I am in Georgia and have SBB on my hives. Do I need to cover them with foam or
a thin board or does it get cold enough here to worry about, it's my first winter with bees.
It is my first year beekeeping, and I too use SBB and live in NW GA. I am not going to do anything with my SBBs. Many people up North in much colder climates don't cover their SBBs.
First year beekeeper hear from Central Ar and should have simular winters as you. My Mentor and many other beekeepers around be tell me to make sure you vent the hive on the top to let the damp air out, most of the leave their SBB open. I talked to a few of them and the drill 3/8 holes in their top boxes to vent the hives also.
I started from a split in August a year ago. Feed until you have enough stores (I used two deeps). I put newspaper and sugar (mountain camp feeding method) on top of the top deep just as insurance, but they barely touched it I had a medium box around the sugar, and the inner cover on top and a telescoping top. I left the SBB open. Last winter was not that bad here, and that may have played a role in my bee's survival. Just a little to think about.
foreststalker, i'm not too far from you here in northeast alabama.
i only have two winters under my belt so far.
the first winter, i had just inner covers, and they were not notched for ventilation. in the spring, i found a lot of mold on the undersides of the inner covers and on the tops of the frames below it.
last winter, i put notches in the front and back of the inner covers, and i stapled window screen over them. i also put half inch pink styrofoam between the inner and out covers. i did not find any mold this spring.
i have solid bottom boards.
the main thing is to avoid the 'ceiling' of the hive from getting cold enough for the moisture to condense on it and drip back down on the cluster.
i'm thinking if the top has a little insulation, the moisture will collect on the sides of the boxes instead of the ceiling, where it can't hurt the bees, and may be used by the bees if they need some water.
I am in Georgia and have SBB on my hives. Do I need to cover them with foam or
a thin board or does it get cold enough here to worry about, it's my first winter with bees.
Cold doesn't kill bees. Lack of ventilation kills bees. You don't need to block off your SBB for the winter.
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