วีดีโอ

No... I stopped a few years ago as the hives always had plenty of food left.

Were the sidewalls insulated? If not you will get much more sidewall and floor condensation. As the day fluctuates from daily highs to lows you will get it happening daily. Sidewall insulation helps keep heat inside and temperatures above dew point.

Yep!!! Summer flies by here....

I will put in 10 to 20L max per colony. Most are actually close to ready when I pull my honey. The syrup is to give them the fuel to raise the final rounds of brood and backfill the shrinking nest.

just finished converting some of my old wintering gear to the HiveIQ geometry!! I will get them in tomorrow morning

I start with 1:1 in late July and then switch to 2:1 for the remainder of August and early September

@@etiennetardif6552 I understand

I have been painting the inside for the last 10 years. It helps keep them cleaner, I haven't had any issues.

Wonderful! Glad to help... apologize for the late reply...

Thanks... Just bought some more CO2 sensors :)

Hello there!

Hence the reason I use polys here...

mine are very docile. they were very busy working. I was 1-2ft from entrance in a t-shirt, no veil. As long as I am slow in my movements and not popping the lid and shaking things up they will not sting me.

I sat there taking in the smells and sounds for a good 30 minutes. I love it when the smells align with what you are smelling out in the nature (fireweed, Marsh Fleawort and the June Lingonberry flows). :) I'll setup my camera on my little tripod for a couple of hours...

No... not really... might be in a couple of places but Zone 1-2 restricts many plants from establishing here

Like what?

not too bad... the reason I add a honey super without excluder is to allow nest to expand up, bring nurse bees up into the honey box. I then add the excluder to allow brood to hatch out and hopefully back fill it with honey.

Mostly... I will occasionally winter doubles, but my preference is in a single box. Makes for easier spring management.

healthy bees, plenty of honey and good protection from the elements (easier said then done).

@@etiennetardif6552 I am watching your content some really good suggestions I am going to try 2 singles & 2 doubles insulate the heck out of them no too vent

If you go with a top entrance, make the bottom at least 4” wide. You will likely need a mouse guard too

@@etiennetardif6552 I think I will eliminate the top vent & do as you leave the bottom open with 1/4 inch hardware cloth We get cold but not like you however -30 -40 does happen at times

don't use glued wood panel, this is like super thing wood physics and only chemical glue barriere for humidity and uglyer thermo conductance

Cutting a pine board to size is much easier and cheaper than building styrofoam boxes.

why? the way you handle the hive inspection from the small (back) side gives you less controll of frame handling and make s your bees in tendency more agressive- so you need thick gloves - so you have kless feel and controll so more aggressiveness - its a vicious cycle.

I typically just inspect from the back with no issues. My stands are fit for purpose for 8 months of the year where any colony not facing south will struggle (shade side temperatures are much cooler than ambient). I ran several experiments several years ago with different directions. All colonies that were facing east/west and north struggled. The south facing wall is also the preferred side for the bees during our long winters. The stand is designed to create a dead air space below the screen bottoms in winter to help drain out excessive condensation. The ground in the one location shifted and caused the middle legs to not touch the ground.

The reason I wear gloves now is that I started getting allergic reactions. I carry my Epi-pen now at all times. Like you said my bees are calm.

temperature capacitor of earth below surface is used by RUS beekeepers for centuries by using below ground overwintering (don't know how much you have to dig down in Yukon to get year-long like ~ 5 to 10 deg Celsius?)

ground freezes 10-14ft down here!! I get 80-100% wintering success here so my system works. A single body hive consumes about 30 lbs of honey over 8 months (September to May). My colonies typically have 40-50 lbs 4-5 frames of honey left in spring.

@@etiennetardif6552 this is exeptionell wintering success. It just happened that we got a new German beekeeping / hive build book exactly on heat, insulation, heat & water capacitance/storage of wood etc. Interestingly this book differentiated between heat-peak stress and heat-stress, the former through mass and heat conductance/capacitance like in hives in ground shelters, rock-cave-hives, or large mass of tree cavities / thick woodhive-sides-panels -- the latter through R30 insulation and in graded way like you do: more on top less to sides and ground

inside the hive you want the temperature amplitude from high heat stress outside to reach in delayed phase shift hours later, so you would need mass and high specific heat capacity like water --- in combination with insulation (lessening the temp. amplitude) which is perfectly combined in wood due to micro air cavities plus wood is balancing peaks and lows in humidity by it's ability to bind water (not free water like in air inside insulation material which will condense out when under due point situation)

We rarely get pollen bound here!! Once the nest gets going, a single box will have 6-8 frames of mixed brood. By using early pollen patties and triggering early rearing (early April) the nest gets filled with brood prior to the mid spring pollen flow.

sometimes!! if they run out of space and can't draw out the frames fast enough

cause the queen/bees don't feel it is necessary... bees work in mysterious ways

Only challenge here has been creating accessories for top feeding and for pollen patties. I will also be setting up a R40 Top box for winter.

@@etiennetardif6552 Agreed. For now I'll use the medium super. Then cut a piece of plexiglass with the same dimensions as the inside of the box, raised by 4 screws on the corners that will sit on top of the frames. That will give me about 3 cm of clearance for fondant. Then stack EPS foam boards on top and then add the top cover. You'll probably need to use a deep to get to R40.

They are plugged for sure all winter. I pretty much only use them when moving a hive in the back of my truck.

It is all about them fitting on standard 4 way pallets. They are designed for commercial beekeepers. Polys are at least 3/4" thicker per side so. All the poly suppliers have enough variances to make "sharing" gear annoying between them. e.g. The bee space above (Lyson) or below (Paradise Bee Box) the frames. I run most of my gear with 9 frames to I have no problem. I have shims, spacers I have made to allow me to mix them up. Wood gear on poly defeats the purpose. But I understand!!

It is all about them fitting on standard 4 way pallets. They are designed for commercial beekeepers. Polys are at least 3/4" thicker per side so an extra 1.5" per hive..

They do not fit. You have to make shims

It’s chemistry. It will be solid at that temperature and potentially more dangerous. www.beelistener.co.uk/equipment/fumigating-combs-and-preparing-for-winter/

mid June we've got willow, a mix of wildflowers including wild low bush cranberries (lingonberries) which will transition to some fireweed and decumbent (alpine type) goldenrod. Flow is done late July.

they provide bee space above the cluster so I can push down my styrofoam feeder and insert down without crushing bees. It also allows for better natural ventilation, heat rises, cools towards the sides and then drops back down, bee bodies theoretically is all that would be required to control flow under most circumstances. (except during mid winter warm ups!! - bees need to vent in these situations).

Thanks, I figured it out after I sent the question. No inner cover below the foam feeder. I like the idea of the foam feeder. I'm thinking of putting that on an inner cover with the screen over a 2" opening. What's your thoughts on that? I appreciate your response, take care!

Love the challenge!!

Local supplier who orders it from Global. I’ll keep you posted.

@@etiennetardif6552 in Yukon or BC?

@@graemediesel2936 Yukon...

Bee supply store

Standard poly boxes (Paradise Honey and Lysons)