> As a commercial beekeeper with 1200 colonies under the snow I find
> this list a great place to visit.
 
Speaking of hives under snow...
 
We (my wife & I) were out to check the hives today, seeing as it
warmed up to minus 10 or so.
 
We unwrapped (briefly) 3 of our 4 packs and were pleased to find 100%
alive and as well as (better than) when they were wrapped almost two
months ago, now. The snow was over the top entrances on most, but
they didn't seem to care.  We chose this yard since it was the last
to get wrapped and seemed a bit sad at the time.
 
We compared several methods in various packs in this yard, notably
our pillows to 'no pillows', and were pleased to see that the bees
looked at least as good with the pillows, and in our eyes, slightly
better than those with wooden tops.
 
Of interest was that there were a few drops of water around the outer
edges of the dry circle in contact with the bees, and in only one
did we see frost, whereas ice was common in the corners of those with
wooden lids. The water seems to me to be a good thing, since it is
not in contact with the bees, but is there to help them dissolve
granulated honey.
 
We compared those packs with R20 on top to those with R8, and saw little
difference.  However the difference comes when brood rearing gets
going later and the bees are generating more heat.  At that time, the
extra insulation should be better, since the bees will be able to
occupy more of the hive sooner, and resist starving near food.
 
Of course, they have three months to go before we can say how they
are doing, but for now, it looks great!
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>