Hive Quilts

Susan · Unread post by **Susan** » March 10th, 2003, 5:33 am

Hi, I read in a bee article about the use of hive quilts rather than wooden inner covers. These particular quilts were made out of new/unused poly feed bags. I was interested in these but had a couple of questions. If anyone has used these, I'd like to hear back from you.
How big do you make these? Just the area of the super?
What do you do in the winter time, with ventillation and an upper entrance?
And most important, Are you happy with the way they preform for you?
Any help would be great!
A little about me, I'm 20 years old, entering my 7th year of keeping bees. I live on a dairy farm with my family just outside of Stratford, Ontario. I have 18 hives and produce candles, liquid and creamed honey, and have just started making a bit of mead. I also do school presentations. I look forward to the information I will gather from this forum.
Sincerely,
Susan Jordan

Unread post by **Allen Dick** » March 10th, 2003, 7:55 am

We use pillows on all our hives, summer and winter. There are detailed descriptions and pictures of making and using them scattered around this site. Try a search for 'pillow' and also 'wrap'. 'Selected topics' in the left panel points to some of the info.

allen

Tim · Unread post by **Tim** » March 10th, 2003, 8:08 am

Man, you guys reall ought to move down here

Sounds cold!

Hi Susan, I'm Tim Vaughan and I live on the Central Coast of California. I have 70 hives rather than 100 due to some dumb farmer. I'm 43 and have kept bees 8 years in South Africa (pure scuts!) and it's now been a total of 10 years on the Central Coast. My candle maker is 9 years younger than you, and I hope she can make use of your experience by asking you a question or two on this forum. Her name is Ariana.

Best Regards
Tim

Bob · Unread post by **Bob** » April 6th, 2003, 9:06 am

Hi Allen, I will be overwintering about 50 hives and was wondering if you have any suggestions on how to best source Kodel. Thanks, Bob

Unread post by **Allen Dick** » April 6th, 2003, 9:00 pm

Inland Plastics in Drumheller, Alberta (1-800-661-1062) sells it. I also have some used standard wraps for sale that could be a cheaper source of Kodel pieces than buying new Kodel by the roll.

allen