> Is it because in a better insulated hive is warmer and the bees are more
prone to fly out in colder weather? This is Turkey, not a Northern altitude
place with up to 4-5 months of no flight activity.

This is just one study and without digging it up and reading it, I'll speculate that the number of hives was small and study poorly designed.  Even if the study were larger and well-designed, in bees, one single study does not prove much because there are so many factors involved.  One study is merely an interesting data point and it takes several more to establish the possibility of a trend and many to show a strong trend.

Simply making similar hives out of different materials and putting bees into them and managing both the same way does not prove much. Each hive design requires different management, and expanded polystyrene (EPS) and wood are quite different.  I've kept many colonies in both over many years and can testify to that fact.

Moreover, In my experience a colony accustomed to wooden boxes does not immediately adapt to being transferred to expanded polystyrene boxes even if the whole mass of frames are transferred as a unit without breaking them apart.  I learned that the hard way.

So, when we read about studies or read the actual studies, we should practice skepticism and compare what we are being told with what we have been taught, what we have experienced, and with other studies that examine the same phenomena.

In this case, I expect that we will see lots of observations and opinions, but not not see anything conclusive.

Beekeepers manage hives in all sorts of materials and configurations with more or less similar success.  Beekeeping is more of an art than a science.

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