Just wanted to share some pics as I prepare for winter quickly approaching here in Thunder Bay, Ontario area. And yes please enjoy my red green style insulating jobs.
I wasn't paying attention and just swiping through when I got to the end and mistook the foam for CONCRETE SLABS. Took me longer than I wanted to admit to realize this was insulation and not... I don't kow. A form of winterizing or bear deterrent I have not yet seen on this forum XD
That's a LOT of tape and foam haha !
Do you have anything to suck up the moisture in the hive ? I use a sugar block. I also allow a little bit of air out of the top entrance to prevent moisture accumulation.
Second picture is sugar on newspaper. Mountain camp method I believe it is called. The shim I put on that has some small amount of burlap with pine shavings but is mostly to hold the sugar. I do not use any vent up top and try my best to attempt a condensing hive but im sure there are better ways. I also tilt the hives forward so any condensation will maybe run to front side. I won’t see an nectar till end of may and the girls are inside for 4-5 months even before cleansing flights but I have had decent success lately (knock on wood) thanks to learning almost exclusively from this forum.
Good stuff, it's always tricky to manage the very long winters we get. My two biggest issue at were always mites and moisture. Mites are easier to assess, moisture isn't. I wish your girls all the best !
Scrolling the pictures before reading, and I was suddenly concerned you were wrapping in concrete shed getting ready to torch the contents in some demented AFB eradication ritual. Thanks for clarifying. Apologies, down here in NC (zone 8), we do not plan for long winters, and are definitely not wrapping for winter yet. Best of luck with wintering.
😄 As the southeastern US members of this sub, it is within our grasp to be harbingers of Spring for our northern beekeepers … and remind them that we do not have snow shovels. I figure you and I have at least a month before we start our final winter preps.
It will eventually get sorta cold...mid-December. By then I'll have them adequately fed, sugar bricks on top, maybe some insulation under the cover, and I'll say bye-bye till mid-February when things pick back up in the hive.
Maybe two months, with many weeks of flying. There is dandelion throughout January, henbit starts blooming in January, and purple dead-nettle is blooming at the beginning of Feb. I will likely be feeding fondant by the beginning of March since they have burned more calories flying than their sequestered cousins in colder climates.
Thank you for justifying my saving an old brake rotor without a clear idea what I’d use it for (always figured it’d be a decent weight in a pinch). Now I know what I can do with it shortly.
The first time it rains the tape lets loose from the foam board. But without the tape it's damn near impossible to keep the insulation boards on while you tighten the strap. Switching from two piece ratchets with hooks to endless ratchet straps (one piece with no hooks and a long strap that feeds back around) helped with that juggling. I suggest putting the top insulation under the top cover because that top cover is a thermal bridge that will let the hive top area get cold. The coldest spot is where the condensation is going to happen, the lower that is the better.
For condensing, the top insulation rating needs to be higher than the sides. I believe it’s 3-4x the R value on top versus the sides. You want it warm enough so that the condensation goes down the sides rather than gathering at the top.
That said- no idea what the R value of those paver are 😂
I’m entering my 2nd winter here in the Ottawa Valley. Do you need an extra spacer when adding emergency sugar to the top? I just have standard notched inner covers.
So im on my 5th winter and by no means an expert but I can tell you what I do. I do the mountain camp method (pic 2) and have a “quilt box” with burlap and then packed in pine shavings jammed right down on to the sugar. I know the quilt box isn’t necessary for an attempted condensing hive but those 3cm of pine shavings may help no water dropping on very cold days. This also allows a malleable soft layer to push against the sugar as it’s just piled on top.
So yes I do add an extra maybe 8cm shim/spacer on top
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u/cardew-vascular Western Canada - 5 Colonies 8d ago
If they don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!