Jim said,

> OK, I'll bite...
>
> So you tested UNWRAPPED "styrofoam" hives against wrapped
> wooden hives?
>
> And you did not add any sort of upper entrance to the
> styrofoam hives?
>


I've never used styrofoam equipment, and am only a hobbyist/sideliner, but
it would seem that some humble observations might be in order here (should I
put on my flame-proof suit now? :)

My understanding is that Stryofoam equipment is tight fitting, and obviously
already insulated.  Tar paper adds no significant insulation value, only an
air/wind barrier for loose fitting wooden ware.  Thus, tar paper would add
no real value to styro hives, but would change the color of the hive and the
solar gain.  It would seem then, to achieve "good" science here, there are
two primary issues:

1)  The color of the test/control groups should be the same.

2)  Upper/lower entrances (ventilation methods) on both groups should be
identical.

So, to me, it would seem that one should wrap the wooden ware to achieve
"tightness" similar to foam, paint the foam hives black to match solar gain
(or paint the tar paper white), and create (as closely as possible)
identical hive openings between the two groups.  Obviously, the more
variables we can remove, the better the final data.

My 2.5 cents worth of back yard bee science.


Todd.

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