Bill Truesdell wrote:

> With extremely cold winters, when the average temp is below 28F,
> wrapping or some kind of insulation is definitely beneficial and could
> be essential for winter survival.


Here in Upstate NY, the last two winters have been bitter. Houses,
including mine, that never had problems before are dealing with frozen
pipes and so on. No doubt my bees can survive this (ferals in this area
do survive bad winters, after all), but a black wrap may give them a few
more degrees of warmth. Is it strictly natural? No. But in nature, my
bees would be in a hollow tree, likely with a few inches of wood for
insulation, and in the middle of a forest with even less wind exposure.
This seems to be a good balance between "natural" and "responsible."

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