>  I've worried about that, and about having ice storms close entrances of
>hives that are not buried. It stands to reason that this could happen.
>allen


I suppose anything could happen. Having got through that infamous "ice
storm of '98,"
I wouldn't think it likely.

         We had freezing rain for days. My yards located in northeast New
York were in the very worst area of it. Ice build-up was in the 2 - 3"
range on trees, power lines, and beehives. "Every" tree, except the apple
trees in the orchard, were stripped of their branches. Every power line and
phone line was on the ground. Massive electric power line towers...headed
to Montreal...crumpled like they were made of clay. Truly an unbelievable
event. I still see folks wearing their "I survived the ice storm of '98"
tee-shirts.

         The ice formed just as heavy on beehives. It started on the cover,
and flowed down off the telescoping covers, and looked like a frozen
waterfall. Quite beautiful...if it wasn't for all the destruction around.
Even with all this ice, I could find no colonies that suffered in any way.
No frozen entrances, no smothered clusters, no more dysentary than normal.
I couldn't even get to my yards for almost 2 weeks, as all the roads were
closed. When I did, there was no damage...except a broken cover from a
falling tree limb...in any of my 22 yards that were located in the worst of
icing conditions.

Mike