Think winter

General Discussion of Diary Posts and Questions on Beekeeping Matters
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Vance G
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Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

Think winter

Unread post by Vance G »

I had right at 2 1/2" of rain in the gauge when I rescued it before retiring. 29 was forecast and I have no idea how close it got but it rained and snowed all night and we have a couple inches. Just checked it is a balmy 35F

A friend of mine called yesterday to report he had completed his project of making winter wraps. He found kodel insulation R 11. and got it successfully welded in black plastic. Now I have wrap envy as mine is not that heavy an insulation. I guess I have a month to make some but my reiteration of what I read about here were enough for him to turn out a good looking product. Thanks for making this site so very searchable.
Allen Dick
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Joined: February 25th, 2003, 10:09 pm
Location: Swalwell, Alberta
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Re: Think winter

Unread post by Allen Dick »

Good to hear.

In my experience, the sides don't need to have thick insulation. I seem to recall that R5 is sufficient. Some Central Alberta beekeepers insulate only the back and sides and cover the front only with black plastic and achieve good results.

However, on top thick,insulation is important and really pays off.

I always insulated all sides with one Kodel thickness, and the EPS boxes I use now are quite well insulated according to my tests. As a result, I find that auger holes are necessary to compensate, and leave the front ones open in early winter. I close all but one in spring.

It is possible to over-insulate in winter. Beekeepers experimenting in Northern Alberta back in the seventies insulated so well that the bees never clustered tightly and they found that the bees ate up too much feed for the idea to be practical. They also had lots of good pollen in those days, so running out of pollen was not the issue it would be in pollen-poor areas or seasons.

My goal is to have the bees clustered comfortably early on with balanced insulation and airflow.

Some airflow is necessary, too, to prevent excess icing inside above the bees, especially in the early winter, but too much can stress hives in cold, dry regions by removing too much moisture.

By spring, heat retention trumps airflow as a priority and icing in the hive above the cluster is less likely due to rising ambient temperatures and the fact that the cluster is usually up to the lid by then.

Insulating floors is a waste of time and material IMO. Heat rises and bees are not down there anyhow.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
51° 33'39.64"N 113°18'52.45"W
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/Allen%27s%20Beehives.kmz
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