Quote Originally Posted by Adam View Post
Jim, you have treated for varroa which we can assume has been successful which is an excellent start and your bees have plenty of stores. I can understand that you don't want them to starve and as you are new to this game want to be absolutely sure, however a double brood box hive (in my part of Scotland) if pretty full of stores, shouldn't need fondant added. The bees will work upwards through winter, eating their way through their stores. What helps conserve stores and also helps the colony is to insulate a wooden hive and you are right (in my view) to have insulated them. Shade can be helpful in the summer but sun in the winter warms the hive and allows bees to break cluster and move around - and more importantly move their stores if they need, so a pleasant not wind-swept and not damp and boggy site is also beneficial.
Hi Adam, thanks for your reply , I feel a bit better now after hearing other points of view etc. I still find myself every weekend or so going up to and listening to the hive noise , sticking my ear to the outside of the brood box. It is at least a way of hearing if they are still active without disturbing them , keeping warm maybe ? I'm a bit of a techie and an electronics engineer so I have thought of installing some equipment to be able to log and listen in to the hive noise remotely. We'll see about this but maybe not this year.
Many thanks for all comments.
Regards
-Jim