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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Blair Christian <blair.christian AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [ocba] A newbie overwinter question...
  • Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:04:07 -0400

I'm trying to understand the bigger picture about overwintering...
Obviously the bees have to have sufficient food to make it through the
winter. From what I read it's possible (but difficult) to feed them
supplementally during the winter with an in hive feeder. Does anybody
around here do anything to insulate the hives? I assume that if the
bees don't expend as much energy in heating the hive, they'll be
better off. Is that a correct assumption? That line of thinking led
me to ask the question: does anybody insulate hives in the winter? If
you just have a couple hives, it seems do-able, but not something
commercially feasible. I imagine the most important part would be to
get the correct air flow in such a scenario. Just curious... For
example, I could put up a piece of 4'x4' tin as a roof, put the hive
under it, wrap it with some R-30 or 2" of styrofoam, and put tyvek or
something on the outside, but still leaving the telescoping roof on...

All of that is based on the assumption that it's the relationship
between food and cold weather that is the main source of mortality.
But I'm totally new, so is there some other source of mortality that
is just as important or more important?

Thanks,
Blair




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