so the bees moved in, no beard.
Did it do any good? I have no idea. My
record keeping skills need improvement
and a will attempt a control experiment this year. I do remember taking honey off but
an exact amount is unknown.
[This message has been edited by The Honey House (edited March 04, 2003).]
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or maybe just draw the air from the top and stick a tray of oils beneath the hive.
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You guys are getting too carried away with providing an artificial environment for the bees to live in. First off you need a fan and someway to power it. $$$ Next, your assuming it will do the hive loads of good. Not a good assumption, if you ask me. You may be providing a more stressful environment to live in, with the weathers fluctuating temperatures. I am assuming though there must be a climate control on it aswell. $$$.
I too think of ways to cool the hive through hot periods. It must be cheap, and simple though. I think a simple screen bottom board would be a better way to go. This way the bees can control their own environment to their liking.
Ian
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Sounds like Gadget Mainia to me. Dale
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i'm thinking of it as a way to spread essential oil vapors though the hives as a treatment,have one unit,treat a hive for a few hours ,see if it works,if it does,on to the next hive,if it would work,it would be well worth it.
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I am in the midst of designing a top cover, that should provide ventilation, be standard, and be able to be closed up in the winter. I have spent a couple hours of spare time, reading about heat, airflow ect. Quite interesting actually. I think I have a design that might work. Actually, I have designed about 3 different ones, to put next to each other, to see which works the best, or even at all. I built 2 already without reading, and they should work as well, but can't be closed off. Time will tell.
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Dale Richards
Dal-Col Apiaries
Drums, PA
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"artificial environment for the bees "
you mean like a "screen bottom board"?
Thankfully, L. L. Langstroth did not think this way. Without experimentation, where would we be. Rev. Langstroth experimented with hive designs, Dr. Pedro Rodriguez is experimenting with FGMO. The list of people who "experminented" on bees is just overwhelming and too long to mention here.
Without experiments, we'd still be chasing swarms every spring and killing off our better honey makers every fall.
Experimentation = It's a good thing!
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I guess to me the point is to help the bees do what they do, not to do it all for them. If you do it for them they lose control over their environment which is something they need to control.
Also, I prefer passive things to active things. Passive designs LET things happen. Active designs try to MAKE things happen. This means there is some energy input somwhere and moving parts to break.
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Greetings . . .
If FGMO will evaporate, simply replace stick board with a shallow pan filled w/ oil. Now, we have space for the accumulation of many dead mites and other hive waste. We have something that prevents varroa from hitch-hiking back into the hive, and a constant source of fumes (fog)
Dave W
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I don't think FGMO evaporates at a rate that is noticable. It's pretty heavy.
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>"artificial environment for the bees "
you mean like a "screen bottom board"?
Forcing air through to cool the hive provides an artificial environment in the hive against the bees "will". In my opinion, this may be okay for certain hot situations but could be harmfull in other such cooler conditions as the weather changes from day to day. That is why I assumed the gadget must have a climate control. $$$
The point I was making with the screened bottom board was that it is a cheap simple device which could aid the bees with increased air circulation within the hive, at their own "will". In my opinion, I don't define this as providing an "artificial environment for the bees", because it is the bees whom are providing the climate within the hive. I currently don't have screened bottom boards, just thinking about it.
>Without experiments, we'd still be chasing swarms every spring and killing off our better honey makers every fall.
Experimentation = It's a good thing!
I agree, experimentation is important to every industry, but with every experiment comes its critasism. Don't tell me L. L. Langstroth's ideas did not have his critics. If the product cant overcome its critasisms, then the product simple will not catch on.
Dr. Pedro Rodriguez for example has experimented with FGMO to treat mites. And with his ideas and theorys, he has had lots of critics, myself included. With his research, experimentation and an open ear to critisism, he has molded the FGMO into an appealing mite treatment. Look through his studdies and you will see his progression with application methods. Notice he fit his treatment to be appealing to the commercial bee opporator, probably his biggest critic.
>The list of people who "experminented" on bees is just overwhelming and too long to mention here.
The list of people who experimented on bees, and found a product/device that made us "better honey makers", are the people whom I'm interested in.
Ian
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so ,of the 759 members here, has anyone bought one of those beecool solar things?
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