<If bees need water, then a nonabsorbent insulation would direct the water
to the side of the cluster, as pointed out by Allen. Still accessible to
the bees, but no longer dripping or freezing above them.>
In Montana and much of the northern states, back before the overwintering
trials at the Wisconsin lab - and yes, there used to be one there - many
packed with hay or straw.
Most of us abandoned that practice decades ago. We tend to get warm
Chinook winds in January, effectively causing a thaw. Then, typically, we go
subzero again in February. The hay/straw ensures that the hive is
encapsulated in a block of ice.
Stopping winds that pull any warmth out of the hive, and compensating for
our overcast, often foggy winter months in the mountains of western MT; we
have always found that anything that blocks the wind is the first priority -
close down entrances, make everything tight, maybe use a row of trees,
building, to block wind. And an open screen bottom will make absolutely sure
the bees die in Feb.
We also pull the hives together in back to back rows (so they still all
have access to an entrance/exit) - our infra-red imaging shows that adjacent
colonies tend to shift cluster position to 'share' the warmth with their
neighbors.
Depending on our experiments and need to access, we either leave it at
that, or wrap. If we had a big warehouse, I'd probably go with the
off-the-shelf boxes or quilts. But space at the university is a premium, so we
simply wrap the whole block of hives with black roofing felt. Cut a small hole
lined up with the entrance space, and a hole near the top (we either use
an inner cover or an auger hole to provide a top entrance). Its not so much
for ventilation as a safety so bees can fly on warm days, even if the snow
is drifted high.
Our winters in western MT aren't so cold as to need the pillow. Also, Ed
Southwick in his experiments took whole colonies down to minus 80 C and kept
them there for at least two days. As long as the hives had good honey
stores and a reasonable bee population size, they came out fine. Their food
consumption and energy needs went through the roof, but as long as they
didn't run out of their energy source, they could survive.
Thus, I'm convinced its hard to kill bees with cold - if you've good stores
and strong wintering populations. Just need to give them a bit of help to
ensure they can control the environment inside the hive.
Finally, I don't like hard plastic hives in our climate - in the spring,
water sheets down the sides and RH goes out of control. Years ago, a small
scale beekeeper friend tried to save money using recycled sheets of
particle board - it didn't breathe, and he had same problem with moisture. Also,
the glue was not moisture resistant, so it all swelled and began to
disintegrate.
Jerry
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