# Ventilation when it's hot?



## Skygod1 (May 16, 2015)

I've built 2 Warre hives now. One is active and the Second is in reserve for when I get a swarm. As I look at the quilt and roof combination I just don't understand the theory there's the roof rests completely over the quilt sealing it off from air movement. Which in the colder months would seem to be a good idea. However not do much for cooling it off when it's blazing hot in the summer. 
So I'm thinking that instead of cutting holes in the sides of my work, that if I place some spacers between the quilt and roof say on the corners so it lifts it up and allows air to pass through that it might help keep it cooler when it's 90+ degrees this summer. 
Since I'm a neophyte I'm wondering if this is a good or bad idea?


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I use Langs, but I "stole" the idea of a quilt box from the Warre tribe. I keep mine on year-round (and they do work like gangbsters in winter), but there is one big difference between my design and the Warre ones: I have exactly what you mentioned above the QB, under my insulated telecover. I have 2" high shim (a rim running all around the perimter of the box, the same size as a box) that has two 1" diameter holes in it, one on each narrow end. These holes remain open all through the winter, no matter how cold it gets. And since I am in northern NY it gets very cold!

My QB work because warm moist air (in any season) can rise up through the shavings and out of the hive. It's not visible in the warm months but one can easily easy the effect when it's cold. Below is a picture of the moisture passing out of the ventilation hole and coming in contact with the cold surface of the edge. It was warm enough this evening (pic taken in late winter) that it just condensed as water, often it is frost.








Now during the summer, when it gets really hot I reduce the amount of shavings in the QB to allow more passive ventilation through it. Removing some of the shavings may be a mistake in the same way removing some of your attic insulation would make your upstairs rooms hotter in the summer. But then house insulation doesn't have the same air-flowing-through function that a QB does. And I always keep the shimon, with its two holes wide open.

The one downside to a QB is that my bees will draw some bits of comb on it, and one colony will occasioanlly chew on the fabric in the summer.

You will note in the picture that the vent holes in the screen are bee-screened on the inside. This is tokeep bees from going in there believing it will connect them to the hive. The shavings and floor are in the way, so I screen to keep them out of that lethal cul-de-sac.

If I were you, I'd add that shim, with holes, and see if it works better than the orthodox design. Without bees being able to access and propolize it, you may have to use some other tactic to keep it safely stuck on the stack.

Good luck.

Enj.


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## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

The cover doesn't fit perfectly tight, but if you are overly worried about it then four small screws in each corner of the ceiling will keep it slightly elevated off the quilt.


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