Keeping bees warm

[For want of a better word]

AND we are all singing from the same songsheet.... just for once!!!!!

 

[MuswellMetro]

cut a slit in the fondant packaging and place it slit down over the feed hole. That way it closes the hole AND allows the bees access

i do it slightly diffently, crown board with closed hole ,with a slab 46x46cm of insulation above it until December-febuary depending on hefting weight

Then when feeding fondant ( always feed in march neopoll fondant even if heft is still showing store) i have crown board open, api eke with fondant in, then the 46x46cm slab of insulation above

 

[Mendocinobees]

Keeping bees warm in SUMMER advice?

We are a climate that is pretty much the same all year round, never freezes, but not hot enough in summer for bees to build up their stores. Does anybody have advice on how to give the bees a few more degrees in summer? They shut down at like 50. I was thinking greenhouse for them, but that would be damp. Bees live here inside attics and such but struggle to survive any winter due to this problem. Please email me direct if you have any ideas or products that could help

 

[Finman]

I'm up in the Shropshire Hills and last year I lost a colony in winter - they died on full stores. It was heartbreaking cleaning them out. A committee member of my local association said that they had had reports of a number of colonies in the uplands that froze on the frames, not waking to feed and dying attached to the frames with stores on.
A neighbour, (OK about 3 miles away down the hill), put straw bales round his hives last year and they all survived the winter, (up here, before the snow, we had 3 inch thick ice in Nov, then snow Dec to late March - Brrrr!) A close neighbour keeps goats which go near my hives. The hives are fenced off, but I am worried that if I put straw round, the goats will eat it & knock the hives over. I am going to put hessian over my hives & entrances to try to keep the snow off, but is it wise to put bubble wrap round 3 sides as I've had suggested, or will it make the hives not breathe. We are 350 metres above sea level & the snow can get to over the bonnet of a Land rover discovery. Any ideas on how to keep the girls warm enough & snow free?

Finland is little bit colder country, but no one winter bees like you describe.

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[derekm]

We are a climate that is pretty much the same all year round, never freezes, but not hot enough in summer for bees to build up their stores. Does anybody have advice on how to give the bees a few more degrees in summer? They shut down at like 50. I was thinking greenhouse for them, but that would be damp. Bees live here inside attics and such but struggle to survive any winter due to this problem. Please email me direct if you have any ideas or products that could help

just insulate them a lot... 75mm poly is not too much summer or winter