Monday, December 29, 2008

experimenting with plastic




i have a friend in scotland who told me that when he was a lad, he and his dad used to wrap their beehives to protect them from the harsh winters. here in illinois our weather is so erratic to wrap them can cause other problems when we have the odd warm day during the winter. when wrapped, the hives can heat up enough to start melting the wax foundations and also, the bees will eat more of their winter stores. after the below zero temps and ice of last week, we are expecting a couple of days in the 50's now! so i have came up with another idea, one to keep the rain and snow off the hives, but yet still allow some air flow circulating around the hives to help with any moisture in them. i imagine it will be best just to lift the front of the plastic sheeting off the front of the hives, on these warm days, and tuck it up over the top so the bees don't get confused. of course, this will all probably have to be modified (bricked down harder) when the weather turns nasty and windy again.


3 comments:

Unknown said...

hey Leslie!
I love your blog! Good on ya girl! What fun it is to read about all you are doing with the bees and learn about it myself - I like all your interesting links too. Of course you know my love of herbs and bees ... and all other plants and animals :-)
Anyway, just wanted to put my two cents in - you're inspiring me to do a blog too - hehe!
Jackie P.

Comfrey Cottages said...

hey jackie! so great to hear from you and glad you got my email! yup hoping by publishing my mistakes i can save others from the same ones!lol you need to make your profile open if you want me to see it girl!lol

Lemon Verbena Lady said...

Lemon Verbena Lady has tagged you! Come to my blog and join the fun!