In the past we tried three different types of the foil backed bubble
products with limited success.

After one manufacturer/distributor came to the Alberta Beekeepers Convention
several years ago, a local beekeeper switched 100% to this material for
wrapping his 100+ hives.  We looked at the space our traditional Western
Canadian fibre insulated wraps & pillows took up for a couple thousand hives
and thought he might be onto something.  Depending on how you do them, in
spring the foil/bubble insulation can be rolled into a 2-4' by 6-10" dia.
package. A great saving on storage.  The mice don't seem to want to chew it
and the they can't live in it.   The skunks seemed less inclined to scratch
at it as well.

I know the following will cause some of your eyes to roll, but it is as
scientific as we get around here.  For 4 years, with 3 different products,
we randomly choose 4 packs (4 hives) out of 8 to 10 packs in each of 5 to 6
yards. I stress the word random.  We used a single layer on the sides and
doubled it on top.  This was supposed to be equivalent to R10 to R12 and R20
to R24 respectively depending on the product.  Our traditional black
poly/fibre insulated wraps have R12 sides and R20 tops.  All hives have a
upper entrance in the inner cover.

For us the results were always the same.  At the time our winter losses ran
between 7 & 12%.  The foil wrapped packs were always at least a little
poorer by spring.  In spring we rate our hives 0 to 5 (0 dead/5 booming
right across the box)and compared to the rest of the yard these hives would
average 1 to 1.5 points less than the rest of the yard.  These numbers were
very close to using only roofing felt with no insulation. Not sure really
why and frankly didn't care.

This was our experience in the Canadian Aspen Parkland.  These products may
work well for others.  Like most things in this business though, I can never
reccommend enough that people try a few themselves before they try a lot.

Dave Tharle
Ardmore, AB

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