> Wrap my hives.  Would appreciate thoughts on that one.  Always thought it really didn’t add much, other than possibly serve as a wind barrier.


See my other posts on on Bee-L regarding Warsaw hives. I have not found a strong enough argument against giving bee colonies a better thermal insulation. A hole in a tree can be surrounded by inches of wood. As Prof. Bromenschenk has taught us in UMT beekeeping classes, bees know how to ventilate and can change the entire volume of air in a hive in a matter of minutes. Therefore I never worry about too much insulation in my hives, provided that they have a bottom and upper vent.

I wrap my 5 hives in bee cozies and have just ordered a Lyson hive from Betterbee to see how they perform. I don’t have enough time to build myself thicker wood hives like they do in Poland, nor do I want to spend ridiculous money to have one of them shipped here. But my management matches yours (no OA though) and, knock on wood, I’m still 5 for 5 in my second winter in upstate NY. Before that, I’ve loosing most hives routinely during winter.

Przemek

P.S.
Couldn’t resist taking this photo in front of one of my hives - I immediately thought of the “Don’t eat the yellow snow” saying, :-) It was 14C on Sunday so bees were flying like crazy in front of each hive cleansing, though as you can see snow is still on the ground.


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