Hive Insulation & The Bee Cosy
September is a crucial time for me in the Apiary. This is my make and break month in terms of getting the bees through the winter and then having honey producing colonies next spring and summer. I had a disastrous winter earlier this year and hence I am doing everything I can to reduce my bee colony losses over the winter.
Chris Wray, inventor of the cutely titled “Bee Cosy” is mentoring me and writing a few guest posts to help readers get their bees through the winter. The modern hive is pretty cold compared to the hollow of a tree. Hive insulation reduces the amount of stores required by bees and increases colony survival rates. The Bee Cosy is “the world’s first breathable waterproof insulating hive cover”. He’s on a mission to increase bee colony survival rates. I recommend reading every page of his website because it is all interesting and useful.
I mentioned I had a cunning plan for this winter and this is it. Chris is providing me with mentoring and a couple of Bee Cosies and in return I bought a further couple of Bee Cosies and am providing some publicity. Let’s hope this works.
In his first guest post, Chris discusses UK winter losses compared with the Bee Cosy losses. In his next post, he’ll go through a checklist to get everything ready for winter.
Bee Cosy Winter 2014 Losses Of Only 2%
By Chris Wray, Bee Cosy Inventor
The BBKA’s winter survival survey for winter 2014 showed losses across the UK of 14.5% with losses of 15.5% for the North East where most of our Bee Cosy sales have been made.
As for winter 2012 and 2013, we surveyed all Bee Cosy users on the same basis as BBKA – i.e. colonies in place at 31 March. Although our sample is not large as the BBKA, we achieved a fantastic 98% survival rate from all the beekeepers who responded using a total of 40 Bee Cosies.
As you recall, the winter of 2014 was not as bad as forecast. Bad weather was confined to fog and icy roads in December, storms and strong winds in January, and some snow in early February. The Met Office’s statistical summary showed that, across the UK, “the average winter temperature was 0.2 degrees higher than usual for 1981-2010. There were 25% more hours of sunshine than usual, and slightly less than the usual 33 days of air frost ” Despite 2014 being a mild winter, BBKA statistics showed that UK colony losses still increased to 14.5% from 9.6%.
As seen in the graph above, with 3 years of survey results now in, the Bee Cosy does seem to be making a difference. Whilst there may be a small positive bias in these results in that the Bee Cosy may attract a more assiduous beekeeper, there is also an element of negative bias in that beekeepers may be choosing to put Bee Cosies on their weaker hives.
Overall, I believe the results show a good case for the merits of the Bee Cosy.
Read More
- Bee Cosy website
- My Apiary – My notes show my preparations for winter. The small swarm has perished due to wasps leaving 3 good colonies. Apiguard treatment finished. Feeding in progress. Extra roof insulation added.
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Interesting – it does look cosy! Keeping the bees dry is probably even more important than keeping them warm, so good that it’s waterproof.
Other factors involved in colony deaths in winter include starvation and varroa. Sometimes an unusually warm winter can be a risk because the bees get through their stores more quickly. Perhaps this is why colony losses increased during a mild winter?
Could be a good investment given your high rate of winter losses, but good to see you’re insulating your hive roofs too. One tip with that is propping your hives at a shallow angle so that any condensation inside the hive drains to the back or front, preventing the cluster being dripped on in the dead of winter.
Good tip on sloping hive. I’m feeding at the moment … so flat is good for the time being.
Investment wise: If the Bee Cosy increases winter survival chance by 10% and a hive (not nuc) of bees in March/April is worth at least £200, that means that each Bee Cosy gives a value of at least £20 each year and hence pays back in 4 years. That’s just the money side. On the emotional side, I’ll be delighted to get more colonies through the winter, have bees to inspect in the Spring and possibly even get some honey from the first nectar flow.
I have been asked by Roger to comment on the Bee Cosy. To do it justice I would have to precision test it in my lab. Then I could compare it to other hives and hive “bonnets”. I can’t interpret Bee Cosy own results as they have non precision heat source and it shows temperatures ABOVE the crown board. The insulation effect of the crown board and the convection in roof space make it impossible to compare results.
I have tried insulating my roofs with polystyrene, but the bees burrow into it and chew it into a fine dust that collects on the crown board. Anyone else experienced that? Also, are there any nasty chemicals in the silver covered insulation board that could do dastardly things if chewed up by the little dears?
All the hive roofs I have made have square piece of 10mm polystyrene between the metal of the roof and the wood top board. However do look at the article in this months BBKA magazine, small I know, about research by a guy called Derek on super insulated hives.
CAN YOU TELL ME PLEASE WHAT INSULATION IF ANY I SHOULD PUT BETWEEN THE WALLS OF MY W B C HIVE IN WINTER
thanks
andy