I'm posting this in the Treatment-Free forum rather than Beekeeping 101 because that's what I'm going to try to practice with my bees. I've already plagued Michael Bush with questions over email before finding this forum.
I've only had these bees for a little over a month. I have rehoused them from a tall painted pine box into a two medium cedar boxes with a regular western top and a screened bottom board (have replaced all but three of the tall/large cell frames with medium/small cell or foundationless frames). Where I live is mostly hot but we do get some cold nights and occasional rain in the winter (hopefully we will this year anyway).
So here are my questions:
Should I get a telescoping cover for winter?
Will a screened bottom board be too cold for them in winter?
Is there a good way to keep ants off the hive? I don't have a problem yet, but I do have ants elsewhere in my yard and don't want them to terrorize the bees.
Thanks in advance for any advice or ideas.
I've only had these bees for a little over a month. I have rehoused them from a tall painted pine box into a two medium cedar boxes with a regular western top and a screened bottom board (have replaced all but three of the tall/large cell frames with medium/small cell or foundationless frames). Where I live is mostly hot but we do get some cold nights and occasional rain in the winter (hopefully we will this year anyway).

So here are my questions:
Should I get a telescoping cover for winter?
Will a screened bottom board be too cold for them in winter?
Is there a good way to keep ants off the hive? I don't have a problem yet, but I do have ants elsewhere in my yard and don't want them to terrorize the bees.
Thanks in advance for any advice or ideas.