Raising the standard or bumblebee homes throughout NZ!
Just like humans, bumblebees do better when provided with a warm and healthy home to live in. Warm hives are more active throughout the day, working harder and longer to pollinate your crop. That's why we've developed our new insulated outer, to keep the bees warm and dry during the colder parts of the year and cooler during the hotter periods, promoting greater activity in outdoor or unheated greenhouses on pretty much any given day of the year!
Bumblebees work hard to maintain a stable brood (developing bees) temperature of around 32 degrees Celsius, significantly warmer than the ambient temperature in autumn, winter and spring. If their home is poorly insulated, with greater energy loss or ingress, the bees must invest significant time and effort in heating or cooling the hive. In the cooler months of the year, the hive risks getting too cold, so as the temperature drops, more and more bees will start actively shivering their bodies, using the increased metabolic activity to heat their body up and share that warmth with the young developing bees. Conversely, when the sun is shining on the hive in spring, summer or autumn, the heat inside may climb too high, so bees will begin flapping their wings to bring cooler air into the hive. Either way, heating or cooling, the effort required to thermoregulate the hive is a physical demanding job, and a cost to the bees food reserves, as bees must utilise honey for energy when performing heating/cooling tasks, and the reduced time spent on foraging, that is, out pollinating flowers, means less food coming back to the hive.
Heating and cooling the hive costs the bees in time and effort, potentially wasting precious daylight hours when the bees could be more gainfully employed pollinating your flowers. Using our new insulated outer equates to greater bee activity throughout the life of the hive, and better pollination outcomes for you and your crop.
Bumblebees work hard to maintain a stable brood (developing bees) temperature of around 32 degrees Celsius, significantly warmer than the ambient temperature in autumn, winter and spring. If their home is poorly insulated, with greater energy loss or ingress, the bees must invest significant time and effort in heating or cooling the hive. In the cooler months of the year, the hive risks getting too cold, so as the temperature drops, more and more bees will start actively shivering their bodies, using the increased metabolic activity to heat their body up and share that warmth with the young developing bees. Conversely, when the sun is shining on the hive in spring, summer or autumn, the heat inside may climb too high, so bees will begin flapping their wings to bring cooler air into the hive. Either way, heating or cooling, the effort required to thermoregulate the hive is a physical demanding job, and a cost to the bees food reserves, as bees must utilise honey for energy when performing heating/cooling tasks, and the reduced time spent on foraging, that is, out pollinating flowers, means less food coming back to the hive.
Heating and cooling the hive costs the bees in time and effort, potentially wasting precious daylight hours when the bees could be more gainfully employed pollinating your flowers. Using our new insulated outer equates to greater bee activity throughout the life of the hive, and better pollination outcomes for you and your crop.
