Survival of bees in Kuwait

[scorpionmain]

From my experience in Kuwait ^^^this would be the optimum set up.
Also, I don't know the exact location of the OP in Kuwait but the closer he could get to the Gulf the better.
Cooler temps near the Persian Gulf.
Out in the desert, I don't see bees having a chance.
120 degree heat and when the wind blows it doesn't cool. It has more like a hairdryer effect.
You can get cooler by getting out of the wind.
Odd, I know.
...and it can get real cold at night and during the winter.
I just don't see bees thriving there. Maybe if the OP got an Egyptian strain, but still...
My recommendation would be to move.

[hpm08161947]

That was an interesting idea to migrate the bees to a higher elevation to avoid the hottest extremes. But, from the CIA World Factbook (no joke )



Thats only a little over 1000 ft elevation.

Yea,,, it looks like migrating close to the Persian Gulf might be the only hope. I have no idea, but suspect the temps would be cooler on the Gulf.

As far as security goes... I wonder if a guy with 450 hives doesn't live with his bees...

Kuwait City (on the Gulf) seems to average about 115F during the summer.... maybe survivable.

[atinrastogi]

I have European bees in the hives.
Over 99% of land area in Kuwait is desert/ semi-desert. There are frequent sandstorms, along with high temperatures.
So potentially I do not have many places to move around.

Kuwait has a few green areas where there are sufficient underground lakes. My hives are located in a green area.

[EastSideBuzz]

I am thinking Solar panels on the lids with a 12v fan under the bottoms of the hives to keep the air moving maybe a water squirter to make a swamp cooler out of it.

[Aussie]

We are beekeepers from Australia and this summer has been one our hottest for a long time.The temperature were our bees are in January was 50C in the shade.Bee Hives that we left a box of honey on was good but Bee Hives with a empty honey box on suffered the most.
And in those temperatures you need to have water with in 100 metres or so.

[Michael Bush]

The bees are going to "swamp cool" the inside of the hive. I think all you can really do is try to cool the outside. First, of course, keep it in the shade and provide the bees water. But then you could set up some way to keep the outside of the hive moist. Maybe something on top that holds some water to evaporate it there. Maybe something porous on the sides that you can keep moist. If you had some kind of tub on top that had a slow leak on all four sides that would leak down on some cloth on the sides, you could keep evaporative cooling on the top and four sides... then you would just have to fill the tub every morning.

[Oldtimer]

If he's got 450 hives spread around, I don't think he can fill the tub every morning LOL

It's a bit long term, but if it is possible to create groves of green trees, that may be some help.

[bfriendly]

Yes but it could be set up (if necessary).

I think the combination of full shade/cover (Could just be posts, frame, and a tarp), water source for bees very close by... And...
Michael Bush's "Bee swamp cooler".....

An elevated water tank or pressure water supply (pump) hooked to "Soaker hose" (irrigation pipe / a type of garden hose perforated to slowly water plants) and wet burlap / cloth laid on the hives. Think about it as if setting up an irrigation system for plants, with 450 plant sites (top of each hive) to water. Not really that complex and cheap/readily available parts.

Or manually dunk the cloth /burlap in water and put on hives every day. Would not take too long if all hives are in the same yard?

If it works to hose down a semi load of bees to keep them from overheating while truck is stopped, I don't see why it wouldn't work for this.

[Michael Bush]

>If he's got 450 hives spread around, I don't think he can fill the tub every morning LOL

Probably not... but that depends on cheap unskilled labor like sons and daughters... and how big the tub is and how fast it leaks is what determines how long it lasts...