Spare me! The car thermometer said it was 36 Celsius today (96.8F), and the humidex makes it feel like 43C (109F). All I can say is, thank goodness we miraculously managed to buy a farmhouse with central air conditioning. The honeybees are not so fortunate...
This is called "bearding" (because it looks like a beard on the hive.) When things get just too hot for the bees, they hang out on the outside of the hive in order to cool off, much like a sweaty guy would sit on his front porch with a cold beer in hand!
This is our D. E. hive, of British design, that has lots of passive ventilation. As you can see, there is far less bearding, so I think the ventilation works well!
Poor girls! I hope it cools off soon. The heat is supposed to break on Friday. The chickens are hot too but we've got fans going and they finished a nice, hydrating watermelon yesterday!We have a lovely 13-year-old named Rachel visiting us for a week, so I'm a little busy but I'll try to keep checking in. Yesterday she polished my silverware, right now she's helping with dinner! :)
But it's toooooo hot!
I wonder if you put a sprinkler nearby they would fly through it for fun.
ReplyDeleteOh those poor bees and chickens! I am staying firmly inside with the a/c!
ReplyDeleteWe're in North Carolina and your temperatures are about the same as ours! That just isn't right!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlMWW4R1ZBM
ReplyDelete36C in canada???
ReplyDeleteI won't believe that :)
Kirigalpoththa, it's happening more and more frequently (global warming anyone?), and the thing that really kills me is the humidity, which was making it feel like 45C at one point. We've had two weeks of hot humid weather now and I've had enough. It really curtails my outdoor activities. I am very glad we have air conditioning in our farmhouse, a rarity in these parts! (The place had central A/C when we bought it.)
ReplyDeleteHWB, AWESOME Ella video!!!!!
ReplyDeleteJames, the bees might like a sprinkler if it didn't drown them first! :)
ReplyDelete