Getting colder

[Nonabeeone]

OK - it's getting colder now, snow forecast for tomorrow. I have a WBC and am wondering if I should just quickly take off roof and drape a large thick cotton pillow case over the 'inners'? Perhaps with bubble insulation inside pillow case. Also, should I slide in the metal base of the verroa floor?

Thanks for help

 

[drex]

All I do with my one wbc is put a slab of celotex over the crownboard. You could use several layers of bubble wrap. Make sure there are no holes in crownboard. No I do not put in the varroa tray unless I am monitoring or treating for varroa.

 

[Erichalfbee]

PIR. See your duplicate post

 

[Nonabeeone]

Yeah, sorry for duplication. Hope my beekeeping skills are slightly better than my IT !

 

[enrico]

I wouldn't worry too much, it is only in the last decade that keeping bees warm has become fashionable. For twenty years before that I never gave my bees anything but matchsticks under the crown board! Never lost bees to cold. The food keeps them warm, enough food and they will regulate what they are given to suit them.
E

 

[pargyle]

I wouldn't worry too much, it is only in the last decade that keeping bees warm has become fashionable. For twenty years before that I never gave my bees anything but matchsticks under the crown board! Never lost bees to cold. The food keeps them warm, enough food and they will regulate what they are given to suit them.
E

Fashionable ... perhaps .. but there were a lot of well known beekeepers who realised a long time before this that keeping bees snug over winter was a good idea ..

Bill Bielby (well respected Yorkshire Beekeeper) said in his 1972 Book - Home Honey Production :

Page 43

"Losses of heat mean losses of honey;
thus, good insulation of hives is
essential. Through air currents carry
away heat and neutralise the benefits
of insulation. Just like every other
animal, the well-being of bees depends
on warmth and comfort, protection from
the elements and an adequate supply of
food. "

and Page 44

"For most economical wintering, hives
should be highly insulated and com-
pletely draughtproof . "

50 years on and there are still some beekeepers who remain unconvinced of the benefits of insulating and draughtproofing hives.

Was Bill Bielby ahead of his time .. who knows ? William Broughton Carr was well before him (Another Yorkshireman I might add !) and he advocated filling the space in between the lifts and the brood boxes in his WBC hives with straw for overwintering ...

If modern insulation materials had been available when these pioneers of modern beekeeping were around I feel certain they would have been extolling the benefits of Celotex/Kinsgspan/PIR etc.

Home Honey Production - available on ebay for as little as £2.70 and well worth a read ..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Home-Hon...396631&hash=item440df47464:g:Tz4AAOSwXjFZ4HGp

OR ... The text is available on line ...

https://archive.org/stream/Home_Honey_Production/Home_Honey_Production_djvu.txt

 

[Beefriendly]

I wouldn't worry too much, it is only in the last decade that keeping bees warm has become fashionable.
E

Back in the 19noughties's Cowan's double walled hive, preceded later by the lighter WBC were double walled hives designed to be insulated during the winter months by filling the gaps with cork chipping, dry straw or the like. The lifts and insulation being removed during the summer. Langstroth's first hives were double walled.
It don't think its so much that it's become fashionable....it's more that we totally forgot and are only now starting to remember and implement what beekeepers used to do around 100 years ago. Although I've yet to meet the WBC user who removes his/her lifts during the summer.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I wouldn't worry too much, it is only in the last decade that keeping bees warm has become fashionable.

I think to be more accurate it should be a case of it was only between 1947 and the turn of this century it became 'fashionable' to let the bees fight the cold without any help

 

[madasafish]

I wouldn't worry too much, it is only in the last decade that keeping bees warm has become fashionable. For twenty years before that I never gave my bees anything but matchsticks under the crown board! Never lost bees to cold. The food keeps them warm, enough food and they will regulate what they are given to suit them.
E

Beekeeper is Somerset says he does not get cold winters..

 

[Swarm]

Enrico has not long moved there from Shropshire and Stoke on Trent is hardly Vladivostok.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Surviving or thriving springs to mind

 

[Bakerbee]

Im in dorset so near somerset ie south. Today i read reports of snow ans amber warnings of weather. Yet here in dorest nada nothing zilch. We never get snow anymore. Each year news comes in of the white stuff across britain but all we get is the wet stuff. Aside from that i feel anything that helps the bees make survival easier surely must encourage a stronger colony. So mine have cosy. Its like foundation. I give them frames of foundation rather than them use extra energy making thrir own. Surely its the same i help them mantain warmth so hopefully theyre stronger.

 

[fatshark]

Or ... weaker colonies now survive the winter ... which is not quite the same as making colonies stronger.

 

[Bakerbee]

Good point but i still think even weaker colonies should get a chance to build up. There are many reasons why a colony could be week. Surely they deserve the chance too.

 

[enrico]

Beekeeper is Somerset says he does not get cold winters..

My bees think they are in the south of France this year. They came from 900 feet up in the Shropshire hills facing the winds that came from Brecon beacons. Sun tan lotion instead of woolie hats.....

 

[enrico]

I wasn't actually saying that could hives were a good thing. I was just trying to say that if they ARE in an uninsulated hive, provided they have food, they should survive. Obviously in an ideal world you prepare your hives for winter..... Just trying to ease the worries for someone who felt they should open a hive in winter to add insulation!
E

 

[SDM]

Always plan for a long cold winter, even my poly hives get an extra 25mm of celotex under the roof.
I'd rather pull stores to make room in spring than add them in winter.

 

[Swarm]

Or ... weaker colonies now survive the winter ... which is not quite the same as making colonies stronger.

Well said!
I think it's far less the case they actually need all this pampering and more likely that we are inclined towards overkill to look after our charges. Dogs in coats springs to mind.

Whether it's a good idea that the weak survive, as opposed to nature's rule of the opposite could be questioned and seen as perpetuating poor stock.

A lot of this has stemmed from people taking any measure to make sure their bees survive, IMO.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Well said!
I think it's far less the case they actually need all this pampering and more likely that we are inclined towards overkill to look after our charges. Dogs in coats springs to mind.

Whether it's a good idea that the weak survive, as opposed to nature's rule of the opposite could be questioned and seen as perpetuating poor stock.

I agree, mollycoddling, as Roger P puts it.

 

[SDM]

I agree, mollycoddling, as Roger P puts it.

And yet we probably don't get close to the insulation value of most tree nests