An empty super above the crown board containing a 50mm thick sheet of insulation board looks as neat as the rest of the hive, when the roof is put back on.I am not sure they would 'just fit' . We need someone to come up with a nice designed bonnet for hives. Homemade ones look naff. Well mine do anyway. They need to be a nice colour and have some weight.
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If insulating the roofs on hives helps colonies reserve crucial heat over winter, why not simply replace wooden roofs with poly roofs over the cold spell ?
Thanks,
I use poly nucs and find the bees are more likely to go wall to wall with brood as there's better heat retention at the edges of the nest. When the bees are ready I will add a poly nuc brood box above and find that foundation is drawn much faster than if trying to get them to draw it in a 12 frame National brood box (heat rises, and all that). They're then moved to a National hive on 12 frames, rather than 6. I'm tempted to go fully poly.Thanks,
i've recently purchased 2 poly's to see the difference between the national wooden omf & and non omf, compared to the poly omf hives.
I'll second that, they will also take a slab of fondant underneath if required in spring without needing an eke/empty super..If you have cedar nationals you can buy abelo poly roofs, they fit a treat, already painted and they are marvellous.
If you are a twitcher get a poly roof and then you can watch the green woodpecker adding some extra ventilation to it during the depths of winter!
Any links swarm...... iGnore that just found them. Thanks
If you have cedar nationals you can buy abelo poly roofs, they fit a treat, already painted and they are marvellous.
Someone mentioned insulating roof with Kingspan something-or-other. Was mentioned before on another thread but can't locate it.
Anyone got any info on that?
Someone mentioned insulating roof with Kingspan something-or-other. Was mentioned before on another thread but can't locate it.
Anyone got any info on that?
Why insulate at all. Never bothered with it anmd no probs if fed properly.
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