THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE IT WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED.
Here’s a video of what we did yesterday. We didn’t record the entire hive wrapping process (stapling the felt to the hives) because it would have made for an even longer and boring video. However, this Long Lane Honey Bee Farms video demonstrates what’s involved in the actual wrapping. (He uses a spacer to cut down on condensation. We use upper insulation instead.) In our video you’ll see me pointing out everything we’ve done to prepare the hives for winter. It’s not the most exciting video, but actually seeing how something works or doesn’t work is usually more instructive than photos or descriptions. So here it is:
Parts of the video that may be of interest:
0:25 — Some drones kicked out of the hive for the winter.
0:44 — Description of the insulation that’s placed over the inner cover.
1:07 — Close up a natural cell sized drone (he’s a big boy).
2:00, 2:50 — Cutting a hole in the felt for the upper entrance / ventilation hole.
2:22 — Guard bees chasing me away.
2:37, 4:55 — Felt wrap used to brace mouse-proof entrance reducer in place.
3:20 — Discovering a wax moth larvae.
3:53 — Showing off my Backwards Beekeeping T-shirt in below freezing weather.
4:12, 5:05 — Installing the outer cover and tucking the felt underneath it.
Click on the Winter Beekeeping link for more details on most of the above.
UPDATE (Dec. 23/10): I recently learned through a comment that our bees are a hybrid of Italians, Russians and Carniolans. Russian honey bees have a tendency to be more defensive, which might explain why ours were more in our face in the fall after their nectar sources ran out.
