Hello all, I live in west central florida and have afew hives in full sun. Hive beetles arent to bad as long as the hive are well populated. My wife wants them moved to the back of my property but it is dappled sunlight, maybe 50% shade 50% sun. Would they benifit from the shade or would the hb's take over?
sun exposure
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FWIW: When I kept bees in Florida, the only hives I lost to SHB were the ones in shade.
HTH
Rusty
HTH
Rusty
I fully support the USDA ARS's recommendation: "...shaded apiary conditions caused colonies to have more mites. Overall, keeping entire apiaries of mite resistant honey bees in direct sun resulted in colonies having the fewest mites...Exposure to sunlight retarded mite population growth while prolonged shade accelerated it, causing the death of many of the Italian colonies."
Nevertheless, even in my climate the excellent hive ventilation and roof "awnings" are required to avoid hives overheating. Here you can see some very simple ideas:
http://beebehavior.com/hive_ventilation.php
And I would recommend to install the very reliable "Acurite" thermometers with sensors ($7.99-11.99, Wal-Mart, Lowes) to monitor temperature inside of your hives. A $10 investment could save a hive.
I saw "Acurite" thermometers in the Fort Lauderdale area many times.
Boris Romanov
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5,373 Posts
When I kept bees in Florida, there were no SHBs or Varroa, so I never had any issues with them. Now that SHBs are there, I'm not, so I can't directly address your question.
Location, location, location; around here, full sun exposure can be a double-edged sword. It may be helpful with managing parasitic pests, but add cooling burden to bees workloads. And if colonies become unexpectedly weakened, it may lead to comb meltdown. I prefer some shade, from direct sun, but, as yet, do not have any issues with SHBs.
Location, location, location; around here, full sun exposure can be a double-edged sword. It may be helpful with managing parasitic pests, but add cooling burden to bees workloads. And if colonies become unexpectedly weakened, it may lead to comb meltdown. I prefer some shade, from direct sun, but, as yet, do not have any issues with SHBs.
Some useful recommendations, that we can apply for our hives:
"...An alternative way to maintain a cool house or reduce air-conditioning use is natural (or passive) cooling. Passive cooling uses non-mechanical methods to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature.
The most effective method to cool your home is to keep the heat from building up in the first place. The primary source of heat buildup (i.e., heat gain) is sunlight absorbed by your house through the roof, walls...
...Specific methods to prevent heat gain include reflecting heat (i.e., sunlight) away from your house, blocking the heat...
Dull, dark-colored home exteriors absorb 70% to 90% of the radiant energy from the sun that strikes the home's surfaces. Some of this absorbed energy is then transferred into your home by way of conduction, resulting in heat gain. In contrast, light-colored surfaces effectively reflect most of the heat away from your home.
Roofs
About a third of the unwanted heat that builds up in your home comes in through the roof. This is hard to control with traditional roofing materials. For example, unlike most light-colored surfaces, even white asphalt and fiberglass shingles absorb 70% of the solar radiation.
One good solution is to apply a reflective coating to your existing roof...
Another way to reflect heat is to install a radiant barrier on the underside of your roof.
A radiant barrier is simply a sheet of aluminum foil with a paper backing. When installed correctly, a radiant barrier can reduce heat gains through your ceiling by about 25%..."
From the "Cooling Your Home Naturally":http://www.weather.com/outdoors/home-improvement/energy-tips/cooling-without-ac_2010-08-23
Boris Romanov
Would I be right in saying temperature of the hive would be the determinate factor for shb. Using sun/shade to help regulate the temp to be the minimum it needs to be to control shb would be the best way to go, whatever that temp would be. Probably the hotter the better. My summer temps are usually low to mid 90's.
when/if you know how to prevent a swarming.
"..If one of the primary causes for swarming, is, amongst other reasons, too much heat (! B.R.), it stands to reason that with a ventilated hive there should be less swarming tendencies."
http://www.beeworks.com/d_e_details.html
Useful link: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honeybee/PDF's 2011/Melitto JAN2011.pdf
"...In 1987 when Florida first was introduced to Varroa we had approximately 1,000 registered beekeepers. When SHB came on the scene in 1998, we had 800 registered beekeepers, and it dropped to a low of approximately 650 beekeepers. Today we have close to 1,800 registered beekeepers representing 275,000 colonies of honey bees..."
Boris Romanov
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+1 Full Sun.
BTW, they're pulling in saw palmetto and blackberry right now.
BTW, they're pulling in saw palmetto and blackberry right now.
I run black hives in full sun and they do well and the bees in these hives are healthy and happy.
I am in the north so we don't get as hot as you but we do get some days in summer where the temps are high. My black hives seem to do well along with my nucs all in full sun.
We have no SHB here but VARROA is every where.
Good luck.
I am in the north so we don't get as hot as you but we do get some days in summer where the temps are high. My black hives seem to do well along with my nucs all in full sun.
We have no SHB here but VARROA is every where.
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