We are retired beekeepers from the Peace River area. The best we found is an old homestead, sheltered from prevailing winds and sunny. Four on a pallet, opposite, top entrances, plastic wraps R16 insulation around, R20 on top, big sheet of plywood overhead. Find a beeclub if you can, you can also ask the provincial apiculturalist for information about outdoor wintering.
Great locations old farmyards The farmyardsxare being ploughed up here in central sask but there are still quite a few left Bin yards by barns south of old farm houses . 🏘
Back in the days in eastern Europe where they had strong winters, they would dig up a hole deep enough so that its below frost line and put hives in it. Then they would cover it with branches or wooden beams. Once the snow dropped, it would create a microclimet inside allowing bees to winter just fine.
For moisture and heat loss I use roof insulation with pink R-10 built right into the telescoping top, remove the inner cover and add 1.5 inch feeder shim with top entrance. Then I wrap with tar paper, medium entrance reducer and mouse guard. I place the hives facing south with a trees west and north. This is the first place the snow leaves in the spring. I use this on double deeps and double 5 nucs.
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I have 5 hives in a Temporary green house , with an exit to the outside for each. Picture his shelter but clear plastic, the bees can find there hive and the ones that fly around inside go back home at night. I am Weighing them every 30 day's to see the progress , so far the ones outside are doing better but it just got cold here.
Thank you very much for another dose of great wisdom. Here in Toronto, winter 2018 was very cold and long. At least for two weeks it was -20,-30 C. My hives are well insulated (2"thick walls). In one standard hive (3/4 pine, zero insulation ) the bees wintered as good as in the isolated hives. Summer time this was the second best hive.
Use the garage tent to store equipment ... Free pallets covered with plyw for the floor hold alot boxes out of the weather ... I just built one 10x20x8' 200 sq foot of dry storage for under 500.00
One thing I witnessed working a vineyard for several years, cold air behaves like water. It will run and settle in low areas like a pool. Buds that were opened with pooled cold air were dead after a short time. I am not sure how this correlates with bees and seeking a "lull" to place hives in but it is something to consider.
That shelter would of been ok if it had one of them green poly tunnels with the square mesh. That way they would always have enough light to navigate. They are gonna need to do cleansing flights through out the winter. I agree with what you said. about them poor navigating indoors!
You resonate with a lot of people Ian. The beer, coffee, dinner offer stands in NY as well should you ever come to the US. Thanks for making this video and answering this question.. This was something I wondered about.
@@patrickedgington5827 yeah I'm already subscribed to Vino. Check out my game plan here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kkRXkuK0HIE.html
There is another beekeeper in Ontario , I think. He winters his hives outside and has some methods that work for him. His channel is Scott Hendriks and does have some workable ideas that basically are doing the same thing you are doing but on a smaller scale. He has also been putting his nucs in a building with an outside entrance. Y'all have some very common problems and interesting solutions. His ideas added to the advice you gave this viewer might work.
The wraps vino farms did seem great. I'm in the southern states, so no actually experience. He also set up wind breaks, both permanent and winter only while the permanent break developed. I don't think his winters are as bed as winter in Canada, but he seems to have really put a lot of thought into it over the years.
Hi Ian, here most winter outside. Temperatures (November-March) are between 0 and -25 Celsius (32F - -13F). The worst idea is to put a roof over them to prevent them from heating up in the sun.
I'm soooo jealous that you have snow!! I live in west Michigan and we have NONE. We got a couple inches about 3 weeks ago but it was gone the next day. All the snow is hitting the middle of the US. I laugh at the ones who left MI to get away from the snow & cold and are now getting it. Karma for them. lol
🤔This must have been just before I started watching videos.😁 Ian, I have seen videos and studies on providing shelter from the weather to bees? My design isn't an enclosure, it's more of a cover to keep the rain and wind off them. I'm in S.W. Washington state and we don't get that much cold maybe a foot or so of snow over the Winter. What we get is rain that then freezes at night to thaw the next day. Wet, wet, wet...... I know your real busy but if you get a chance could you take a look and them? I make videos so my mentor can see what and how I am doing if you get the time can you check my covers? I would really appreciate your input on them.
man-24 here in Texas it was 30 degrees Fahrenheit hi forty-one and it is cold as hell LOL my bees was out Gathering Ultra bee pollen sub and have been for a few days
If a beekeeper wants to manage condensation in the hive, then shouldn’t he/she prioritize insulation above the colony? Insulate the underside of the outer cover. Keep the inner cover above dew point. 💡 But it looks like the hives in the tent are insulated on the sides with cold steel-clad outer covers on top. I’ll never understand why so many beekeepers wrap hives and insulate the sides while doing nothing on top. Where is the majority of insulation in a home? Directly above the ceiling.
