hive insulation and ventilation

[MandF]

What thickness is needed, or is anything ok? I have done a search for celotex and see they have the same boards but 12mm and 20mm thick (and larger than the wickes 25mm)

 

[Poly Hive]

Go to Sheffield Insulations if you have one handy and ask to see their broken stuff, pick the densest they have suitable to go under your roof and you will have very cheap insulation, ie prob free.

PH

 

[itma]

It is phenomenally good insulation. So you don't need much.
Depends on whatever/whether you are giving it an eke for extra depth potential.

Doing two layers permits a fondant feeding cutout (keep it as a plug) in the lower level.
Stick some string on to help you lift out whatever bits you intend (re)moving!
I did note that the Wickes stuff that was twice as thick seemed to be only an extra 50% or so on the cost.

One should be able to make pretty good insulation by cobbling together whatever offcuts you can lay your hands on. Greenhouse tape joins it together quite nicely.
And for skip-diving, damp doesn't penetrate it very well, so you don't have to trim off much of a damp edge ...

 

[MandF]

I might try wickes to see if they have any broken bits, not many other "proper" builders merchants around here. I dont hold out much hope though.

Actually, let me try freecycle first..

 

[Teemore]

Whilst a number of people will say that beekeepers did not formerly insulate the top of their hives, it is of note that the old Irish CDB hive (Congested District Board) was designed specifically for the wet Irish Climate and in its winter configuration provided a double wall to protect the bees. The 'lift' was intended primarily to take section crates and was intentionally sized to allow insulation to be packed around the section crates - usually a hessian sack stuffed with sawdust, chaff or straw. CDB hives also had a piece of mesh set into the floor for ventilation - just like some of the older heather floors.
If you read Digges he makes reference to quilts in the original sense - ie a piece of hessian overlaid with fleece, or a bag of chaff/sawdust etc. (Very similar to the Warre principle of using a sised piece of hessian) Digges also refers to the use of what we would now refer to as a follower board to reduce the internal size of a hive and if i remember correctly, to fill up the void with some sort of packing. A good colony will survive the winter without additional insulation but by providing some additional insulation you are helping them along a wee bit.
Kingspan or some other commercial insulation board is going to be a lot better than a bag of straw.... Beekeepers have to make their own choices and on a personal level i go with top insulation and an OMF

 

[Poly Hive]

I fully agree Teemore.

However many are very new and have no idea that OMF and Top Insulation are a pair not a choice as such.

I was lucky to be a small part of the original thinking on this, although most of it resulted from research in Germany, and that is a very good thing as the Landers in Germany all have their own research stations and very professional outfits they are too.

The UK work was done at Craibstone mainly by B. Mobus and I was lucky to have been personally mentored by him.

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

You mean they left a space for insulation, but didn't supply it with the hive? An astonishing omission!

As you have have not included the date I looked it up - 1894! (from Dave Cushman's site).

Just goes to show that even if some think it (insulating hives) is a new phenomenon, or not needed, the principle has been around for many a year. Some clever beekeepers out there realised a very long time ago that the bees fare better with some heat-loss reducing additions for the winter - and also for other times as well.

That it is not an absolute requirement is obvious, but for the minimal outlay, it must help and have a very short pay-back time. I reckon 50p worth of EPS over the crownboard is likely to save the best part of a kilogram of stores over the winter period.

If the colony were to be marginal, it is always better for the beekeeper, I am sure, to find a surviving small colony in spring, than a (recent) dead-out.

RAB

 

[MandF]

In my case I have too much stores on my hives.. brood & half, with the half being pretty much full of (granulated) stores, and the brood at least 50% full of stores. PLUS the extra super left on during apiguard treatment, which is also completely full of mostly granulated stores.

A quick mental jot up and I reckon both hives have something like 90 lb stores!

But I will insulate anyway.

 

[Skyhook]

Just goes to show that even if some think it (insulating hives) is a new phenomenon, or not needed, the principle has been around for many a year. RAB

My understanding (of the wbc at least) is that insulation came first in the shape of a quilt )with or without extra sacking etc), but laid on the top bars. The idea then arose of putting laths under the quilt so that bees could move between frames easier while staying in the warmth of the colony in marginal spells in winter. It was then found easier to provide this facility with a spaced crown-board, but still normal to provide sacking etc above it. Only later did this start to get omitted.

 

[drstitson]

Don't forget that investment in a 1200x450x50mm sheet of kingspan provides NOT ONLY enough for the top of 1 or 2 hives (according to preference) BUT ALSO a piece large enough to dummy up in place of a frame inside a brood box.

 

[user 6228]

Don't forget that investment in a 1200x450x50mm sheet of kingspan provides NOT ONLY enough for the top of 1 or 2 hives (according to preference) BUT ALSO a piece large enough to dummy up in place of a frame inside a brood box.

You dont want that nasty kingspan stuff, your bees will:

fry
drown
swarm
starve
run out of brood space
implode the cluster
explode the cluster
cause global warming

or all of them at once!

what you need is a 2 x 2 propping up the crown board