>I'm just curious, couldn't some kind of artificial heat be used for the
>bees.  Maybe some kind of heat strips when it's really cold or something.
>Little solar panels connected to some kind of heater??  This will be my
>first winter with my bees and I'm a little anxious and would like to help
>them get through the winter.  Of course here in Ark we shouldn't have near
>the problem as northerners do.


When a beekeeper wraps hives with black roofing paper they are using solar
energy to help heat the hive. As was mentioned the use of a panel would be
very expensive for the amount of heat generated. It has already been
mentioned that it is possible, by heating the hive, to fool the bees into
thinking it is safe to leave the hive. The resulting loss of bees would be
very bad.

If I were looking for a solar power project for my bees I think I would use
it to provide water near the hives (I am speaking of next summer). A pump to
keep clean water available to the bees would reduce the energy expended by
the bees to gather water as well as keeping the bees out of the neighbors'
livestock water. A single 50 watt panel should be able to handle something
like this.