@@wild2heart R-20 is really good. Another thing you can do (which also helps during summer) is to cut some foam board insulation (I use R-5 1”) and fit it to the underside of your outer cover. That puts some very good insulation directly above the inner cover.
Always have more insulation on the cover or this will be a big problem. I put 2" foam on the top and 3/4" on 3 sides. One side is left uninsulated so the condensation can build up there.
Good evenig Ian, I wrote the other day about trying to winter my hives inside a garden shed in total darkness next winter. Temperature here ranges between -10 and -30 during january and febuary and march would be in the -5 to -15. I would be keeping 40 hives in this 8 x 12 well insulated shed with good air flow top and bottom. I plan on putting my hives back outside as early in april as the temperature starts climbing above freezing point. As mentioned last time I wrote, I am off the grid so no power for fans, heaters or refrigiration. My question is would 40 hives create enouph heat to create a problem inside the shed or the free flowing air would be enough to keep the shed in acceptable temperature range. Thanks Denis
suggest you find the story from the American Bee Journal in Jan 77 about an Albertan beekeeper in the southern Peace River district who kept his bees in a insulated shed. All the hives had outside entrances like the Slovenian bee houses. his 60 colonies of bees kept the temperature warm enough the brood production during the winter allowed him to sell 200 3 pound packages of bees each spring. With outside entrances you could leave them in the shed all year. Just get a portable generator to power red lights to do your inspections, treatments, splits, and honey harvest. do not be afraid to leave liquid syrup in top feeders all winter to make sure they do not starve. If it works for you like it did for him you will have lots of bees to sell each spring.
Ian, would putting his hives on the south side of a row of round bales be enough of a windbreak for him? Also Ian, what do your bees do for water during the winter? If it doesn't freeze in the shed, is there still condensation on the inside walls of the hives? I can see why you don't want an upper entrance when wintering inside - your hives would be to dry.
@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog i think that ther is too much hive ventilation on yt.. Not inaf about hive micro climat , winter "hibernation". It's difficult to explain that water is needed in the hive. And bees should stay calm, not work on suplement this time of year..or sugar water. Killing your bees with too much help, i think is one of the problems
do not depend on one of these car shelters if u have high winds in your area. western Montana some winds are in excess of 50 MPH these shelters do not hold up to that kind of wind. Ask me how I know? You will be sorry. I now use the silver bubble wrap 3/16" . I wrap my hives with that. and use 2" foam board under the telescoping lids. also bee blankets with cedar chips and a 2" sugar board. for insurance against starvation from January to March. has worked really well. Ian knows his stuff about bees .But mine are outside on 16" platforms with screened bottom boards blocked in the winter but not to tight. hives are strapped down with ratcheting straps. because we sometimes have high winds and bears.
Hello, Ian. I want to ask about the way the bees are stored in the winter and the fact that they do not fly for 5 months and you maintain about 8 degrees. My question during this period is is there brood in the hives and what do you strive to have or not to have?Thank you!You are amazing !
I’m having trouble finding a book by that title. Do you mean Beekeeping in western Canada? www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=6&txtProdID=251
@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog Not to mention the loss of income. Wonder if you would see insurance savings with the installation of a sprinkler system. A 3M building engineer suggested I ask. We have had 2 freak fires, one at home 6 years later our shop. Electrical and neighbor's woodpile which somehow got stacked with an ember., 7 hours later... Thanking you for all you do.
Allô. J'habite la même province qu'Ian et je mets mes housses isolantes sur les ruches au plus tard par la mi-octobre. Mes ruches restent à l'extérieur tout l'hiver. Ian entrepose ses ruches à l'intérieur quand la terre est gelée, au mois d'octobre, afin de ne pas détruire ses champs.
Hi I’m planning on turning an 88 cubic foot insulated “chicken coop” into a winter shed for 4-5 hives with a 4 inch ac infinity cloudline thermostat fan on 1 side and a couple small vent on the other would u suggest to put the vents on the bottom on the other side to provide more circulation or would that bring in too much moisture from the ground? What are you’re thoughts on this plan? Thanks as always
Something to think about.( Ian I hope you won't be upset about posting this) I'm sure the bees will be fine in the spring. See @6:20 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-urJoLMLM0vo.html&feature=emb_logo
