Storms in Kentucky

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

January Storm Hive Damage.jpg


Lots of storms last night in Kentucky. One of my yards had several tops blown off and one single deep hive blown over. Those tops are so heavy, I had never had them blow off before. Three of them had the jar feeder holes that were open for ventilation. They likely got a lot of rain inside. Temps tonight forcasted to be in the low 20's. Hopefully they will be O.K.

cchoganjr

[jmgi]

I just went out and put an extra brick on some of my hives as we are supposed to start getting strong winds tonight as the cold front comes in. A cover blown off in warm weather isn't bad, but one blown off in the 20's is a whole different thing. John

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

jmgi.. Yea, I should have put a weight on them, but, those tops are so heavy I had never had a problem before. I always put a weight on the fiberglass tops as they are prone to blow off, but, not these tops.

[Major]

Sure hate to see stuff like that Cleo, hope you can get it straightened out with minimal damage. The same line of storms you got came threw here as well. I hope my hives are all in tact I'm planning on checking them in the morning, I've got cinder blocks on most of mine with bricks on a few. You always think its overkill till the bad stuff happens.
Major

[bevy's honeybees]

That's a bummer Cleo. Will you leave the upside down one until better weather or have you uprighted it already?
Whenever I see bad weather, really bad like you experienced and what happened in Georgia (today?) with that huge tornado, I wonder how the beehives of the bee source members here are doing. And that horrible cold spell up north, yikes.

[westernbeekeeper]

Cleo, I have several very heavy tops pretty much just like yours, and I've had them blow off before, but this is WY, not KY! Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I hope the bees will be okay.

There seems to be a lack of snow there . Is it made up for in rain, or are you short of moisture there like we are out here?

[Lazer128]

No bees yet but I certainly thought about what I would do last night as the front moved through here. Hope everyone is OK.

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

I went ahead and set them back up. Those tops had an inch to an inch and a half of rain in them, so I put dry tops on the hives. Only three of them had the feeder hole open, the others had a solid jar cap in the hole, so do danger there.

I believe they will be O.K. Bees can take care of a lot. It was in the mid 60's at the time. But, got down to the twenties last night, so all depends on how much they were able to do before it turned cold, how much brood was damaged, and of course if the queen is all right.

We have had virtually no snow this year. Ground has never been covered. You can see how green the grass is. We have had lots of rain. No shortage there.

This photo is what they looked like the day before. The one on the far right is the one that was blown off. I took the photo to show the open feeders that I use that was being discussed on another thread.

28_Jan_2013__open_feeders.jpg

cchoganjr

[jmgi]

Cleo, the single deep that got blown over, what was the mood of the bees when you put it all back together? I'll bet they were a little irritated. What are those tops made of, they do look heavy? John

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

jmgi...They were not really irritated at all. I was able to put the top back on, and as you can tell, the bottom board is cleated to the deep body and I just stood behind it, and placed it back on the rails. They came out, but did not attempt to attack. I had on my veil, and a long sleeve shirt. No stings.

Those tops are made with cypress sides and Advantec on top. Advantec will last forever, even if you don't paint it. It has a 50 year guarantee, (keep in mind it hasn't been around for 50 years, so who knows), but, I use it for migratory tops and my personal tops. (I put metal on the ones I sell). Advantec is a super type of chipboard, most commonly used in sub-flooring. No warping, separating, and very heavy. I have been using it for about 5 years, and it is so heavy, I had never had a top blow off, even without weight on them.

I am optimistic that everything will be O.K. The three that had the feeder holes open are the most likely to have taken a lot of rain. Who knows how that will come out.

cchoganjr

[Rader Sidetrack]

Advantec will last forever, even if you don't paint it. It has a 50 year guarantee, (keep in mind it hasn't been around for 50 years, so who knows), but, I use it for migratory tops and my personal tops.

Cleo is correct, Advantech is superior to regular OSB in that it has more resin than OSB, and significantly outperforms OSB when wet. However, the 50 year warranty only applies when the Advantech is used in the dry interior of a structure. If you want to read the warranty details, they are here:
http://www.advantechperforms.com/res...arranties.aspx

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

Rader... I have several nucs that I use each year, and a good number of 10 framers that I just never seem to get around to painting, and I can say that in the past 5 years I see no problems with the Advantec for tops, painted or not painted.

