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127 Posts
Newbie here. I have received a swarm 10 days ago, and I love what is happening. I am trying to do it right, thanks to the helpful and more experienced folks here who know more than I do. My gratitude for your mentorship so far.
Now, kindly give me some advice re: giving shade to my tbh. It is in my back yard, where I have no trees, and no shade. I live at 4,500' in an arid, desert-like climate, low humidity overall, cold in winter (when night lows can get to - 10 or 15 F, maybe a tad lower; daytime highs in the summer can get to 106-ish F or so). I must say that our cold winter days are almost always sunny, for what it is worth. We usually get clobbered with snow, and to this end (cold winter temps, sunny days in winter, and snow on the ground), I placed the tbh on 3 cinder blocks, in a spot in the backyard that is inundated with sunshine in the winter. There is a 6' fence about 1' behind the tbh, to its north (which is the back,short end of the tbh; the entrance is on the opposite short side, facing SSE). I have styrofoam panels to wrap the tbh in when it gets cold.
Back to the shade question, sorry if I digressed above, but wanted to explain the topography of all of this.
Our daytime temps now are in the high 70ies, soon to rise. I bought a light tan, breezy pet kennel shade cloth. I am planning on stretching this shade cloth approx. 2' to 3' horizontally above the hive, and draping it down a bit, vertically, on the west side of the hive about 1 foot away for added summer heat protection on that west end.
My question is: at what daytime temperature should I start setting up this shade cloth for the hive? I read that tbhs do not tolerate too well extended high temps (like I have here in the summer), and it is important/necessary to provide the tbhs with some filtered shade during hot summer months.
Thank you (also for any other pertinent comments/constructive criticism/ideas you may have for me on the subject of providing some shade to my tbh). PS just in case I should specify this, I would not be able to move the hive from its current location.
sylvia
Now, kindly give me some advice re: giving shade to my tbh. It is in my back yard, where I have no trees, and no shade. I live at 4,500' in an arid, desert-like climate, low humidity overall, cold in winter (when night lows can get to - 10 or 15 F, maybe a tad lower; daytime highs in the summer can get to 106-ish F or so). I must say that our cold winter days are almost always sunny, for what it is worth. We usually get clobbered with snow, and to this end (cold winter temps, sunny days in winter, and snow on the ground), I placed the tbh on 3 cinder blocks, in a spot in the backyard that is inundated with sunshine in the winter. There is a 6' fence about 1' behind the tbh, to its north (which is the back,short end of the tbh; the entrance is on the opposite short side, facing SSE). I have styrofoam panels to wrap the tbh in when it gets cold.
Back to the shade question, sorry if I digressed above, but wanted to explain the topography of all of this.
Our daytime temps now are in the high 70ies, soon to rise. I bought a light tan, breezy pet kennel shade cloth. I am planning on stretching this shade cloth approx. 2' to 3' horizontally above the hive, and draping it down a bit, vertically, on the west side of the hive about 1 foot away for added summer heat protection on that west end.
My question is: at what daytime temperature should I start setting up this shade cloth for the hive? I read that tbhs do not tolerate too well extended high temps (like I have here in the summer), and it is important/necessary to provide the tbhs with some filtered shade during hot summer months.
Thank you (also for any other pertinent comments/constructive criticism/ideas you may have for me on the subject of providing some shade to my tbh). PS just in case I should specify this, I would not be able to move the hive from its current location.
sylvia
