Not sure if our local stores can help from New Brunswick but I am getting some nucs from a place in Salisbury called Countryfields and they overwinter outdoors. I really don’t know if they sell outside of NB…but here is their website.

http://www.countryfields.ca

You might have luck with the Alberta beekeepers association as they are a little closer to you and would definitely have a network of sellers. Perhaps contacting them might be of some use. One of their apiarists has come to our region for public speaking engagements on bee health. I would hope they would be responsive to your requests.

http://www.albertabeekeepers.org

Also our NB association may have connections or at least know where to direct you. Paul Vautour is the president and he may have some information for you.

http://www.nbba.ca

Best of luck to you :)

This probably is not the correct place for this, but I could not figure out how to start a new topic. I used to buy queens from Dave Eire, at Bee Works. Those queens wintered pretty much routinely. Dave is a small “hobby” business and is not able to deal with the draconian new rules limiting bees coming into the United States from Canada. The only queens that I have been able to test, so far, come from bees wintered indoors. That is great for my supplier here, who winters indoors, but not good for me, who only has a couple hives and winters exclusively outdoors.

Any help?

This was not the case, however, during the ice storm of ‘98 which had some of our colonies completely encased in an ice shell. Many of those perished, probably from suffocation. Lets hope I never see another storm like that in my lifetime!

Regarding the waxed cardboard, I have a few of them and they are great. They last for a long time if you store them dry. I use thintest as a top insulation as it’s much less messy than the (cheaper) wood shavings option and seems to wick much of the moisture out of the colony. It’s also possible to peek inside on a warm day and re-pack without to much difficulty. This is great if you’re into spring oxalic acid treatments. I’ve had poor results with plastic wraps (including styrofoam) as they seem to hold too much moisture. But others love the plastic and swear by it.

I’ve met a beekeeper that super-wraps his colonies with three layers of wrapping including pink insulation, styrafoam, and tar paper (not commercially viable) but he doesn’t seem to have much better luck than us double layer tar-paper guys. I think he’s making his colonies so warm that they eat too much of their winter stores – the trade-off is a fine balance. I’ve also had (now several) colonies overwinter with no wrapping at all – as long as they have enough food.

Sorry for the loss of your hives. Actually at our last meeting Fletcher Colpitts and his wife went through some photos emphasizing the importance of ventilation and heat retention in the hive. He uses a different sort of insulation found at hardware stores. It resembles a metallic finish on the outside and is rigid. He cuts holes for ventilation but emphasized the importance of allowing moisture to escape the hive. Fletcher put this material on the top of his hive. I will see if we can get more information at the next meeting on Tuesday.

I have seen other people use bee cozies. I think it is a combination of insulation with a weatherproofing on the outside to protect the hive from moisture. When the wood hives get wet, it doesn’t offer much of a barrier from the cold.

Maybe Dan or Sterling have some tips?

I won’t be taking any chances with the four hives I have up there next winter, and will make sure they get wrapped early, and cleared of snow after each fall. Are those waxed cardboard boxes efficient? Or is there another material I should explore?

That is a lot of snow.

Bless your heart for taking care of them in the snow.