Trog

Trog's Blog 4 - floored!

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Trog
, 20-03-2010 at 08:31 PM (2521 Views)
Click image for larger version.  Name: DSCN0873..jpg  Views: 114  Size: 85.6 KB  ID: 140At last! Sunny, dry, nearly warm, and it was time to set their ladyships up for their spring expansion. Lovely clean floors all round and the old floors carefully stacked with their debris ready to be sent off in the post.

This winter we experimented with polystyrene insulation above the crown boards for all, and dummy boards and polystyrene in place of unused comb for the two nucs. We couldn't have known just how severe the winter would be but the experiment was a great success. The bees are in good heart and the nucs are expanding. We replaced the polystyrene with drawn comb and stores today because they clearly needed the space. Off came the mouse guards, which the heavily-laden girls really appreciated. They're feisty enough now to see off any intruders, though the one that followed me back to the shed was enquiring rather than annoyed. They're pretty sweet-natured as bees go.

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  1. gavin's Avatar
    I've been meaning to get organised with polystyrene for a few years, yet there always seems to be something else needing done (such as checking emails, looking at fora ... !) so I haven't. I still should, but this winter has shown me that healthy colonies don't seem to mind less-insulated conditions. The only thing over the ply crown boards were empty Apiguard foil trays covering the feed holes.
  2. Jon's Avatar
    On sheet of 50mm Jablite costs about £11 in B&Q and will make you 10 18" squares of insulation.
    If nothing else, keeping the top insulated stops water droplets condensing there and falling on the cluster.
    I am going to leave the insulation in place until it is time to put the supers on.
  3. Trog's Avatar
    I'd been meaning to try polystyrene since reading about it in the SBA mag. We've overwintered nucs without insulation before but ended up with damp, mouldy comb at the edges and a big slug problem (how do they get through mouseguards??).

    The best thing about the experiment was the wonderfully dry floors. Now, this may be because we had an unusually dry winter (all the water was frozen!). Yesterday I was able to garden in trainers; usually in March I need waders! So we'll repeat the experiment next year and see how dry things stay in a normal winter.
  4. gavin's Avatar
    http://mydeco.com/p/jablite-flooring...962271a744c85/