Ready for winter?

[bk]

Built a permanent windbreak for the little ladies this fall.  It is six foot tall and 10 feet long with a 5 foot wing coming off each end to add a bit more protection.  Spaced five feet from the hives so hopefully I get a bit of snow drifting.  Yesterday played with a fellow beek and we wrapped our hives with 15 pound roofing felt.

Have a shim in place for an upper entrance and moisture exit, an inner cover, a piece of moisture board next, 2 inches of foam insulation so I don't get condensation, and the outer cover.  Hives are all buttoned up and have my fingers crossed for overwintering success.

The bees decided to poke their noses out of their upper entrance and see what we did after we got them wrapped up.

Trying to decide if I should make some quilt boxes or not. Anyone use them?  What do / did you do to get your bees ready for winter?

[pipewrench]

Looks great!

[Brad H.]

Looks awesome bk. I went a little more of a "rustic" route and had a farmer drop off three round bales to act as a windbreak. Buttoned mine up the exact same way with roofing felt. I like your twine idea I might add that as well. Do you treat for mites? If so what do you use? I've heard it's one of the big keys to overwintering success.

[topper]

BK, that's quite a fancy windbreak.

What I did was wrap the hives in roofing felt.

Then put a 3/8" shim between the upper hive body & the inner cover for ventilation & as an entrance for the bees. Then put the outer cover back on & would slide the outer cover as far forward as possible, giving the bees a "covered" upper entrance. Not sure I'm describing this clearly enough???

For an entrance reducer (lower entrance). One of the bee magazines back in the '70's printed a design for a reducer that did not have a direct entrance -- hard to explain? A picture is really needed. Quick & easy to make & worked real well. Used a router free hand.
If anyone is interested, I could make a drawing & take a photo of it.

[bk]

Nov 9, 2015 3:37:48 GMT -5 topper said:

BK, that's quite a fancy windbreak.

What I did was wrap the hives in roofing felt.

Then put a 3/8" shim between the upper hive body & the inner cover for ventilation & as an entrance for the bees. Then put the outer cover back on & would slide the outer cover as far forward as possible, giving the bees a "covered" upper entrance. Not sure I'm describing this clearly enough???

For an entrance reducer (lower entrance). One of the bee magazines back in the '70's printed a design for a reducer that did not have a direct entrance -- hard to explain? A picture is really needed. Quick & easy to make & worked real well. Used a router free hand.
If anyone is interested, I could make a drawing & take a photo of it.

Thanks, topper.  Looks fancier than it is.  Hope it works well.

Hard to beat roofing felt for the price, and sure blocks the wind.

Your setup makes perfect sense, and described very well.  Thanks. 

I would be interested in seeing a sketch of the entrance reducer, if you get a chance.  I use a standard entrance reducer, set for the narrow opening and then put it up towards the hive rather than down.  That way when a bunch of little bee bodies end up at the bottom against the reducer, they can still get out - not blocked by bodies.

[bk]

Brad H, the bales look good. Thanks for the picture. Was hoping to see what others do for winter prep.  Thanks for the post.

A fellow beek let me use his Oxalic Acid Vaporizer. Worked darn nice. I'm in the process of making my own now with a diesel glow plug for a heater.  My big hive had a pretty good mite load.  It doesn't now.  Pic is of the bottom board showing the mite drop.

[Brad H.]

Nov 9, 2015 9:39:28 GMT -5 bk said:

Brad H, the bales look good. Thanks for the picture. Was hoping to see what others do for winter prep.  Thanks for the post.

A fellow beek let me use his Oxalic Acid Vaporizer. Worked darn nice. I'm in the process of making my own now with a diesel glow plug for a heater.  My big hive had a pretty good mite load.  It doesn't now.  Pic is of the bottom board showing the mite drop.

Wow! That is quite the mite load you had. Key word "had." That should help relieve some stress from your bees this winter. I used oxalic acid as well, but heard of others who use mineral oil.

[bk]

I like the OA as a treatment. It is a naturally found compound, it is cheap, and even better, it works. On day two after the treatment, I counted all the dead mites on the board pictured.  97 in the whole board.  Checked the board again on Saturday and was shocked and impressed with the mite drop.  Didn't count the little buggers this time - ran out of fingers. 

Have been reading about mineral oil.  Doesn't sound near as effective as OA, and sure does gum up the hive.  The oil just stays there in the hive.  Tried it once and that was enough for me. 

[histopicker]

I am lucky here in that I need do nothing to winterize my hives. I actually have to insulate them from the summer heat.

[bk]

Nov 11, 2015 11:52:31 GMT -5 histopicker said:

I am lucky here in that I need do nothing to winterize my hives. I actually have to insulate them from the summer heat.

Histopicker, tell me how you do that?  Just wondering.

Some beeks around here insulate with foam to keep the hive warmer when it is 30 below.  Some folks think mit turns the hives into a fridge when insulated and keeps the cold in as well.  I don't insulate - at least at this point.

[topper]

Speaking of wintering, does anyone have experience with Russians?

[histopicker]

Nov 11, 2015 20:27:20 GMT -5 bk said:

Nov 11, 2015 11:52:31 GMT -5 histopicker said:

I am lucky here in that I need do nothing to winterize my hives. I actually have to insulate them from the summer heat.

Histopicker, tell me how you do that?  Just wondering.

Some beeks around here insulate with foam to keep the hive warmer when it is 30 below.  Some folks think mit turns the hives into a fridge when insulated and keeps the cold in as well.  I don't insulate - at least at this point.

if you look at the right side of this picture you will see foam insulation under the lid. This reflects the heat off the hive top allowing the bees to regulate the heat. I don't worry about winter because we have very few if any days below freezing.

[bk]

Thanks for the pic and the info, histopicker. Around here we put insulation under the cover to keep moisture from condensing in the winter.  Wet bees and winter are a bad combo.

 

[topper]

Nov 12, 2015 20:00:40 GMT -5 bk said:

Thanks for the pic and the info, histopicker. Around here we put insulation under the cover to keep moisture from condensing in the winter.  Wet bees and winter are a bad combo.

 

An old-timer I used to work with, in construction, was fond of saying.

"You can be cold -- or you can be wet, but you can't be cold and wet."

Works same for bees as it does for people.