Welcome to Shades of Green
Air bnb
We are expanding fast!
Our early Summer Collection is here!
The new and improved? Initially I thought I was being brilliant by increasing air tightness, ventilation and insulation. It’s partially true. This highrise features cedar belly bands that reduce air cracks. The insulated base prevents infiltration of damp ground upward airflow. And the penthouse has an added window to reduce condensation. And it looks nice.
But there’s still two problems: condensation and squishing too many bees. I guess it’s too air tight now so it’s very warm inside but the walls are not insulated. The belly bands also make it harder take apart and put together boxes again without killing any bees.
Overall a good effort, both visually and for interior comfort but there’s room for improvement.
I consulted with Heinz for the next design of Hive 3.0 and he gave me a few suggestions:
- Use styrofoam above the inner cover with just a 2″ diameter hole otherwise too much heat will escape.
- Continue feeding until the big maple tree harvest.
- One dadent with 10 frames is better than two supers of 5 frames. Keeps the heat in better.
- Don’t use plywood. Once it gets wet, it’ll decompose quickly.
Our bees are doing extremely well. They’ve done A LOT of cleaning! The black queen runs a tight ship. She is fiercely productive! More on her in the next post!
