Insulated Bee Hive Box.
Working with insulated hive boxes.
There are a few different styles of insulated hives on the market. These boxes usually consist of 2” thick Styrofoam walls. I have been experimenting with this for a few season now. They have a few advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages:
Very light hive boxes. No more lifting heavy wooden boxes around.
Year round insulation for summer and winter.
Disadvantages:
Not as tough as wooden box.
Easy to chip with hive tool or shovel. They can be thrown around with out damaging them but extra care must be taken when scrapping with a hive tool.
Some insects can start borrowing in the Styrofoam if left in storage too long.
These hives are wintered the same way as wooden hives with insulated warps. The main difference is that when winter comes there is no additional preparation that needs to be done with these hives. I use the same insulated box year round and also the the lids use are well insulated, they stay on year round.
When there is enough snow on the ground the hives completely buried in snow so that there is nothing to see in the airplay but round piles of snow. The snow helps insulate the hives from the cold and wind. The hives do well under the snow, they do not suffocate from the lack of air.
A large cavity is formed in front of the hive as the warm air comes out of the hive and melts away at the snow in front. Here I dug out the front of the hives to show the cavity in front of the hive.
In late winter the snow is removed so the hives can be accessed to start feeding. Also the days and longer and the sun has a lot more strength then it had in winter.
Hives in Late winter with feeder jars on top.
In late winter pollen patties and syrup is added to the hives to get them an early start in brood rearing. In this arrangement a feeder pail is put on top of the inner cover and another insulted box is added on top of the hive.
