With some spring-like weather finally arriving in Northeastern Pennsylvania over the Easter weekend, my wife and I were finally able to break down our hives and switch the big supers from top to bottom.
As I mentioned in the last column, we had wrapped some of our hives in black shrink wrap, some in the insulated Bee Cozy hive wraps, and two hives were not wrapped at all.
The success rate overall was a 63% winter survival rate, with a 50% survival rate of the unwrapped hives, a 55% survival rate of the black shrink wrapped hives, and a 100% survival rate of the hives with the insulated Bee Cozy wraps on them.
Black Shrink Wrapped Hive
Bee Cozy Insulated Cover 
Not only was the survival rate of the hives with insulated covers much higher than the other hives, but the amount of bees in each of the Bee Cozy wrapped hives was unbelievable. In each of the uninsulated hives there was a small amount of surviving bees with some honey and very little or no brood. The insulated hives already had several thousand bees in them, with brood, larva and many young bees. As I opened the last insulated hive, there were so many bees in both supers that flew out on me, my wife said my bee suit was covered with them.
Newspaper Lined Hive Covers 
In the fall before wrapping each hive, we experimented and stapled newspaper around the top of each hive cover, leaving the middle open for ventilation, to help with moisture levels in the hive. Upon inspection when breaking down the hives, the uninsulated hives had very little signs of moisture. The Bee Cozy wrapped hives appear to have had a much higher moisture level inside as the newspaper on each hive cover was very, very wet. As the inner covers were removed, the health patties we had applied on the top of the frames in the fall for supplemental feeding, had some green mold on them from the moisture. Overall, I am very happy with the newspaper experiment, because without the paper to absorb the condensation created inside the hive, moisture would have fallen off the cover onto the bees themselves.
Since this was our first year using the insulated wraps, we have concluded that they do work very well for the $18 investment, but more ventilation is needed for the amount of moisture created in the hive. When we wrap our hives this winter, I think we will add a thicker layer of newspaper around each cover to absorb more moisture and add wooden spacers between the inner cover and the hive cover for better ventilation.
Overall, we are very pleased with the results of the Bee Cozy covers and plan to purchase more for the upcoming winter. Not only did the wraps help keep the hives a little warmer, but they are also reusable. All we did to remove them was take off the hive cover and inner cover and pull them off. There were no rips or tears from the winter weather, and we put the covers away for next year in about the same condition as when we purchased them.
Finally, even though it has started to warm up in the Northeast, there still is not much available for our bees to feed on. We use and would suggest you use sugar water on each hive, with two feeders on some of our weaker hives as they need some extra help to get going this spring.
Thanks for reading and until next time, keep them buzzing!
Dave
7 Comments
Nice article. I live in central PA and do not wrap my hives. I have had good survival rates in my (very) small backyard apiary, but perhaps not the virility that you describe with respect to your large population and brood levels of surviving colonies coming out of winter. I’m curious…what was your sample size (# of hives) going into the winter for which you conducted this experiment? Thanks so much for sharing your results.
How many total hives were in each group?
My husband did something similar to this but with shipping blankets we bought from Harbor Freight. We folded them in half and ran a a string of baler twine at the fold and tied it around the top just under the cover. Then we ran two more strings one in the middle and one toward the bottom. The blanket fit perfect over three large supers.
I’ve warped several of my hives in black tarpaper. My hope was that the black tarpaper would adsorb some heat from the sun on sunny days.The bees could temporarily brake cluster and move up in the hive if they needed too.
As it turned out — The black color of the tar paper was adding to much heat and overheating two of the hives with All day sun exposure .It was very alarming to see the bees flying around outside the hive in 35 degree weather . Some of the bees perished from the exposure of the cold air before they made it back to the hive .
The hives that had morning sun but we’re shaded in Afternoons didn’t overheat and did help them move up in the hive if they needed too . All of the hives with black tarpaper consumed twice as much honey compared to the ones without black tarpaper . This due to the bees being more active ,starting brood rearing much earlier than they normally would. The moisture was a very big problem because of the heat during the day then cooling off rapidly after the sun set.
Do the benifits of the black tarpaper out weigh the problems it creates ?
I’m not to sure . With a strong healthy hive going into winter,good honey reserves and properly cared for equipment .why mess with a balance the bees must have to survive threw winter?
Love the Slovenian hives! But I need dimensions & plans to build into my greenhouse & storage shed. Any net sites or authors you can pass on? Thanks, I love your website!
Hi, Your article on the Bee Cozy is very helpful. The instructions say to make sure there is a top and bottom entrance. I only have a bottom entrance. Mine came with an inner cover pad for use in a deep inner cover, which i don’t have. It said you could use a shallow super, which I have. Any advice on the inner cover insulation? I am thinking about wrapping the outside but not using the insulation on the inside. I am concerned with moisture. Thank You!
I have built tops for the winter by using a shallow super. Take two pieces of luan and drill 5/8 holes every inch or so all over the luan. They are put in the shallow super by cutting two saw cuts 3/8 apart. Get some wool from the thrift store, old coats or sweaters and line the shallow super with the wool. I fill the box with cedar shavings and with the holes any moisture gets wicked up into the wool and the shavings. Can be used year after year. I have had these in use for about 5 years.
I always used tar paper but this year may use bee cozy’s.