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I was reading Randy's article in ABJ this month at lunch. In it he seems to take a bit of exception to upper entrances and moisture. For wrapped hives in most areas I would say they are critical. He points out that moisture condenses on the sides. Correct, but a upper entrance allows for heat convection to pull in dry air and allow wet air out.
Having wintered bees in Northern IA, and here in southern IL, I can tell you there are huge differences. In IA the cold DRY air set in mid November, and wintering bees was actually a bit easier. Cold DRY air helps, but moist wet air like we have here in mid southern IL is a nightmare. You wrap a hive here without a upper entrance and you will have a dead wet moldy mess in spring.
I did use upper entrances in IA, smaller than I use here, but still present. This allowed a small amount of "chimney" effect in the hive, and you could normally see cold air frost around the upper openings. Here in IL I use a 3/4 X 4 upper and a 2" lower opening.
Your relative amount of Cold and dry is a key component of this issue, but if you don't have air exchange in a tightly wrapped hive, you will have problems.
For several years I used some BeeMax foam hives. Didn't notice any help with them until I punched a 3/4 hole just below the top. Of the box. This lets a bit of air exchange, and wintering success went up dramatically in the foam hives from that little tweak.
Charles
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