Should you keep hives dry or wet
The best way to reduce hive moisture in early spring
With spring on the way, its easy to think hive moisture wont be a problem. But with rapidly developing brood and cool nights, moisture accumlates fast.
Recently, on a balmy spring day, I pulled drone frames out of my hives and discovered the most populous hives were dripping wet under the cover. I had tried to prevent this by using upper entrances, but apparently, the one-inch holes I installed were not big enough to keep the interior dry in spring.
Part of this problem is due to the weather; it has been rainy and cool for the last several weeks so its hard to keep anything dry. Its also partly due to the populations in the hiveslots of bees mean lots of respiration and also lots of nectar collection. Everything, it seems, gives off moisture.
Cold and wet is a lethal combination
Moisture in a hive is not a good thing. Disease organisms, fungi, and molds thrive in moist environments and, in cold weather, water droplets can drip down on the bees and chill the brood. Taken together, its easy to see that proper ventilation is important for bee colonies year-round. Honey bees can thrive in cold temperatures, but cold and wet is a different story.
Screened inner covers increase ventilation
I manage to keep my hives dry during the winter with one lower and one upper entrance. But this time of year when the populations are huge and nights are still cold, its a bigger problem.
So yesterday I removed the inner covers and replaced them with screen covers that have half-inch shims along the short ends. The shims prevent the outer cover from laying flat against the screen. The damp air can flow from the hive, up through the screen, and out the half-inch space on either side.
These screens greatly improve airflow but prevent insectssuch as foreign bees or waspsfrom coming in through the top.
Pollen to pupae to breakfast
Drone trapping in the spring can help reduce the varroa populations in your hives. But trapping and removing drones also relieves some of the population pressure in your hives, making moisture control a bit easier.
After I removed the drone frames, I fed the drone brood to the chickensthe ultimate in recycling! The nurse bees eat the pollen so they can secrete royal jelly and feed the larvae, and the chickens eat the larvae so they can lay the eggs which we can eat for breakfastalong with toast and honey, of course. What a system.
RustyHoney Bee Suite
Specialties
By Bruce E. Ruben MD
In the beginning, long before Johnson met Johnson and Band-Aids were invented, primitive men and women suffered minor cuts and abrasions and probably left them uncovered to heal. After all, the bleeding had stopped, a scab eventually formed and experience had taught them that their skin would heal in a week or two. So there was no great rush to find a use for those puffy, cottony, soft, white plants growing in the fields just yet.
In those early days of discovery, the scab and the blister were considered nature's miracle wound coverings. The scab became our partial and temporary exoskeleton and the blister was the human equivalent of bubble wrap, both protecting the wounds and encouraging the healing process. A scab is the body's natural wound covering. As long as the site is kept moist, the scab will not inhibit the healing process. At that time, keeping scabs and blisters intact seemed like the keys to wound healing.
Drastic Wounds Call for Drastic Measures
But as time marched on and people suffered larger wounds (such as those that might be acquired while trying to take down a wild boar without decent weaponry), a need arose to stop excessive bleeding and further injury with some kind of wound covering. Trial and error most likely proved that palm leaves worked and poison ivy did not.
It wasn't until around 1500 BC that ancient Egyptians and Greeks started using lint, animal grease and honey as topical wound treatments. They had discovered that the lint provided a fibrous base that promoted wound site closure, the animal grease provided a barrier to environmental pathogens, and the honey served as an antibiotic agent.
What they may not have realized at the time was that their treatment method accelerated the wound healing process by promoting a moist wound bed.
What Is Moist Wound Healing?
There are two main components to moist wound healing: 1) Do not use disinfectants over the wound and 2) Keep the wound moist. The first component, not using disinfectants, makes sense because disinfectants such as iodine, sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide are toxic to cells and should never be applied over a wound surface. We don't want to kill cells; we want to encourage them to live and proliferate.
The second component refers to the fact that lacerations, abrasions, crush injuries and burns heal faster and with less scarring when treatment involves promoting a moist wound bed.
The proof that moist wounds heal faster than dry wounds came back in 1962, thanks to Dr. George D. Winter and his landmark paper, "Formation Of The Scab And The Rate Of Epithelialization Of Superficial Wounds In The Skin Of The Young Domestic Pig"1. His research showed that, contrary to the conventional wisdom at the time that wounds should be allowed to dry out and form scabs to promote healing, wounds instead heal faster if kept moist. Winter's work began the evolution of modern wound dressings that promote moist wound healing.
When a wound heals with a moist wound bed, it heals quicker and with less pain and scarring.
Specifically, cell growth needs moisture and the main goal of moist wound therapy is to create and maintain these optimal moist conditions. Cells can grow, divide and migrate at an increased rate to enhance the formation of new tissue. During this phase of wound healing, an aqueous medium with several nutrients and vitamins is essential for cell metabolism and growth.
The Role of Exudate in Wound Healing
In this environment, the wound exudate, the moisture that naturally seeps out from a wound site, serves as a transport vehicle for a variety of bioactive molecules such as enzymes, growth factors and hormones. The different cells in the wound area communicate with each other via these mediators, ensuring that the healing processes proceed in a coordinated manner.
Wound exudate also provides the different cells of the immune system with an ideal medium to destroy invading pathogens such as bacteria, foreign bodies and necrotic tissues, diminishing the rate of infection.
