Scot Writes:
>The sun shines directly on the hives and the heat travels through the
> wood and keeps the interior warm for a few hours hives, the bees
> have the chance to take a break from being heaters.

Saturday on the northern Canadian prairies it was +2C with a windchill
factor which made it feel like -3C.  We had a clear sky, but the sun's rays
didn't have enough strength to melt the frost off the south side of my
maroon (dark, heat absorbing colour) pickup truck.   How much heat do you
think traveled through the wood of a super........  Those rays will continue
to loose strength for another 40+ days yet.

What happens in reality?
I have 3 unwrapped singles sitting in my yard.  They are strong enough to be
wintered outside, but rather than "wrap" an odd number they're going into
the wintering building with the nucs. I looked under the lid at one
yesterday just before noon. It had been given a feedpail because the crew
thought they might a little light.  The bees were not on the feed and were
so tightly clustered that I don't think a pin would have slid between any of
them.  By the way my broods are painted forest green, a heat absorbing
colour.  I drove two miles down the road to a yard that when we wrapped it,
we decided they also needed another pail of feed. Inside the wraps the
clusters were spread out and taking the feed well. Bees were at the
entrances.

Time and again I have seen people try to cut back on the wrapping and

>Snow is great, wrapping is not.

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