From some time, beekeepers began to use hives with an open bottom, covered with a mesh. Initially, this mesh belonged to the hygienic bottom of the hive, whose task was to collect Varroa mites falling from the bees and to prevent them from returning on the bees.
Then, for some unknown reason, someone decided that the bottom of the hive should be opened. Then, it will be will become cooler in the hive in summer, and in winter the condensation from the inner lid of the hive will drip not to the bottom, but simply to the ground. It would seem like a sensible idea. And many beekeepers decided to try ... Someone started to produce hives with mesh bottom. This is especially true for polyurethane foam hives.
But, dear friends, let's take a look at the life of bees….
Firstly, the bees, like all insects, are cold-blooded. In order to work actively, they need to warm up by doing physical exercises. Bees need to shake and flap their wings, in order to reach their working temperature close to +32-36C. Any cooling of the nest leads to the fact that all vital processes of both bees and brood begin to fade. Bees have to spend time, energy and honey on maintaining the temperature in a holed pipe! And we know how bees do not like it. They try to cover all possible holes which prevent them from maintaining the desired microclimate with propolis.
Secondly, as we know, bees also need a certain moisture to rear brood. When you rear queens in an incubator, you keep the relative humidity up to 70%. Why do you think the rest of brood doesn't need it? It has been scientifically proven that the survival rate of eggs and larvae increases with increasing humidity in the hive. We, by opening the bottom of the hive to all winds, prevent the bees from maintaining the desired humidity.
Thus, by opening the bottom of the hive, we distract the bees from doing work that is useful to them and to us. Instead of collecting honey, they will warm the brood, try to seal all the holes in the hive, and try to keep moisture and heat around the larvae by covering them with a crust from their bodies.
It is scientifically proven that old bees that fly in the field for nectar can bestly heat the nest and warm the brood. This means that instead of flying for honey, they will create a crust from their bodies that protects the brood from cold, wind and dryness.
So is the imaginary coolness created by the open
bottom worth the loss of honey and the lag in the development of families?
