"Does anyone use screened boards (open) with a top entrances in winter in non-insulated hives"

I have wintered standard wood hives with no added insulation of any kind in NE Ohio with wide open screened bottoms as well as a one inch X 3/8 inch opening in the rim of the inner cover with the rim down.  My winters shut down bee flight from early Nov to early March with occasional fly days most of those months.  I usually have a low temp of neg 10 deg F a few times each winter and rarely neg 20.  I have found such hives to winter very well for me.  I have also wintered five over five deep nucs that had that same configuration and found them to winter fine.

The three things I consider critical to wintering in my particular climate are adequate food stores,  a low mite count all summer and enough bees so they can keep themselves warm.  It only takes five frames of bees in Oct to be enough for them to keep warm based on observations of nucs I expected to die over winter that did not die the last couple of years.

I prefer solid bottoms and have now gotten rid of all my screened bottoms.  With a solid bottom the queen will move down earlier in the spring and occupy the bottom box.

Dick

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