We need some comments and suggestions from folks who
have over-wintered observation hives before.

This is the first fall for an observation hive that consists
of  4 "supers", each 3 frames wide, holding medium frames.

The building in which the hive is located (a visitor center at a
local state park) is closed from Labor Day to Memorial Day,
and is unheated during winter, but must be assumed to stay
much warmer than the ambient temperature.

Rather than worry about the hive, and make special trips to look
after it, the plan was to repackage the hive into two medium
hive bodies, and remove it from the park.

Obviously, one would place the frames from the observation hive
in the center of each super, 6 per super, and try to set things up
in a sensible manner, grouping any brood together, etc.

The plan is to feed constantly until the "extra" frames of drawn
comb are filled to give them some extra winter stores, and then
treat the hive as any other until spring, when the hive can be
re-packaged into the observation hive for another summer.

Any comments?  Any suggestions/critiques?

    jim

    farmageddon