1st really cold winter for 13 Italian hives

[Boonersbad]

I have 13 Italian hives that have never been exposed to a really cold winter(below zero). They all came from the central valley of California, and are now in the hills of Nor-Cal. They've had several months of sun, so their stores are really good. They all have at least one large brood box(some two)and at least one super-sized brood. We left them all with one super of honey. I've reduced the openings to keep out mice and critters, and am considering using rigid foam insulation and/or tar paper.

Have I missed anything?
I've had bad luck with Italians and sub zero temps.... Any tips?

[AllenF]

Keep the hives heavy with stores and they should do just fine.    How were the mite counts going into winter?

[backyard warrior]

Let us know how those italians did in the spring. First i screw 1x 4 on the 4 corners of my hives so there is an air space.  2nd i put R11 insulation around the hive the in cover with tar paper so we will see what happens come spring.  A little bit of insulation hopefully will simulate a hive inside a tree we will see Chris

[T Beek]

Beekeepers have been successfully keeping so-called 'Italian' bees (if there really is such a thing anymore) in harsh climates around the globe for a very long time. 

Survival in some regions has as much to do with the keeper as the kept IMO

thomas

[Finski]

.
In Finland Italians are kept on Polar Circle. There winter temp is often -30C.

There are tens on Italian strains. Only problem is that if the colony continues brood rearing after September, it quite surely will die.

Otherwise Italians do well in cold winter. Clusters are big and they have not problems.

But when we have bought package bees from New Zealand, they have all  died next winter.

[backyard warrior]

finiski mail me some queens :)   

[Finski]

Beekeepers have been successfully keeping so-called 'Italian' bees (if there really is such a thing anymore)

Italian bee is not "so called". It is most popular  in the world.

Beek is doing his own science . ( and now I wait an attack)

modern gene mapping helps to identyfy what is the gene origin of some population.

"Pure Italian "is a human term, if you look for it. Nature  itself never tryes to make pure stocks. It tryes to mix genes. As said, modern technology helps to identyfye genes. Wing morfology is not valid any more.

As it has revieled now out, killer bee via Mexico is not only  origin of scutellata genes in USA. Beekeepers have imported several times scutellatas to USA. The whole bee evolution went upside down by gene mapping.

[T Beek]

When someone disagrees it is not 'always' an attack.  In that spirit I humbly disagree with the assertion that 'any' honeybee can be pure, hence my 'so-called' wording. 

Beekeeping itself has made sure that plenty of cross breeding has occurred over the years, especially over the last few decades. 

IMO (not an attack ;)) Honeybees should best be described by the particular region they've been born, raised and kept.  EXAMPLE:  Honeybees raised successfully in Finland over several generations would be more aptly named 'Finish' Bees, possibly with 'Italian' traits.  What do you think?  Just asking, not attacking :-D

"It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
                                                                                                         -Aristotle

thomas

[Finski]

  EXAMPLE:  Honeybees raised successfully in Finland over several generations would be more aptly named 'Finish' Bees, possibly with 'Italian' traits.  What do you think?  Just asking, not attacking :-D

no one understand that. They are Italian race. It is ordinary habit to talk about bees.

Like Arabian horse. It does not transform to Finnish horse. We have American runner horses. They are better than Russians.

[T Beek]

Well....some of us understand this concept, its been around for a while, even before you :-D.

If Arabian horses were allowed to breed like honeybees it wouldn't be very long before there were no such thing as Arabian horses.  That's not a very good example, got another?

thomas