# Question about Very HOT weather,like 105



## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

I use exclusively TBH style hives for my bees here in coastal TX. While we very rarely top 100F here on the coast, we often have a month straight of 95F days with 85% humidity... anywise, to help keep the heat off my bees, I painted the tops of my lids with "Aluminum Roofing Paint," a (very) reflective, oil-based paint; I also use the KTBH-style sloped-sides on my boxes, so the sun rarely hits the sides of the hives much, due to their "hiding" under the overlap of the lid. Lastly, I cut my top bars like Langstroth frames, with bee-space between every two bars, and between the bars & the lid, with a top entrance into the bee space above the bars. This way my bees have the heat-fighting advantage of being able to ventilate above the tops of the combs, so the hottest air in the hive is first to be fanned out


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

HappyBeeing, We have High temps. here in July and Aug. also. I have screen bottomboards on my hives and a top entrance for ventilation, i would not put insulation on the hive, they need air circulation to cool the inside. I sometime put a piece of plywood over the top of the hive for shade.


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## HappyBeeing (Apr 6, 2013)

Hi robherc and brooksbeefarm! Thank you for letting me know how you work it! So far top ventilation is the common theme and I don't have any in the top of my hive body(just the peaked roof over the flat top). I do have a bottom screen with a swing down door under it I've kept closed so far but figured those high temps would be when I'd open it. I knew instinctivly that something was missing or I'd forgotten something I read though.Since I have a lower slot door I'll probably put some corks up top to open now when the scorcher hits.Thanks again so much! :applause: HB


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

HappyBeeing, a couple of popsicle sticks under the two front corners of the inner cover will give some ventilation and small enough to keep robbers out.


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## beeman2009 (Aug 23, 2012)

HappyBeeing

Might want to consider cutting some end vents in your peaked roof. Easy to do, just cut a 2" hole on each end covered with screen/hardware cloth inside to release the heat. Good in winter also.


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## HappyBeeing (Apr 6, 2013)

Hi Again brooksbeefarm...Well,gee,that's an easy fix!  Do the closed top bars actally "vent" right through the wood? I'm in an area of few other honey bees(other keepers 10 miles or more away and me with only the one hive for now). I needed my own pollinators for my fruit trees and melons. There are plenty of wild pollinators here but they liked the wild growth more than my plantings. I was SO delighted my bees found my fruit tree blossoms immediatly. I imagine when I harvest a comb someday I might get a look at robber activity though by smelling up the area. ha.And I plan on having hive #2 next year.

Hi beeman! Yeah that's exactly how our peaked roof was done;I must have seen the same specs as you somewhere! I'm thinking now a further vent "closer to the combs" will help though.I don't know how much venting happens right Through untreated wood like my inner cover.:scratch:


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

Ok, I'm not sure why you guys are using inner covers on TBH boxes, but....

The ventilation holes in the "attic" area of the peaked roof aren't for venting the hive, so much as for venting the super-hot air inside that "dead space" in the roof itself; sun beating down on the roof heats the air underneath, which needs somewhere to go so it doesn't heat the wood underneath it, down to your top bars & start softening combs where they attach to the bars 

Also, if you're using a "normal" TBH setup (i.e. no bee space between, or above, the bars), you can simply push your first top bar back far enough to leave a bee space gap between the front edge of the bar, and the inside edge of the front hive wall, to give the bees a nice top entrance. Michael Bush, I believe, mentioned this in the TBH discussion on his website too. http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

It is expected to get into the 100s F by next week.

I use screened bottoms, or a screened vent in my bottom boards, and upper entrances.

Here is a photo showing the entrances on a Top Bar nuc, growing in a regular 5-frame medium nuc box ->


Pics of Top Bar Nucs ->

Top Bar Nuc 1

Top Bar Nuc 2


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

In addition to good air circulation, you need a good water source as near as possible to the hive. Its the evaporation of water that actually cools the hive. HTH 

Screened bottom boards give me confidence in the heat. I ordered a screened inner cover as well to try (and duplicate if it works) this year. One up-side to severe heat is that the queen will stop laying eggs. That gives the varroa mites a fit to find brood for their next generation of mites.


