> You frequently cite literature, which is good( although seem to have ignored an entire body of work in your discussion) But in this instance, what do YOU say about your hives? Do you wrap them, what is survival with or without in YOUR experience? You are in the Ithaca area I beleive?
In the scientific field it is easy to find support for one side or the other. I am suggesting that wrapping hives in our area is unnecessary, and I use what work I can find to support that contention. In Canada, the conditions are different and there is plenty of work to support the importance of various approaches to supplying winter protection. Of course, putting hives in sheds is an effective way of protecting them, but that is somewhat more akin to moving them to another climate.
We haven't really discussed apiary location at all. In a very windy location wrapping would problem be a good idea because the wind chill could draw the effective hive temperatures down. But I wouldn't put bees in a windy location if I could help it. Low pockets are probably bad as well, as cold tends to sink into these. Temperature fluctuations would also be a factor although I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing to have temperatures hold very steady below freezing.
In terms of my own hives, I already stated that I don't wrap them. I use standard two story hives, but they are in a very sheltered spot. I basically am copying Tom Seeley's modus operandi: his hives are all in fairly sheltered locations as well. I don't have many hive so I don't consider my data to be much of a test. I have had pretty good luck overwintering, don't usually lose bees. Usually varroa is the killer, not the cold.
I have cited at least a half dozen times here: my experience is based on the work of four beekeepers in the Ithaca, NY area. These four beekeepers have between 100 and 400 colonies. Tom has the fewest, and he doesn't wrap. Beekeeper #2 winters unwrapped in 2 stories, but slides the boxes apart slightly to create an entrance midway up. #3 wraps with heavy roofing felt and puts a two inch foam board under the cover.
#4 uses a technique he learned in Canada: 4 hives are wrapped as a unit with bubble wrap, and a thick pillow of fiberglass insulation on top, with a big piece of plywood covering the four hive unit. A hundred years ago packing crates were common in this area. I have dozens of photos of them, sitting abandoned in the woods. It is very common to haul the bees south in the winter. South Carolina is a popular spot for NY beekeepers, although most go to Florida.
As a frequent contributor to Bee-L I take heat for being to scientific and also for being too flippant. All in the eye of the beholder, no doubt. Safer to keep one's mouth shut, but I can't seem to do it.
PLB
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