I am with Jerry in letting some warmth in so the bees can move. I do not
wrap but paint my hives Navy Blue (very dark blue) so they will absorb heat
in the day and allow some movement. Since our summers are generally
pleasantly warm, the bees do fine and do not generally have overheating
issues.

I know that even with a deep full of honey that the bees will leave at
least one or more frames on either end untouched. So I count on them having
six frames per box of honey to get thorough the winter. Here in Maine, that
will get them to the end of February or mid- March with little difficulty
(depending on the winter) but iffy from then on. So I add candy directly
over the cluster to help them get through to mid April.

Since my bees are actually surviving in a "six frame nuc" I have no problem
understanding how someone in cold winter areas can get bees through the
winter in stacked nucs. They are probably better off that way since there
is less space to heat. But to counter that, those four frames of honey at
each end of my deeps do act as heat storage and help keep it a little
warmer. But if you put two nucs side by side...best of both worlds.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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