Is Insulation the name of the Game?

[Tremyfro]

I found this of great help when deciding about how much insulation to have on my hives....and whether to have the OMF open all winter.

Recent research published in the International Journal of Biometeorology , shows that one of their biggest threats could be beekeepers themselves, or at least, their bee hives, the design of which shows a fascinating connection with the Second World War…
Honeybees are being kept in hives 4 to 7 times colder than their natural habitat of tree hollows. Current beekeeping practice puts bees in hives with walls less than 25mm (1 inch) thick, compared to the average of 150mm (6 inch) thick walled tree hollows. This new research has quantified the stress put on honeybees and reveals that current beekeeping practices in the UK and US of keeping honeybees in conventional, thin walled, uninsulated wooden hives are making them more susceptible to disease and starvation.
. Academic research, which use the same type of hive, may be misled by the responses to bee keeper induced stress rather than seeing the true behaviour of the honeybee.
Thin walled boxes to house honeybees were adopted in the U.K. in response to World War 2 wood shortages and following the demand for woodworking factories to make the Dehavilland Mosquito, a wooden fighter bomber. After being promoted on the BBC Home service in 1941, these cold walled hives that used less wood than their double walled and insulated predecessors became a tradition that continues to be dominant today, despite modern, warmer, cheaper, expanded polystyrene alternatives.
Professor Adam Hart, an entomologist from the University of Gloucestershire who co-presented BBC2’s Series Hive Alive about honeybees says “This research is fascinating – winter losses have become a feature of beekeeping and hive design could be a simple way to help honeybees. It is amazing to think that a practice adopted in the War to save wood might be contributing to the losses that beekeepers experience”
Ratios of colony mass to thermal conductance of tree and man-made nest enclosures of Apis...
In the absence of human intervention, the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) usually constructs its nest in a tree within a tall, narrow, thick-walled cavity high above the ground (the enclosure); however, most research and apiculture is conducted in the thin-walled, squat wooden enclosures we know as hiv…
LINK.SPRINGER.COM
I don't know how to do the link...but I guess someone will be able to upload the article and conclusions of the research.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

what losses? or has Hart decided to jump on the 'CCD is not our fault' bandwagon now?

 

[pargyle]

Well ... Looks like a few people are starting to come to the same conclusion as Bill Bielby did in 1972 ... takes a while in beekeeping ?

 

[user 6228]

you will find the link here
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35183

 

[Thymallus]

what losses? or has Hart decided to jump on the 'CCD is not our fault' bandwagon now?

He specified winter losses, which we hear about every spring. Even had a poll about them on this forum....poll link

 

[Tremyfro]

I thought it was interesting because it backed up so many people here on the forum. Of course...I don't know the person who did the research but it does seem fairly obvious...once it is pointed out....that bees by preference would choose a home which is well insulated and draft free. They can then maintain the humidity and warmth at less cost and fewer stores.
As regards winter losses here in the UK....it does appear that it is a big worry to many beekeepers when you read the numerous posts about trying to get them through the winter. As Finman points out...our winters are very mild compared to other climates....so we should be expecting them to get through the winter instead of hoping they will.
Also...now that varroa is such a burden to bees...it does change things somewhat....what with the chemical treatments....and nosema....more chemical treatment. Helping the colony to survive these pests must be at the forefront of all beekeepers minds so providing the optimal hive conditions is surely going to help......once those conditions are identified...if my hives fall below that standard then I will take any steps to improve them. Hence, all my work preparing my Long Hives for occupation.

 

[user 6228]

what losses? or has Hart decided to jump on the 'CCD is not our fault' bandwagon now?

the losses you would get a bit more often if you took the kingspan out of the top of your hive.

 

[user 6228]

I thought it was interesting because it backed up so many people here on the forum. Of course...I don't know the person who did the research but it does seem fairly obvious...once it is pointed out....

This could be a wind-up, have you considered that mitchell, D could possibly be derekm?

 

[oliver90owner]

Even had a poll about them on this forum.

