Hello everyone. I am a new beekeeper. I am considering making a shim with a top entrance and some 1” ventilation holes which I would cover with screen to help manage condensation over the N Florida winter season. I am using Flow Hives (I gather they are not popular with veterans...I didn’t know any better...plan to use traditional hives for new Nucs this spring). The Flow Hive design doesn’t have a top entrance or ventilation holes except for a 3” hole in the inner cover. Please share your thoughts on the ventilated shim as well as top entrances. I’m thinking I will make it 2” tall
in the winter I put 2 inch spacers so I can lay the fondant ontop of the frames for extra food for the bees in the winter and my traditional hive has a top entrance...I dont know how cold it gets by you in winter but you need to balance ventilation with not going overboard and freezing your bees to death in the winter...something you could research either this website or others on building hives...
Thanks Roadkill. Rarely get a frost here. Even in february is not uncommon to have highs in 70s and lows in 50s. From what I have been reading moisture is the main issue rather than cold but I still plan to incorporate slide covers so can close vents on cold nights.
if you have screened bottoms , they need to be closed up for the winter..again you have to judge how low the temps go if they will freeze out the bees, here in upstate NY where I kept my bees the winters can go down to -10 or more not counting wind chill factor..so it gets cold up here..
I use a cover board under my screened bottom boards and some filter floss (think AC or aquarium filter) over the opening on the bottom back edge to slow the wind but allow a little air exchange. North Texas gets freezes. my top vent is pennies on top of the inner cover below the telescoping cover. Pretty simple. If I don't have pennies nickels work
