Can the screen in a screened bottom board be left open all winter?

[Stone]

I've heard that some leave them open all winter.  I haven't done this yet and I would like to know the suggestions of others.  Thanks.

[TwT]

down south yes, up north the bee's can survive the cold but they will eat up thier stores faster trying to keep hive warm, thats my thinking, maybe Robo or another from up north can give you a better answer

[annette]

I leave them open all year round, but we get into the 20's and 30's at night for about 1-2 months the most.  Beeks on here in even colder climates keep them open all year round. Read more posts which should be coming.

Annette

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeswinter.htm#SBB

[Finski]

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It is a huge waste of food to keep bottom open. Bees need not that much ventilation.

[woodchopper]

We've been leaving ours open for the past four or five winters. Haven't seen any differences in consumption of stores or overwintering mortality.

[Finski]

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Some years ago I made 6 mesh bottom for winter. 3 one box hives and 3 two box hives.

One of one box hives starved and 2 were very near. Consumption was 100% bigger than on fast bottom. In two box hives I did not notice any special.

But that was enough to me. No mesh floors.

In Spring I use heated bottoms. They make build up very fast with insulated boxes.

[glenn c hile]

Have left them open the last 5 winters with success as well as anyone in our club.  Last winter, a very cold and windy one 14/15 survived, most with left over stores. 

[FRAMEshift]

In Spring I use heated bottoms. They make build up very fast with insulated boxes.

Heater?  Insulated boxes?  Sounds like keeping fish in an aquarium.   :fishhit:

[Stone]

I should add that my hives are raised off the ground about a foot on 4x4 stands, so drafts can be an issue.  I like Mike Palmer's idea of placing the hives on top of empty mediums to help solve that problem.  I think I'm going to try that.

My screened bottom boards are from Brushy Mountain and have a plastic corrugated slide out - the stuff lawn signs are made of.  Even closed, these don't fit air tight so I'd imagine there is some room for circulation.  It might even cut down on the draft situation.

Anybody use these and what has been your experience?

[rgy]

i was trying to remember what I did last year.  My hives have the screened bottom board but are also on a stand.  I think I left that space open last yr and both hives made it until I messed with one too early and then it got cold again.  I'm thinking of closing them almost completely off this yr.  Maybe just an inch or so open.

By the way what do you call that space/opening?  the space where the sticky paper goes.  my bees seem to hang out there a lot and to me it seems like they are just picking up the mites again.  I'm making a screen to keep them out of there next summer.  what does every one else do?

[Finski]

In Spring I use heated bottoms. They make build up very fast with insulated boxes.

Heater?  Insulated boxes?  Sounds like keeping fish in an aquarium.   :fishhit:

he heh heh . I have laughed your newspaper dry sugar systems so much that my stomach will never heal again.

Frameshift, i have reached with pollen patty and bottom heating  3 fold build up speed.
You may laugh as much as you like.

You there use thin wooden board wall, use mesh floor, ventilate direct inside raincover and feed sugar all year around. With small jam jars.  - should I cry for your beekeeping.

In North you kill hives when you are not able to keep them alive. 60 kg winter food ? HAH!

.

[FRAMEshift]

he heh heh . I have laughed your newspaper dry sugar systems so much that my stomach will never heal again.

I'm glad we've been able to entertain you.   :-D    We do use dry sugar on newspaper but it is not as a replacement for capped stores.  It is emergency food for a quick cold snap.  Your bees stay in cluster all winter so they actually use very little food in a given period of time. And I presume they gradually move up to fresh comb honey.  Our bees are "awake" often during the winter, but there is no forage, so they eat more during that time.  In our long hives, the bees have to move stores from the storage part of the hive to the brood nest over the course of the winter.  If there is a sudden drop in temperature, the bees can get caught at the top of the brood frames with no food. Then they will use a little dry sugar to get them through the few days until the temperatures warm up again and they can move to transfer stores.  We only use about 1kg dry sugar per hive.  It just guarantees that there will always be some food at the top of the frames.

Frameshift, i have reached with pollen patty and bottom heating  3 fold build up speed.
You may laugh as much as you like.

I don't laugh at your beekeeping methods Finski.  You obviously know how to get bees through your very hard winter.  But that doesn't mean that your methods work for a warmer climate.  We get lots of pollen in March and a very fast buildup to the main flow that starts in late April.  We don't need no stinkin' patties.   :-D   We have screen bottoms that stay partially open all winter.

In North you kill hives when you are not able to keep them alive. 60 kg winter food ? HAH!

We need about 10kg of capped stores per hive (plus whatever is on the brood comb.)  Maybe 15kg total.  We keep them alive just fine.   :-D

[yockey5]

Have left them open the last 5 winters with success as well as anyone in our club.  Last winter, a very cold and windy one 14/15 survived, most with left over stores. 

I am hoping mine do as well (screened btm)l.

[Finski]

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Framechift. I can smell an odor of patriotism in your answer.

We have here cold snaps too, but my bees do not read newspaper and  I keep hives' covers closed during cold snaps.
My hives have all the time enough food to go over cold snaps. It is not rare that we get snow rain at the beginning of June.

We have a rule. Don't plant summer  flowers out before 10. june because frost probably catches them. I am not telling this to California folks which have condenstation problems during their  one month cold spell called "winter".

If I give emergency feeding, I give at least 5 kg sugar as syrup. It is 2 frames of langstroth and keeps the hive alive 1-2 weeks.
I pour the syrup into combs and put then those combs with box under the brood box.

[derekm]

if your weather is severe you should shelter the bottom of the hive with some kind of wind break. a common way to do this is to put a super (shallow?) underneath the floor. I would suggest a coarse mesh underneath the super as well.

[FRAMEshift]

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Framechift. I can smell an odor of patriotism in your answer.

If you mean patriotism for country, have no fear.  I am very fond of Scandinavia.  I lived in Sweden for 4 years and had lots of Finnish friends.  If you mean patriotism for my bees.... hell yes!  :-D

We have here cold snaps too, but my bees do not read newspaper and  I keep hives' covers closed during cold snaps.
My hives have all the time enough food to go over cold snaps. It is not rare that we get snow rain at the beginning of June.

I'm sorry to hear that your bees are illiterate.  American bees can read AND write.  And do bee math.   :-D   Opps.  There goes that patriotism again.  It's not a matter of having enough food to get over cold snaps.  Our bees do also.  It's a matter of where the food is located.  I can only speak about long hives since we don't use Langstroth anymore.  The bees stay in the same broodnest all winter.  So they have to move honey from storage into the broodnest.  If it stays cold, they are ok because they don't eat much.  If it gets warm, they eat more and must move honey.  But it we then get a cold snap, the bees can be trapped without the ability to move honey.  Then they can use a small amount of dry sugar until it warms up again.... ususally less than a week.  Emergency syrup on the bottom would not help because they could not get to it.

[D Coates]

I leave them wide open year round here.

[FRAMEshift]

I leave them wide open year round here.

Have you done a comparison with closed bottoms as far as how much honey they consume during the winter?

[caticind]

The screen can definitely be left open, but it depends on both temps and wind.  In NC, I leave our elevated hives with screened bottoms open all winter.  If you have VERY cold temps or extended periods of cold, you may not wish to do this.  If you have very gusty winds or the hives are elevated such that wind can blow in easily, you may want to build windbreaks and/or leave the screen in.  How much snow do you typically have on the ground?