Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
correct temperature for their survival even in winter (if there is any brood around at this
time) - they don't try to heat the hive!
The mesh floor will aid the hive's ventilation, especially in hot weather when the bees do
try to cool the hive. It will also aid in varroa control - if a varroa mite falls off a bee, it
will fall through the mesh and will be unable to get back into the hive. Finally, any water
that enters the hive will drain away immediately. Damp kills bees, not cold. My advice
is always to use mesh floors.
Brood box (often called the brood chamber)
This first box is usually the larger size of box (full), and it is the box that holds the
queen and where she will lay eggs and where the brood-rearing occurs. If the queen is
a prolific layer and the colony builds up rapidly, overcrowding could cause swarming,
and so many beekeepers place a second full box on top of the first and move the queen
excluder (see below) up one. This gives the queen another box to lay in and can lower
the chance of swarming.
The larger the colony, the bigger the honey crop, so it is advantageous to give a good
queen plenty of room. A ¾ box could be used here instead of a full box as a second
brood chamber and, in this case, the brood chamber is call a 'brood and a half '.
Fig. 8.
A plastic queen excluder
