You won't hear me say that I'm smarter than a bee. I know better.
I wrote a while back about getting to know your local politician.
The reason for this is so that you can ask for their used plastic signage.
These plastic sheets make great roofs on the hives.
In summer they cover the hot metal of my outer covers.
They provide rain protection on the front porch and they give shade.
In the winter they keep snow from piling up against the entrance and blocking in the bees.
And again they give protection from freezing rain and ice pellets.
Last summer I noticed that the bees were constantly hanging out on the edges of these signs. I observed them on several occasions and couldn't figure out why the signs were so appealing.
Then I noticed they had their tongues out. At first I thought the signs maybe tasted nice.On closer observation I noticed that the corrugated interior of these signs is hollow and water collects there.
The bees didn't take long to figure this out and use it as a quick source for a drink.
So, here's one more great reason to get to know that politician. Like them or not, they do have great signs :)
2 comments:
you can do some very creative things with COROPLAST or PLASTI-CORE (i run a SIGN SHOP) sheets come as a 4 foot by 8 foot and it's CHEAP!...a trip to a local sign shop and i bet you could buy a WHOLE SHEET...even better - this stuff comes in BLACK (for winter!!!) i built a swarm catch box with coroplast, double sided tape and velcro - i used the 1/4" white. as i have a cut-off from a 1/2" piece of black...i've been eyeballing it for a SOLAR WAX MELTER. i believe i can use it as the base - need to configure a size and find the piece of single pane glass for over the top. FUN STUFF! yes - thank a politician...ha ha.
D - I love the stuff. Beekeepers here buy the black coroplast to use as hive covers for winter.
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