Quick tarpaper wrap!

[Perry]

As winter approaches, thoughts turn to sunny beaches, cold drinks, sunglasses and funny hats, and of course..................wrapping hives!
I have tried several different methods, some more expensive than others, some with better results than others, and have settled on a quick and efficient system that requires little time and $$$.
I have tried and did not like any wraps with insulative qualities to them, my success with them was less than expected. My favourite? Good old fashioned tarpaper!
A bit of prep at home makes for quick work out in the field.

# 1 - get your tarpaper roll out, and roll it out on the floor about 7 feet long.






Next, cut the piece along it's length to what ever height your hive is. I run double deeps so I cut my paper at around 19 3/4".




Then I cut a piece of lathe about 19 1/2" long, and staple it along one end of the tarpaper.






Then I just roll up the paper around the lathe and stack 'em up for when I head out to the yards.




When I get out to the yard I just walk up behind a hive, unfurl my tarpaper and drape it over the hive from behind.
(This next pic is looking at it from the front).




Then I take the end without the lathe, start it about midway on the back of the hive and staple it at the top and bottom.







Then I just grab the other end of the paper with the lath and pull it as snug as I can, and pop two nails in it to hold it in place.






There you have it!
Takes me maybe 2 minutes to do a nice tidy job, and it works! I sometimes add a nylon string around the middle as well if they are in a windy area, I even put a bit of duct tape on the corners to stop the string from tearing the paper. I have gotten 5 years out of many of these pieces if you are careful wrapping and unwrapping.

[Jen]

Looks Great! But I have cleats on my hives? Should I do the same thing except staple the tar paper to the face of the cleat?

[Perry]

I'm afraid my system isn't user friendly with cleats.
It could be made to work I'm sure if you fooled with it enough.

[Jen]

Mkay we'll see what the other say as well ~

[riverbee]

i don't use tarpaper, i gave up on it....it works though.

i use this: (and jen, would work to wrap around the cleats)

Colony Quilt 1-2 deeps

other options for 3 deeps and purchasing in bulk:

Colony Quilt

[LazyBkpr]

Yee gads... $10.00 each.. so Id have to spend... 400 bucks...   
                                                                                              ""   faint  ""



   I'll have to try that Perry. never thought of using lath on the hive, though lath is normally what you nail the tar paper to the wall or roof with to hold it,, only common sense there..  I do usually cut to size and just lay it out flat in the truck, then grab a new piece for each hive..   It has never occured to me to re use the tar paper.. wind here usually has it pretty shabby by spring, but maybe the lath will help it a bit.. I'll try it!

[riverbee]

so you buy a roll of it scott, or you call them up and tell them what you need in a roll for so many hives, they oblige..........less than what you would purchase for a single or double deep or the bulk pricing on the second link i provided.  they will cut a roll to your needs.  so less than 400 bucks.

these can be re-used year after year. easy and quick to put on with a staple gun, they don't tear.

[Jen]

I think for my small operation these would do just fine, I like the reuse for a long time thing as well. Thanks for the link

[LazyBkpr]

Aha!  250 bucks for the 18 Inch by 225 foot roll..   Lets see...    225 foot will only do about 33 hives...   Roll of tar paper = 17.50 for 144 feet...   So need two rolls = 35 dollars..  dang..  I wanted to try that stuff.. sometimes being CHEAP is a pain....

[Jen]

Hey Scott... do you have cleats on your hives?

[riverbee]

scott,
did you read what i said?  you tell them what you need, they give it to you without buying an entire roll.  HARD HEAD PIRATE......

ps, can you re use the tarpaper you put on and took off every year for let's say the past 10 years?

[LazyBkpr]

No Mrs Jen.. I have managed to at least get rid of all the boxes with cleats.. I still have a deep or three here and there that manage to annoy me but I am getting there..


   LOL Mrs River..  I thought of that as well..   A roll and a half is still over 300 dollars..  Thats over 8 rolls of tar paper, and if Perrys reusable roll and lath method works and I can reuse HALF of the hive wraps I'm still good for fifteen years or so..   Being CHEAP is usually incurable, If I ever win mega millions youd probably never know it by my lifestyle..     BUT, I am considering buying four or five to try them to see how well they work...   

[riverbee]

well they are spendy scott, i will give you that, especially for the number of hives you have, probably not practical for you.  i have about a dozen of these, about 1/2 of them i have probably had for 12 years, and i have yet to replace any of them. 

[Perry]

The ones you linked to don't look too bad river. I bought a bunch of "bee cosies" and after 3 years pitched them all. Not only were they a pain to deal with, I found that the insulative qualities of them prevented the cluster from being able to shift on a cold but sunny day, the reverse effect one would have thought.

[Jen]

Scott- "Being CHEAP is usually incurable, If I ever win mega millions youd probably never know it by my lifestyle..

      Now, my dad was always called cheap, a cheap skate, stingy, all of the above, then he would turn around to the accusing person or crowd and say, "The word is Prudent! Pruuudent! Ya got that? and by the way are you here to ask me for money?" And yes he was an incurable Prudent man 

      I see that you and Perry don't have cleats... why would that be, if they make the 60 lb medium or and 80 lb deep full of honey easier to lift?

[LazyBkpr]

Handles cut in the sides of the box..   Dont have much trouble with mediums full of honey, but WOW those deeps are getting heavy.. 

[Perry]

And I don't harvest deeps at all, so not very often I have to move one full of honey.

[Jen]

Mkay, it's the strength in your guys' hands as opposed to mine, I need the cleats for holding power.

Scott- "Handles cut in the sides of the box..   

    Some of my boxes have the handles cut into them and some don't, during the swarming episode hubby was throwing out the boxes so quickly that he felt the cleats were quicker to screw on at the time. I do like the looks of a hive without them tho 

[riverbee]

"The ones you linked to don't look too bad river. I bought a bunch of "bee cosies" and after 3 years pitched them all. Not only were they a pain to deal with, I found that the insulative qualities of them prevented the cluster from being able to shift on a cold but sunny day, the reverse effect one would have thought."

they are perry, i looked at those bee cosies awhile back and was very hesitant at purchasing any.  these don't have that much insulation, just a thin layer of some sort of thin foam insulation on the inside.  easy to put on with a staple gun, and take off, just pop the staples.  they don't tear, and whatever material they are made of on the outside is pretty durable.  i don't find any problems with them, i sure like them, and to me easier to use than tar paper, and i do think there is something to be said about the little bit of insulation on the inside of them.  i will have to take some pix of mine and post them, so you guys can see what these actually look like.  the expense for you perry is also probably not practical.  not sure they are even sold in canada.  i think these are exclusively made for b and b honey farms. 

[minz]

I was asking about wrapping on another forum and one of the best posts was to make certain you get roofing felt, not tar paper! It was said that you get a nice hot, rare day the tar sticks to the hive.
i was going to use the cleat method you mentioned but add another cleat and tie the cleats togather so i could pull it and do OA in end of november. Do you think it would just be simpler to pull the nails (or deck screws)?