tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714915916932125719.post3541012344922916273..comments2024-03-25T00:47:29.417+10:00Comments on The Practical Frog Blog: Painting native Australian bee hives black for winterUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714915916932125719.post-57808703083943851762017-07-08T07:10:12.512+10:002017-07-08T07:10:12.512+10:00Hey Steve! One of the advantages of living so far ...Hey Steve! One of the advantages of living so far away from the rest of the world is the peace quiet and tranquillity. One of the disadvantages of living so far away from the rest of the world is that we are no where near the shops! When I looked in the shed, I found silver tape but no black. I did, however, find black paint and doing it as inspiration struck with the paint verses travelling an hour or so to get a roll of tape was a persuasive argument! ;)<br />Our theory is that that native hives are painted white to help the bees cope with the Brisbane summers heat. We also insulate them with polystyrene covers in the winter, so internal temperature must be important (or theres a lot of us out there buying into this theory). So we figured painting them black and raising the temperature, at least when the sun was shining would be a good thing. It looks like the weak Hockingsii hive is about to succumb to its fate as in the last cold snap their foraging numbers fell dramatically. Its also about 6 weeks since the hive fell and smashed open and that would have been the workers we should have seen hatch now's brood that was on the ground... The carbs are going great guns and as soon as the sun comes up and hits the hive, they are out and about doing their thing in great clouds of bees. The Australis like the sun, but do seem to spend a lot of time with their front door slammed shut by comparison. Considering I cant really tell the species apart visually by individual bee, I have no trouble telling which hives are really active! Ill keep you osted on what happens next! - Kara xPractical Froghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05929264270672991301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5714915916932125719.post-47024903709941713682017-07-07T12:43:03.918+10:002017-07-07T12:43:03.918+10:00What you could have done instead of paint, was use...What you could have done instead of paint, was use black electrical tape and peel it off once the warmer weather returns.<br /><br />We have both our carbonaria hives against the south-east facing, back wall. One is pretty much in the open and the other is under our back stairs. The hive under the stairs seems to become active earlier than the one in the open. I wonder if that's just the fact the stairs and verandah are keeping it slightly warmer overnight, a bit like cloudy nights being warmer than starry ones.<br /><br />I have a feeling the bees check the outside temperature before venturing from the hive, so the hive temperature won't make much difference to them foraging. That said, if the hive is too cold, then they have to work harder inside to regulate the temp and they use up resources as a result. The same when the hive gets too hot.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00953177737874649543noreply@blogger.com