Eeek, it’s cold out and tonight it will dip down to -5°C ! I worry about the little ones and have tried my best to keep them warm. We just took a quick peek inside and sure enough, they’ve generated so much heat that my awesome insulation job now requires some ventilation. Hopefully the sheets of newspaper will soak up the condensation. I don’t want to ventilate too much because I think there are still enough cracks anyway.
Check out our ghetto layering system. We do it this way because it seems to work and it’s what we’ve got. Everyone insulates differently. I’ve seen styrofoam walls, old neoprene jackets, plastic bags, stacks of hay and in nature a hollow tree.
In the top dadent, we have a newspaper, several layers of wool and woven rugs.
Around the outside, we’ve also got three layers. The first one is bubble wrap.
The second one is bigger bubble wrap.
The third one is an old camping foamie.
Hopefully this will be sufficient. It is to contain their generated heat a bit longer and to provide some wind protection. I’ve tried to seal off the gaps.
In addition to insulation, bees keep warm by generating heat through their amazing metabolism. That’s why they will need enough stashes of honey in their hive. Again, no guarantee. If those stashes are just a little too far from their “cluster,” they somewhat become “paralyzed” with chill and will not make use of it. Without continuous consumption, they will die of starvation or hypothermia.
With so many forces against them, we supplement feed them to give them a better chance. That white roll that you see in the below pic, is a mix of honey and icing sugar.
Yummers!
Next post: recipes made with our honey. Stay tuned and bee warm! Cheers 🙂
