HIVE CLIMATE CONTROL
Back to how bees controlled their entrance and hive climate conditions in tree nests.
Bees are nature's masters of environmental control. Using synchronized wing fanning, they control airflow to cool the hive or disperse heat. They regulate humidity by collecting water and strategically evaporating it, ensuring the perfect environment for their brood and honey storage. It’s precision climate control at its finest!
Image credits to Jeff Horchoff
Image from the 14-month trial. The image shows hives from below. The bottom of the HiveGates was removed to see the behaviours of the bees in the HiveGate over the trial period.
It can be seen that the bees are creating airflow by fanning in lines.
Side-by-side images from the 14-month trial. The image shows hives from below. The bottom of the HiveGate was removed to see the behaviours of the bees in the HiveGate over the trial period.
Colony with HiveGate can be seen interacting with the entrance actively creating airflow.
How HiveGate Enables Climate Control
With HiveGate we observed bees taking control of their entrance, similar to the way they behave in tree nests. This enables the bees to regulate the internal conditions in the hive cavity as a whole, and not just the cluster.
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The bees engage with and control the internal entrance of the HiveGate.
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They close, open, or partially open the internal entrance by sculpting a body of bees over the entrance and by creating ‘channels’ for airflow, demonstrating active and passive control behaviour.
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The colony leaves the entrance fully open when needed, or fully closes the entrance, blocking external influences from coming in.
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The bees don’t move away from the entrance to form a tight cluster during cold periods even when a colony with a standard hive entrance does. Instead, the colony stays lower in the hive and maintains a looser formation.
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The bees actively create airflow inside the HiveGate by a coordinated effort fanning in a lined formation.
The HiveGate enables natural colony behaviour that enhances climate control within the hive. We never observed this behaviour in the standard Langstroth hive. Because the entrance is at the front wall, the bees are not always in control, especially when they cluster away from the entrance, up into the frames at lower temperatures - leaving the entrance, effectively an "open door," uncontrolled and unguarded.
Effects of Climate Control
Reduced stress on the colony:
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With greater control over the hive's internal conditions, the bees no longer need to work as hard to maintain the optimal hive conditions.
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Resource retention means more resources available for spring growth.
More brood for spring build-up.
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With HiveGate the colony is less likely to move up into the frames forming a tight cluster during winter and spring outdoor temperature changes. This means the colony can look after the brood lower on the frames and avoid chilled brood.
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Earlier and more splits in spring.
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Less winter mortality
FLIR image of a hive with HiveGate installed, during winter; image provided by Fuzzy Nuggets Apiaries - Karen Teague (https://fuzzynuggetsbees.com/)
Full box of bees