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## catbackr (Jun 5, 2010)

The past two summers in Kansas have been brutal. 110+ on occasion. I lost 2 hives to comb collapse the first summer. Last year I did the following: Peaked roofs on all the hives with air vents in the end. Air vents in the main box (all vents were 1" in diameter). I painted the roofs white and where possible, moved the hives to get some afternoon shade. That seemed to keep the comb from falling off so hopefully this summer won't test it again.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

catbackr said:


> -snip- afternoon shade -snip-


Worth mentioning!


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## SRBrooks (Jun 24, 2012)

All my hives are TBHs. They are all in afternoon shade. I only had one bar of comb collapse, (a year ago) and it was probably my fault.

Sondra


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## lavert5 (Mar 6, 2011)

Sounds like your good on ventilation. Only advice I have is afternoon shade and don't go in the hive unless absolutely necessary when its that hot. You have all new comb and its very easy to tear and break up before its that hot. If you do feel you need to inspect be extra careful and expect broken comb. I haven't had any problems with comb collapse when I leave them alone during times of high heat. .


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

Sorry HappyBeeing, I missed reading you had a Top Bar hive.


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## HappyBeeing (Apr 6, 2013)

catbackr-EXCELLENT! Thank you for your Exact experience!!!! That was JUST what I wanted to hear when I asked this question! I have an almost white roof,the ventilation figured out now and shade, so I think I'm good!SO glad those things worked for you.

robherc- My peaked roof isn't really needed right now-it's just an extra form of shade and protection) BUT it's REALLY for winter insulation(the dead space will be stuffed) and SLIDING off the foot or more at a time of very wet heavy snow we get in winter. 

brooksbeefarm-What you said First was still helpful because venting the top part of the hive body(not roof) was the ONE thing that was "missing" in my design.I didn't mind you answering in the Top Bar Forum!  I can still remove spacers or add top corks to open or whatever! I know many variables will work and am all set now!


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

At 105 F and relative humidity around 60 percent the wet bulb temperature is around 10 degrees less ( the principal of a swamp cooler) so a wick covering the roof (say several layers of burlap or such) and kept wet could help.
Bill


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## Liberty Nut (Dec 30, 2010)

Speaking from years of swamp cooler experience in the arid west desert, 60 percent humidity renders a swamp cooler virtually useless. Here in Utah, if the humidity reaches much over 25 percent, the swamp cooler is turned off, and just circulation fans are about all that get used. At 15 percent or lower, a swamp cooler can effectively drop the temperature about 15 degrees, but that's about it. The wet bulb temperature is the theoretical limit, and that's with 100% efficiency, which is quite difficult to achieve.

Shading the hive will have a much more beneficial effect than trying to cool the hive with wet burlap at 60 percent humidity, and not require constant re-wetting attention. Your mileage may vary.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

Speaking from experience in El Paso, TX...I've lowered the temperature with a swamp cooler to WAY below wet bulb; often accomplishing 25F drops; wet blb is with ambient air curents; evaporative coolers, used properly, can exceed it by as much as 3 to 1. That said, I think wetting a fabric covering over your hive would be about the worst thing you could do to "help" your bees when it's hot out...the moisture would interfere with the bees' own cooling efforts, encourage growth of mold, bacteria, wood rot, etc...not to mention being supremely labor intensive, as you'd need to re-wet it every so many minutes throughout the day...so let's go with the reflective roof &/or placement in the shade


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## blist (Jun 15, 2010)

I live in south texas as well (super hot and humid) and I don't ventilate my hives at all...no screen bottoms, no vents...just a bottom/end entrance...on the new hives we are putting up I'm considering just leaving a gap between first bar and front (like MB suggests)...essentially a top entrance..I think either way is fine really...the bees will regulate the temp. in the hive, I did not used a screen bottom because it seems to me that it would make it very difficult for the bees to control the air flow that way...it can get extremely windy here as well since I am right on the coast.

I can only recall one or two pieces of comb falling in all the time those hives have been up and I don' think it was a heat issue.


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## HappyBeeing (Apr 6, 2013)

I just pulled this thread up for Bill who asked about hot weather TODAY....................


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