Beehives Cooler
Honey bees have a remarkable system for regulating the temperature inside their hives. However, during times of extreme heat, even the most resilient colonies can struggle to keep the beehive cool enough. When temperatures soar into the upper 90’s and beyond, beekeepers often wonder how to help keep their colonies. Can we offer additional support? This article explores some practical ways to help your beehives stay cooler during hot weather.
As a Master Beekeeper living in the South, I understand worrying about beehives overheating. Not just the high temperatures but also high humidity can make summer beekeeping tasks no fun at all. Yet, our colonies still need our support.
Honey Bees Prevent Over-Heating
Since honey bees are insects (cold blooded ones in fact) – trying to keep them cool may seem silly. But, they require a suitable range of temperatures in order to survive and thrive.
If it is too cold in the hive, bees die. But extreme heat is just as dangerous. It causes bee brood to die and wax honeycomb to soften and sag. Luckily, honey bees have a way of controlling the internal hive temperature that works in most cases.
As soon as the temperature in the hive approaches 96.8°F, cooling efforts begin. Bees work together to fan and move air inside the hive.
Using their wings, they pull in fresh air and exhaust hot humid air. Water droplets may also be used for evaporative cooling. This is why a good Summer water source for bees is so important.
Because we keep bees in modern hives, in locations that we choose – it is possible that we our choices may interfere with this process.
Key Strategies to Help Beehives Stay Cooler
Many beekeepers have no reason to be over-concerned about hot temperatures. In moderate climates, your bees can thrive just fine with their natural abilities to control internal hive temperatures.
However, if you live in a very hot climate, or one that experiences periods of high heat and humidity you may be able to offer some help. While these tips are provided under the idea of helping beehives stay cooler – they also apply to good general bee health.
- Provide ample shade
- Proper ventilation
- Dependable water source
- Supplemental Cooling
Shade Keeps Hives Cooler
Placing your beehives in areas with partial shade is a simple way to help. This is only one of several things you must considered when deciding where to put a beehive.
But, naturally a hive located in full hot sun all day requires more effort by the bees to keep temperatures under control.
For those of us living and keeping bees in Small Hive Beetles, we must be extra careful. We often avoid hive locations with heavy shade.
Shaded hives tend to have more beetle problems. To counteract this – try for partial shade and install hive beetle traps early in the season.
No Shade – No Problem
What if you have no shade or only need a temporary way to cool the beehives (perhaps during the hottest months of the year? It is easy to create shade structures to provide some shade for the hives.
Umbrellas, canopies or even those flat shade sails can provide good protection from direct sunlight. This helps cool internal temperatures and gives the colony some aid in keeping hives cooler.
Cooling Hive Ventilation
Good airflow through a hive is important for any time of year. Beekeepers often fail to understand the importance of hive ventilation – even in the Winter.
Having fresh air coming in is even more important during hot weather. Good air flow – ventilation is critical. Using screened bottom boards (no grid boards) instead of solid bottoms may help a bit.
Some beekeepers drill 1 inch ventilation holes in top boxes (with screen on the inside of course) to let out hot air.
Upper entrances, notched inner covers or screen inner covers allow good air flow. I use special ventilated covers that have screened air holes.
And one of the easiest practices – lay a couple of wooden popsicle (craft) sticks between the inner cover and outer top to increase airflow. This raises the top up just a bit but not enough to allow bees to come and go.
Ample Water Supply
Because honey bees use water to help keep their beehive cooler, they need a dependable water source near the hive. You don’t want them to be flying half a mile to water on a hot day.
For a hobby beekeeper with a couple of hives, several small bee watering stations may be enough for if you check them daily.
However, I would opt for a small water garden or large fountain for your honey bees to access water – it is important that they don’t run dry.
Supplemental Hive Cooling Techniques
The following ideas can be implemented in very hot climates. But, please understand that the average beekeeper does not need to go to these extremes.
- beekeepers may use mist systems to cool the beehives on the hottest days. Misting the hive with water in the very early morning (before bees begin to forage) can help slow down temperature rise
- outer covers can be painted white to help reduce heat absorption
- simply laying a piece of wood over the top is an option to keep direct sun off the top
- covering the top of the hive with a wet towel that drapes down the side – but you will have to wet them several times during the day
- in extreme heat regions, setting a bucket of ice on top of the hive (not inside) is a practice used. I have never done this or seen it done but it might help?
- finally a fan blowing (on low speed) on the hive may aid in ventilation on the hottest days.
Benefits of Helping Hives Stay Cooler
By implementing these techniques, beekeepers can support their honey bees in thriving and maintaining a balanced hive environment
Controlling hive temperatures in the brood nest is required for optimal bee larva development. This is the next generation of workers needed to sustain the colony.
If you want your beehive to make as much honey as possible – temperature control is important. Honey production is affected when so many of the worker bees have to put all their efforts into cooling the hive.
Also, if the hive becomes too hot, the bees can experience heat stress. Stress leads to many colony problems including susceptibility to disease.
Stressed bees are not healthy and often these bees are more aggressive than normal. This is a good reason to help the colony and it helps you too.
FAQs
Natural vegetation is a great option for shade near your hives. And, some of the taller flowering shrubs and bushes for bees can provide shade and food.
Approach your hive cooling methods with caution. Bees don’t need a lot of help unless they are dealing with temperature extremes.
In general, night temperatures are not a problem for beehive – even during the heat of summer.
Insulation is used more often for protecting the beehive from extreme cold. It would be best to focus on the other methods for cooling-ventilation, water and shade unless you live in an extreme climate.
Adult honey bees can withstand high temperatures (up to 120°F) for very brief periods. However, high temperatures inside the hive can kill brood and cause comb to sag.
Finally
Controlling temperature inside the beehive is important for the health and productivity of the honey bee colony. When brutal temperatures arrive, you may want consider ways to help keep the beehives cooler. In most cases, this will simply involve making choices that enhance their natural abilities: hive placement, ventilation, water sources.
