Tom,

I have a "Bee Tree."  It has a screen  on the bottom ( 8 MESH), and 
it is sitting on 2X4's.  and on the top I have a deep and a queen 
excluder and a super!  The bees go out their natural opening. Do your 
bees still have an opening? The part that my bees are in is about 2 
1/2 feet. Before I had the queen excluder on, the queen moved up into 
the super. Now she is contained below and I remove the honey super 
frames and give them new comb to draw on a regular basis. I guess 
that they are happy in there, as they have been there for 2 years 
after the tree was cut down. Last year they cast 2 swarms and I 
caught them. However you can protect them from getting wet, is what 
you need to do.  My first year, I built a little peaked roof on it 
and covered the roof with shingles.

Kathy Cox / Bloomfield Bees and Bouquets
<http://www.bloomfieldbeeshoney.com>


At 03:24 PM 1/30/2006, you wrote:
>Is it possible to save the hive?  I live in the northeast where the bees
>are hibernating.  I understand the importance in sustaining the bee
>population, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thank you
>Tom Tamasy

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