Tests Archives - www.nativebeehives.com

Searching for the best box design – Insulation

Box design and insulation remains one of the hot topics within the native bee community. Over the years we’ve seen many claims that you need good insulation or thick hardwood for our hive boxes. Many beekeepers can get stuck in their own confirmation bias, tribalism or idea prison. I guess it makes sense in our heads that everything needs good insulation and we can help by providing it for our bees within the box design but if it’s obvious or common sense then we should able to easily demonstrate it.

Paint Colour Temperature Test

Testing the surface temperature of paint colours to give an indication of the effect it has on your native bee

38mm Hoop Pine – Hive Box

This post explores the specs and characteristics of a 38mm thick OATH style hive box. There are many reports or

Roof Temperature Tests

Roof Test September 1, 2024 Note: These are only indications from one test with empty boxes and will have to

Hot Box – Hive Heater

Alex Derrick of Spicers Hollow Native Bees (pictured) built this hot box which we’ll be doing some temperature tests on.

Hive Weight Monitoring 2024

This is a proof of concept project running from July 2024 to June 2025. If we monitor hive weights from

Foam Covers For Insulation

Some people use a cover in winter to provide some insulation for their native bee hive. The most common cover

Wood Sample Test 2023

Start date: 1 November 2023 Adding a few different timbers to the test this year, Radiata, Plywood and a mystery

Temperature Tests 2024

I’ve been fine tuning the testing methods over the last couple of years and worked out that to see any

12mm Plywood Box

Using 12mm thick marine ply, this box could have the least amount of insulation of all. Marine Ply is hardwood

Humidity Monitoring – Updated

The Goals: 1. Monitor humidity levels inside multiple stingless bee colonies over time. 2. See if outside weather changes affect

Temperature Tests 2023

We’ll follow the progress of this native bee box with two probes, showing the differences in temperatures between ambient, edge

Temperature Monitoring – 25mm Hoop vs 50mm Cypress

Disclaimer – It’s really hard to compare boxes because there’s so many variables – Probe position, yard position, sun vs

Temperature Tests 2022

This post follows the progress of three colonies Although we all want to, we can’t compare the boxes because there’s

Does paint cause condensation?

The rumour: “If you paint your wooden hive box it will be like covering the box in a plastic bag

Coatings Test 2022 – 2024

I’ve added a couple of new products to the list. Doug Irvine uses the Intergrain Heavy Duty finish on his

Temperature Tests 2021

Roof Testing – Full Sun – August – October 2021 I’m having a look at a some roof designs and

Sensors and Data Logging

Updated January 2025 The Sensor Units Models: “IBS- TH1 Plus” top of page and “IBS-TH2 Plus” at bottom of page.

Box & Material Testing – Temperature – 2021

Update: August 2024 – These are early tests from 2021. I have improved my testing methods since then though I’ll

Wood Sample Test 2020 – 2024

Start: October 2020 Wood Sample Test – Exposure to the elements I thought i’d throw a few samples of different

Honey Super Designs & Testing

*2024 – The weather and conditions have been very poor for bees for a couple of years now which has

Moisture Content & Wood Hives

This article is about moisture content and wood only, not humidity conditions for bee colonies. Woodworkers will want their timber

Coatings Test 2016

Just out of interest I’m testing some of the finishes I have collected for various projects over the years, including

Timbers for Hives

What kind of timber should you use for making Native Bee boxes? Most people will just be using what ever

Poor Conditions

Poor conditions over the last couple of years has led to a reduction in suitable colonies being available for testing.

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