That link does not provide the real data for losses with insulation or without insulation. Without a breakdown of the figures into more detailed sections, those without insulation may have done better than those with - who knows? Doubtful, but that is what some would claim.

Those results are likely inaccurate for discussing winter losses due to insulation or no insulation simply because there are lots of other factors, some of which may include varroa loads, beekeeper inexperience (or experience), location of hives, nosemic colonies, as well as losses from flooding, animal attack, etc, etc.

Let us not forget that winter colony fatalities in nature (feral colonies) are likekly far higher than any reported by most beekeepers.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

He specified winter losses, which we hear about every spring. Even had a poll about them on this forum....poll link

over 40% with no losses, and most in the lower brackets for losses. I thought i had missed something and catastrophic losses had been reported

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This could be a wind-up, have you considered that mitchell, D could possibly be derekm?

sounds a bit fanciful to me

 

[user 6228]

...
Let us not forget that winter colony fatalities in nature (feral colonies) are likekly far higher than any reported by most beekeepers.

similarly you would need to split feral losses by the type of home they had found...e.g. a tree hollow versus an open chiminey pot.

 

[Thymallus]

Even had a poll about them on this forum.

That link does not provide the real data for losses with insulation or without insulation.

My simple point is that winter losses do occur. No more no less. So thank you for moaning that the link didn't contain the information you wanted to see about +/- insulation.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Thin walled boxes to house honeybees were adopted in the U.K. in response to World War 2 wood shortages and following the demand for woodworking factories to make the Dehavilland Mosquito, a wooden fighter bomber. After being promoted on the BBC Home service in 1941, these cold walled hives that used less wood than their double walled and insulated predecessors

Single walled hives were in use long before the second world war, the Smith hive is one of them, used mainly in Scotland from around 1928.

 

[Thymallus]

over 40% with no losses, and most in the lower brackets for losses. I thought i had missed something and catastrophic losses had been reported

You did miss something, you implied it was CCD that Hart was talking about.
And you need to think over 40% no losses, means over 50% of beekeepers who responded to the survey did experience losses. And therein lies another key question.
Perhaps not catastrophic but significant losses. Don't you think?

 

[peteinwilts]

In the absence of human intervention, the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) usually constructs its nest in a tree within a tall, narrow, thick-walled cavity high above the ground (the enclosure); however, most research and apiculture is conducted in the thin-walled, squat wooden enclosures we know as hiv…
QUOTE]

add human intervention and include a well positioned correctly designed 9mm ply box amongst the trees, and the scout bees will choose the box.

I do not believe the bees can be looking at the thickness of the tree in terms of thermal values when looking for a new home....
Trees often hollow when they rot, which just happen to be a convenient place to live and make a home.

without human 'intervention', how many other structures are there 5m from the ground out of harms way? The hollow tree may be the only choice

 

[For want of a better word]

And...
the factor of hive placement... a windy cold winters mountain side will possibly be more susceptible to a colony kept in a subtropical warm river valley?

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

.
Second World War ended 70 years ago. And and and and.

 

[oliver90owner]

similarly you would need to split feral losses by the type of home-

Not forgetting to discern between colonies too small going into winter, very late or other reason, and those that fail to collect enough stores for winter survival. That is just the main ones, I would think - there must be several others.

Must discount all data collected pre-varroa, I might suggest. Post matchsticks, maybe?

But then again, even bees high up in a tree hole may be more at risk than those in lower 'tree stump' homes. But rotten stumps may be more easily dissected by bears, I suppose....

Let us be honest, here, very little is really 'natural' these days (in the UK), what with so much human interfence with the planet as a whole and our local ecology in particular.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You did miss something, you implied it was CCD that Hart was talking about.
And you need to think over 40% no losses, means over 50% of beekeepers who responded to the survey did experience losses. And therein lies another key question.
Perhaps not catastrophic but significant losses. Don't you think?

I didn't mean to imply that hart was talking about CCD - but 'CCD' seems to be a phrase everyone uses for the lest amount of loss and an excuse for anything thus that mindset.
Hardly significant - the larger losses were certainly a small percentage