Moist wound healing inhibits the formation of a solid, impenetrable scab, which tends to block the epithelial cells from spreading horizontally through the thin layer of wound exudate and across the wound bed. The wound is then able to close quickly. In addition, pain is significantly reduced when wounds are covered with an occlusive dressing. At first, there were concerns that the presence of moisture in wounds would increase the risk of clinical infection, but that has been shown not to be the case.
To summarize, treating topical wounds is broken down into the following components:
- Cleaning the wound in order to remove dead tissue and debris
- Dressing the wound to promote a moist wound bed and to prevent reinjuring the site
- Determining the frequency of dressing changes
- Reevaluation to measure the rate of healing
Following this protocol provides:
- Up to 50% faster wound healing than dry wound healing
- A lower rate of infection
- No need of systemic antibiotics
- Painless removal of the dressing without damaging newly formed tissue
- Less scarring and better cosmetic results
Sources1. Winter, GD. Formation of the Scab and the Rate of Epithelization of Superficial Wounds in the Skin of the Young Domestic Pig. Nature. 1962;193:293-294.
About the AuthorDr. Bruce Ruben is the Founder and Medical Director of Encompass HealthCare, located in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Encompass Healthcare is an outpatient facility featuring advanced wound care, IV antibiotic therapies, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, nutritional assessment, and other treatment modalities. Dr. Ruben is board certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease, and in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. He is a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee and National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA) board.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author, and do not represent the views of WoundSource, Kestrel Health Information, Inc., its affiliates, or subsidiary companies.
Hives (Urticaria)
What are hives?
Hives, or urticaria, are flat red welts that can appear anywhere on the skin and usually itch. Hives often occur as an allergic reaction to something eaten or something that has contacted the skin. Foods, medicines, and plants are common causes, but sun exposure, stress, infections, and autoimmune diseases have also been known to cause hives.
Symptoms include an itchy, stinging pink rash of slightly swollen skin. The rash may wax and wane in severity. Acute hives typically resolve within six weeks, but chronic hives (urticaria) can persist for months or years.
Hives often resolve on their own, especially in children. Otherwise, treatment for acute hives involves oral antihistamine medications to help relieve the itching and stinging. Chronic hives that do not improve with antihistamines may be treated additionally with corticosteroids, antibiotics, and other stronger medicines. A study found that 35% of people with chronic hives, are symptom free within one year, with another 29% having some reduction of symptoms.
You can safely treat this condition on your own as long as you does not develop trouble breathing. Any antihistamine (like Zyrtec, Clarinex, etc) works.
preferred ways to return wet frames to the hive so as to avoid robbing frenzy
#1I am curious to know what strategies people have for returning extracted frames to the hives, that don't set off a robbing frenzy. The bees can smell molecules of honey. Just walking wet frames to the hives can set off robbing in my beeyard. I am inclined to return them for cleaning out during our next rainy spell, when the bees are not likely to be on the wing. Other thoughts/suggestions?Extracting today...-Karen in Cincinnati
#2If you have a good flow on, probably nothing to worry about. If it's a bit sparse out there, put them on close to sunset, and keep them covered till they go on the hive. Reduced entrances, etc, are good in a dearth too.
#3Not a lot of experience with this but I have had good luck when it is windy, or at least breezy. They can't seem to get organized to "attack". But if there is a flow on and you are quick, you probably won't have any problems. J
#6Just work fast and get it done. The best way I've found to get the frames cleaned up after extraction is to add an empty box above the inner cover, then stack your extracted supers above the empty box, then a tight fitting cover. You can get that done in less than a minute, before the robbers have a chance to get in the way. The bees will have the honey in the comb cleaned up and moved down below in a few days and then you can pull the cleaned up supers.
#7I do almost the same thing above the inner cover. Never used the extra box, just the frames in their own box above the inner cover.
#8Just extract and put back on the hive! If you don't need them anymore this season, spray with BT and store wet.
#11also tape up any cracks or holes in boxes. less area to defend if robbing gets started
#14I set them out and let them rob the frames clean, the trick is to set them a good distance from the other hives. Generally I put them a couple hundred yards away. It looks like a frenzy but all the robbing is oriented far away from the hives so I dont get actual robbing in the yard. I have some hives with scales under them and the weight gain is impressive when I do it. After a couple of days I run the dry frames through a freezer for a week and store inside until I need them again. Works beautifully.
#18OK< This may sound like a stupid question But: what exactly does the deep freeze do?
#15after extraction I put them evenly across all the hives wet and have them backfill with whats hopefully the next flow (goldenrod etc) and extract again. On last flow, I set them out 100 yards away and there should be a cloud of bee's robbing and cleaning till all dry. Store for winter.
#17Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT), presumably against wax moths, etc. However, I never store wet unless each frame spends at least 24 hours in the deep freeze, and then I prefer to use Para-Moth to guard against wax moths.
#19The temps in the freezer will destroy wax moth eggs on the frames. Since his frames are then stored inside there is little chance of re-infestation as they will then be isolated from the adult moths.
#20If you use BT to guard against wax moths, make darn SURE that the BT is current. Youll pay a large price in lost comb if is not. Dont just spray the comb but also the inside of the boxes.
#21Ur rite ,I live close around and the alffa is blomming so there some else 4 them 2 collect,but keep eye on them and keep entrence reducer in place, if robbing gets started plug it up except enough 4 just 2 to 3 bees can get through. Smaller door is easer 2 protect. I spun 7 gallons yesterday,yum yum
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