I'm going into my first winter with nine 20-frame TBH's and two 5-frame
TBH nucs.  I had a poor honeyflow in the spring in this area, about 40 mi
N of Atlanta, GA , SE USA, but the goldenrod flow seemed to be good.  I
also fed the 9 TBH's each 1/2 gal of 50/50 sucrose.  Weather in the
winter at this location often gives some days when the bees may fly
briefly; some periods of daily highs in the 30'sF.  Lows often will be in
the teensF but rarely below 0F.  We may have some snow on the ground for
a few days, but not much of significance.
 
In some correspondence with Paul Magnuson, to whom I am eternally
indebted for starting me in TBH's, he said that he had put a newspaper
curtain in the hive to reduce the volume and piled pesticide-free cloth
sacks on top of the bars.  If any of you reading this note are
overwintering TBH's in any climate similar to mine, I'd enjoy hearing
from you.
 
I have tried a protocol with my hives which goes from doing nothing to
the extreme of closing entrance holes (normally seven 1 inch holes in one
end) to three holes, putting a paper curtain in to cut the volume by
about 1/3, then putting a 1/2 inch sheet of insulating foam on top.  Most
of the hives have 1 inch thick wood sides and 1/4 inch hardboard bottoms.
In the winter, the hives will be sunlit on sunny days...ie, not shielded
by evergreens, etc., but will be exposed to prevailing winds.  I don't
have enough hives (yet!) to really do the experimentation that I would like.
 
My "gut" feeling is to simply do nothing and to let the hives cool down
as they will which would probably result in less food consumption and
less of a problem with moisture inside the hive.
 
If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to get them.  You can send
them to me directly if you wish to avoid clutter for some BEE-L members;
however, if your response should be of interest to others...post to all,
of course.
 
Many thanks for all of your help in the past.
 
Cordially yours,
 
Jim
 
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|  James D.Satterfield   |  [log in to unmask]     or    |
|  P.O. Box 2243         |  [log in to unmask]                        |
|  Decatur, GA 30031 USA |  Telephone 404 378-8917  |
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