We're in for some highish temperatures over the weekend, 27C or so.
Although we've seen higher, usually in August, watch out for signs of the
bees having difficulty, like:
- bearding
- Ranks of fanners at the entrance
- Honey / nectar leaking from bottom of hive (comb collapse)
If you see this, give the hives some extra shade. If the entrance is
reduced, or you have just 1 hole open in a TBH, remove the blocks.
I'm no longer sure if opening mesh floors helps or not. The more I learn
about how air is moved round hives by bees, the less I understand. Hives
are not thick walled hollow trees... it will probably help in thin walled
hives (Nationals, TBHs) but shade is a more reliable thing.
Last year on one big hive full of bees (ie heat), I saw extreme fanning
activity, lines of bees fanning air, even up the side of the hive and even
using their bodies to shield it from the sun. I leaned a couple of planks
against it to shade it from the sun, and 90% of the bees went back in
within 5 minutes. Shade works.
Paul
