Reading the BBKA monthly yesterday two articles referred to putting matchsticks under the crown board in October so it's too late for the bees to propolise up the space (!). I can understand the practice when solid floors were used and there was less ventillation in the hive. However now we (well most of us) have open mesh floors I do not believe it is:-
a) necessary
b) desireable
and the matchstick method is a remnant of days before the OMF.

I think it odd that beekeepers think they know better than the bees and open up the hive against the bees own (best) practice. Afterall bees have been keeping bees for a lot longer than us.


Damp and condensation will be occur on cold spots so I guess the idea was to make the sides of the hive colder than the middle where the bees cluster (!) but of course any heat the bees try to create would escape up. However insulating the hive roof will mean that water vapour does not condense under the crown board and with an OMF there is plenty of ventillation available.

In my short years of beekeeping I have never used a solid floor (even the original WBC I had, posessed a mesh floor) so can't comment on them. However in the past two winters I have overwintered 16 and 9 hives with no loss and I undersuper and insulate above the crown board. Even some weak colonies survived with a laying queen and brood found at the first inspection. There has been no sign of damp or mould in any hive. This is evidence enough to me that my system works for my Southern Poof bees.

Does anyone still use matchsticks.

How do others overwinter?