Dick > Another factor is how often you have a fly day. Insulate too much and not enough heat gets in the hive from sun shine to warm it to the point the bees fly. Not flying when it is safely warm outside makes such insulation a negative.
This is an argument I hear often from folks that have not run yards both with and without insulation at the same time. In my area, I have the option to go with insulation or not, so in most winters I have groups of insulated colonies and also groups without any insulation that act as controls. What I've observed, is that there is no significant difference between the time when bees take cleansing flights depending on insulation- both groups will fly within hours of each other.
The other interesting idea often discussed is that winter sunshine on the box surface heats the inside of the colony. I often get that argument from folks that wrap colonies with tar paper thinking they get a net solar gain because the surface of the tar paper feels hot. Does someone have data on this?
Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT
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