I was splitting hives the past two days (a week or more early) and can
report that so far, the styrofoam hives are far stronger on average than the
wooden ones with wraps. This is a small sample -- four plastic hives and
eight wood. This is also the first year I noticed this effect. Last
summer I drilled a one inch ager hole in each styro box and left the holes
open all winter.
In fact, one, wintered in four standards, had three boxes absolutely crowded
with bees and a number of swarm cells. The queen was slimmed down and ready
to go.
My friends who wintered in single styrofoam boxes with no auger hole have
bees varying from a half box to almost a full box.
Pictures at today's diary page.
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