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Date: | Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:32:23 -0600 |
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> I've been using styrofoam nucs for a couple of years now and have
> successfully overwintered colonies in them when they were new.
I'd be interested in how long the bees were in the boxes before the winter
season. My one-time problem was related to transferring the hives late in
the season, I think. I just inverted each brood chamber, lifted the wooden
box off, slid a new plastic box on, and turned the brood chamber right side
up again. I figured that would not be as big a disturbance as moving frame
by frame.
I received the following privately and it may shed some light:
> I can tell you that, from my experience, there is NO correlation between
> new boxes and inferior wintering. Have had whole apiaries of stormers in
> the spring on first season gear.
> There is however a strong correlation between installation date
> (especially if being transferred over from wooden hives) and wintering
> performance. The later the installation the poorer the prognosis.
> All Scandinavian advice says that wintering is affected for installation
> dates after mid July, and the later it gets the worse it gets. Actually I
> have found up to early August is OKish, but after that it gets doubtful.
> This is the same whether the boxes are new or used.
> Have always been told this is due to the temperature profile and warm
> areas being different from traditional wooden hives, and it takes the bees
> a good generation or more to reformat their practices and stores (esp
> pollen) configuration. It seems to hold true from my observations.
It is common knowledge that at our latitude, splits made after July and late
swarms often fail to winter well. a number of explanations have been
offered.
> As for frames, I use plastic (Pierco wax coated) both in my main hives and
> in the styrofoam nucs, and have never seen any problems with acceptance.
I don't notice much smell from new Pierco either and have found acceptance
to be good.
I was, however, puzzled by the first season wintering results. My plastic
hives have performed well in subsequent winters.
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