Top Insulation methods.

[AdrianQuineyWI]

Up until 2 weeks ago I was happily settled on my method of top insulation for the 5 over 5 frame nucs I overwinter. It is simple and cheap and I had been using it for about 4 years with no problems.
Spring, Summer, and Fall I run a piece of plastic feed bag inner cover (FBIC), and a piece of 2" thick pink Foamular 250 insulation on the top of each colony.
Winter comes and I squish the boxes together, put a piece of cardboard between the boxes to fill the gaps, Styrofoam on the ends and then cap it with a piece of plastic to keep the worst of the winds out.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h45 ... m1bn9x.jpg
All was well. The only thing I changed this year was to make sure each box tipped forward very slightly in order to drain out thawing ice that may build up.
At each of my 2 sites a mouse has found its way up and eaten down into the nuc from the top.


This leads me to conclude that for 3 seasons the system will work, but for next winter I will need to do something different. For next winter I am thinking about putting a flat plywood migratory board on top of each nuc when they get squished together in the winter and then running a length of insulation pillow over each group of hives.

I see in some photos that Allen used to use make insulation pillows and I wonder what kept the mice out? Did the mice attempt to make inroads from the top? Any thoughts,suggestions, and links are welcome. Especially from the North.

Thanks.

[Allen Dick]

This leads me to conclude that for 3 seasons the system will work, but for next winter I will need to do something different.

There is a random element in beekeeping. Sometimes we have a "mouse year" and mice are everywhere and we expect that again the next and nary a mouse is to be seen.

I see in some photos that Allen used to use make insulation pillows and I wonder what kept the mice out? Did the mice attempt to make inroads from the top?

Mice do not like Kodel for whatever reason and I seldom saw any mouse damage. I also have a lid over the pillows, usually. We also used mouse poison blocks on top of and/or under hives. I hate to kill the innocent mice, but also hate to lose my innocent bees.

An idea that might be useful is that excluders will keep mice out of spaces.

[AdrianQuineyWI]

Thanks for the response. I hadn't thought about how mice might have an expansive year. I will look into "kodel".

[Vance G]

I tried to find Kodel tm a couple years ago and could not locate it. I defer to those brighter than I and would gladly take advantage of your work in finding it.

[Vance G]

I am feeling the fool. The Kodel was so hard to find that I saw instantly that it is on sale at Joanns fabric! 48" rolls 50 yards long for $56 and change. I see a shopping trip in my future.

[AdrianQuineyWI]

Vance, good find. I'm also going to check out Home Depot and Menards before winter is out and see what they have in insulation that may be rolled out.
I just got back from my outyard, there have been no obvious mouse incursions for the last 2 weeks. All 17 were alive when I left.