I'm ready.

[Ray]

Beekeeping in the Wolverine State sure is  trying. I feel your pain!
Lost 3 out of 4 a year ago and lost 5 out of 11 hives this winter. This past winter all my colonies were 5 mediums tall.
Shoots the ahhhem out of the myth;"leave plenty of honey and they'll be fine".

 Endeavor to persevere 

[Alleyyooper]

I truly believe the fall drought the last 2 years so there was no Golden rod or Aster flow is the biggest killer we have had the last two years. I really do not believe sugar syrup is a replacement when the winters are so cold.

Visited and took the tour of Munro honey Alvinston Ont. Ca. a few years back. They are do east of me and they winter in single deeps. Open feed in the fall HFCS and use those wax coated corrugated wraps on the hives. they run Buckfast  bees. Not sure the breed is the answer either as a friend got 100 queens from them and still lost a lot of bees.

http://munrohoney.com/

I sat down at the work bench a week ago and made some double hive wraps out of corrugated plastic sign stuff. I still need to paint the stuff black but will try it next winter.
 

   Al

[Newbee]

I was thinking of making an enclosing-structure out of that blue or silver-foil backed foam insulation you can get by the sheet at big-box hardware stores?
I figured it would be easy to make large pieces that just fit together (pins or something… I want to be able to dis-assemble for storage in the off-season). That stuff add's significant R-value, and while maybe not air-tight construction, it's GOTTA take some of the brunt off these exceptionally-cold winters lately? I'm at about the same latitude as you guys... hit -20 F a few nights last few winters. That's just insane… shivering out in a wood-box buried in snow? Can't be easy.

Talked to one of the local Beek's that keeps his hives down in the Finger Lakes area, said he's looking at about 50% die-off this year so far. Just starting to be able to reach them (now that the pack has melted).

- K

[Alleyyooper]

I feel better if they are covered with snow, really good insulation snow it really and the wind can't suck the heat out if they are covered by the snow. Might think about a 3/4 inch snorkel tube to the entrance and above the snow.
We have had wind chill days of 30 below several days and nights last and again this year. Second coldest February this year ever recorded. Just what we needed when the stores are closest to being gone.
We are at 61% right now and hope the hemorrhaging stops as of yesterday.

   Al

[Newbee]

Might think about a 3/4 inch snorkel tube to the entrance and above the snow.

LOL! Yeah, I was still trying to work out the logistics of that in my head. 
Some sort of opening on the bottom is obvious (even if it does get covered in snow), and thus a vent of some sort at the top would be needed to avoid humidity problems internally.... but in one of the places I was thinking of placing a hive the snow was 5-feet deep this year! The other site is more exposed, so I was worried about wind-exposure robbing them of heat. I can't imagine 7/8ths of an inch of pine/birch provide much R-value? I get that they cluster and shiver, and there's lots of air-gaps, but... I sure as heck would want more insulation if it was me stuck out there for 4+ months! 

- K

[Ray]

I wintered 4 hives on the front porch of the old empty farm house, all 4 survived. The porch is open to the south and east, which gave them plenty of sun and blocked a lot of the wind. The old house has to come down (progress), but the plan is to use some of the old lumber and build a bee shed. There has got to be away to keep bees alive through the winter.

[Les]

Hmm, a bee shed now that's a thought.  Just keeping the winds off of them has to be beneficial, especially when it is below zero and the winds are whipping.  Of course, this is great for the small hobbyist but not feasible for the big guys.   

[Slowmodem]

Hmm, a bee shed now that's a thought.  Just keeping the winds off of them has to be beneficial, especially when it is below zero and the winds are whipping.  Of course, this is great for the small hobbyist but not feasible for the big guys.

check out the pictures here:

http://gregsbees.blogspot.com/2013/02/history-genealogy-and-beekeeping.html

Some used sheds and stuff back around 1900 here in east TN.  Of course, they used sweetgum stumps, too. 

[Jen]

Hi Les, what a beautiful smile your have 

"Of course, this is great for the small hobbyist but not feasible for the big guys."

     I love being a small bee hobbyist. That way I can play with the bees more. Iddee I'm sure cringes everytime I say that     

[Perry]

I am not a huge fan of insulating hives, other than on top. Windbreak on the North side and tarpaper is all I use. I tried some of those insulated wraps and what I found was that they prevented the hives from warming up on those crucial  days in January and February when it was cold but sunny. The black paper adds thermal heat on those days and I could hear the bees in the hives with tarpaper but not the ones with the wraps (I used a stethoscope to listen).
Snow is a good insulator and I have spots this year that got more than 5 feet. I dug down to find them and exposed the southern side to the sun, the heat off the hives did the rest.

[Les]

Perry, I was thinking that a windbreak on the north side of the hives a foot or two from the hives......couldn't hurt.  Definitely tarpapering!

[LazyBkpr]

   We had plenty of rain, and VAST fields of goldenrod last fall, but NO FLOW at all, in fact I had one nuc starve out at the end of August, and thats what made me realize, in a land of plenty, there was nothing....
   So I fed SYRUP.. BUCKETS of Syrup, and then I put sugar cakes on top of the hives..    Let me tell you, my hives survived..  by the grace of sugar they lived..   I completely understand not liking to put syrup in hives, but it SURE DOES beat having 50 dead hives!!!

   I have plans drawn up for a "bee shed"  Similar to the ones I built in Maine..  10 hives, 5 foot wide by 8 foot tall. The purpose is to shield the bees from temp extremes and WIND.. with winds OFTEN exceeding 30 mph, and occasionally exceeding 50 mph, AND once in a while getting even worse...   A shed seems to offer a lot of advantages, so despite my swearing to STOP trying new things, i am going to give it a go here..  The advantage I have, is that I know it works in Maine. I will be going out there in late August so I should get a chance to inspect them and see how they are performing...  I will, of course take pictures and have dimensions.

[Alleyyooper]

I make use of wind blocks, built them at home, pine trees in rows in an out yard, a cut bank, bushes, big red barn & fence on west end and even did straw bales stacked on the north sides and west too.







   Al