Box Temperature Comparison – 15 November 2021
Box temperature comparison between an empty box and a live colony. These two boxes are beside each other in full sun from 7am to 2pm. Boxes are 25mm thick Hoop Pine standard boxes with a wood roof painted white. The ambient sensor is in a patio area so didn’t get as cold as the empty box out in the yard.
Box and Material Temperature Testing
Below is a collection of charts and info I’ve created that might give an indication of the suitability of different materials for Native Bee Hive making. Boxes and materials aren’t rated good or bad here, it simply shows the results.
Material Surface Temp Tests – Full Sun
Below Chart: Top and underside surface temps of a variety of materials with a thermo gun.
Below: Four kinds of boxes – Full shade – Winter
- Ambient temp – Blue
- 25mm Hoop pine – orange
- 33mm Hoop pine – green
- 30mm Camphor Laurel – yellow
- 50mm Cypress – grey
Interpreting data
There’s possibly an endless amount of variables I haven’t covered on this page, so you have to accept it as simple data from basic tests and consider any variables that you can think of. The results are the results and peoples biases or experiences may change the interpretation of the results.
- More tests will be done with more boxes and different locations over longer periods.
- These tests are self funded with limited resources
- The tests above are examples only. It’s always important to place a good roof on your hive box!
