I am equipped with an inexpensive indoor/outdoor thermometer with the
outdoor sensor on a length of wire.  I put the outdoor sensor inside a
two-story five frame nuc colony on the tops of the frames just beneath the
hole in the inner cover.  The outer cover is insulated with one inch of
blueboard with a piece of political sign material between the blueboard and
the inner cover to prevent chewing.  The nucs are the wooden medium height
standard configuration with bottom board.  Bottom entry closed down to the
small opening on a standard entrance reducer.  Upper entry same size cut
into bottom front of inner cover.

 

I would describe the colony inside as strong and well supplied with capped
honey going into winter.

 

My thermometer consistently gives temperatures inside the hive between 54
and 59 degrees in outside temperatures ranging lately from the low 30s to
today's reading of 10 degrees outside and 57 degrees inside.  It went down
to zero overnight.

 

My questions to those of you with experience measuring internal hive
temperatures in winter are these: Am I encouraged or discouraged by these
temperature readings at this point in the winter?  And would feeding via a
division board feeder be possible with internal temperatures so far above
freezing?

 

Jeff Hills

Dorset, VT

 


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