The real benefit of it is, you can use it as a top for feeding. I will inclose a photo to show feeing in progress with Advantec tops. As you can see, these are not painted. Guess I was too busy at the time, or just did not get around to painting these.

Thru top feeders.jpg

Advantec 5 Frame Nuc.jpg

I have also made several nucs made completely with Advantec, (all except side rails for bottom boards, they are cypress) and I am using them, some with paint, some left without paint to see how they perform over the next couple of years.

Another good thing about Advantec is, I a tremendous supply, free, from contractors using it for sub-flooing. I get their cut offs and make nucs,, or 10 framer tops from it.


cchoganjr

[Slow Modem]

I'm glad you found and restored them quickly. I hope they're all right.

We had 30 mph winds and ended up with 2.98 inches of rain in 12 hours. It's very soggy here. The tv weatherman said we're already 5 inches ahead for the year here.

[Rick_ Sprague]

Cleo,

Do you use an inner cover with your feeders?

Rick

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

Rick Sprague... No, that is the cover I run all Summer. It is 3/4 inch Advantec.

When feeding is done, I close the feeder hole with a solid jar top. The bees will propolize the top to the hole, and it stays that way all Summer/Fall. In early Winter, I remove the solid jar top and place a 4X4 piece of #8 mesh wire over the hole for ventilation, then cover with a telescoping cover.

If I need to feed in late February/Early March all I have to do is remove the telescoping cover, remove the 4X4 screen, and then place a 1/2 or 1 gallon jar feeder in the hole,(always use glass jars, plastic jars will expand and contract and drip). If cold weather returns, I can either remove the jar and place a solid jar lid, or replace the screen and the telescoping cover.

cchoganjr

[TheBuzz]

6' fence posts cracked in half but the hives made it out fine !!!

[ilikebs]

Cleo sorry for your bad luck with the storms.
I like the picture of the Nuc Box and would like to know if you have a sketch of them that I could get?
I would also like to thank you again for doing the field day at Walter T Kelley. I enjoyed talking to you about doing trap outs and I cant wait to try out the Cleo Hogan trap out box that I purchased there.

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

ilikebs... My nucs are just standard 5 frame nucs, built to langstroth dimensions except 9 inches across the front and back. I build all of my equipment the same as Kelly's so they will interchange. If you need all those measurements, write me back and i can forward to you.

This year's field day at Kelly's will be Saturday 1 June. I will likely have 4 classes/demonstrations, two classes/demonstrations on splitting hives, (actuallty split 2 hives), and two on trapping bees/swarm control.

Kelly Field day is a great event. Probably 12-15 instructors talking about all aspects of beekeeping from beginner to advanced. Dr. Dewey Caron will be the Keynote Speaker this year. Hope to see everyone there. It is a fun day.

cchoganjr

[Sharpbees]

Cleo
I didn't lose any lang hive tops but the cover for our TBH did blow off last night, just a piece of tin but I had a full concrete block on it. I'll be at Kelley's field day too, we try to make it every year but wife had a stroke the day after the 2011 field day and we couldn"t make it to the one last year. She's much better and we both enjoy going so we should be seeing you there.

[Henry Cardwell]

Cleo,
I am located in the South Central Kentucky are around Lake Cumberland. I am wondering if there would be anything wrong with making inner covers from AdvanTech? I am assuming that it has no additives that would harm the bees, also if you could tell me if there is anything else like dimensions that I need to worry about since it is 19/32" is the thinnest you can get? Also you said you make your own equipment to Kelley's dimensions, I have two Kelley KY SPECIALS (deeps with medium supers) and this year I built my own hives after I got an Incra Ibox jig as a gift. But are Kelley's dimensions not just that of a standard Langstroth Hive, I guess I could measure my own equipment but I don't wanna take the outer and inner covers off with the temp in the mid 30's? One more question is that I have a terrible time getting my boxes squared up when using my box joints. I measure more than twice and then again after I cut, and I leave my 3/4" dado on the saw all the time and set to the depth I need so it doesn't change, do you have any suggestions on doing this? I hope these aren't stupid questions, I really just don't wanna have equipment that doesn't fit and have wasted money. Here are three pictures of the equipment I have made so far, we have built 5 complete stands, deeps, and ipm bottom boards.

photo.jpg The first pic is one of the stand and bottom board and a hive body. I corrected the gap today you see between the landing and bottom board.