BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Ventilation

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #11360  by Alfred
 29 Jun 2021, 17:00
I have a banana shaped polynuc as a result of its previous owner winding down on a ratchet strap -water gets ino the roof joint now but luckily the locating rim inside stops it going further- beware.....
 #11367  by Steve 1972
 30 Jun 2021, 19:47
All my main equipment that I use most is from Abelo..not sure what mk1/mk2 and mk3 is but I am sure it is not an Escort Turbo.. :D ..
The first boxes I bought where a few years back that come with the big deep roofs..the second lot where the new type with the slim comercial type roofs..I do not use those roofs but both style boxes are Brilliant..I have no water promblems at all during spring/summer and winter with healthy strong colonies ..I have the inspection board half out this time of the year and pushed in during winter..the only mould I have found up to date is from small fail8ng colonies half way through winter..apart from them I can't fault the Abelo hives.
 #11380  by MickBBKA
 02 Jul 2021, 00:54
I am not sure if 1, 2 or 3 but they are about 4 years old and have very large roofs. I use proper ratchet straps so they are tight. The fact is the bees don't propolise the edges. I also have a few extra brood bodies that I bought as an experiment and they pi$$ water in the same.

So if anyone makes me an offer which allows me to replace with wood hives 2 double brood poly hives with 2 supers each then I will be glad to see the back of them. :D
 #11386  by Steve 1972
 02 Jul 2021, 12:36
I will have them Mick..what do you want for them..
 #11413  by MickBBKA
 09 Jul 2021, 22:56
Steve 1972 wrote:
02 Jul 2021, 12:36
I will have them Mick..what do you want for them..
Sure we can sort something out for later in the year if ok as they are all in use at the moment and I have no spare boxes.
 #11415  by MickBBKA
 09 Jul 2021, 23:22
Image

If you think about how warm it has been for the last month then you really do have to consider what we are taught about ventilation of hives. Having been taught that its important to increase ventilation in the summer to help with honey ripening and colony cooling I can only suggest my bees strongly disagree looking at this crownboard.

Sorry I have no idea why the pics turn out this large.
 #11416  by NigelP
 10 Jul 2021, 08:46
I find that using the abelo crownboards with plastic inserts plus the poly inserts to seal the "holes" up, they still propolise the plastic inserts. This is despite no draught being able to go through the "holes".
I think the bees are simply sealing any irregular surfaces/ gaps in their nest, rather than reacting to through ventilation.
If I take any of the side vents fully out they don't propolise these over but after a few weeks start using them as extra entrances.
 #11417  by Alfred
 10 Jul 2021, 09:31
Ive got one lot on an emegency solid floor and a reduced entrance with no upper vent.
The hive is dry inside but I was taken aback by the ' pressure release ' as I took off the crownboard yesterday
Almost blew my hat off...