Another disaster - I think there's a curse on me

[Oblio13]

A friend of mine had one hive in a bear-proof chain-link cage. I put four of mine in there, too. I was in the neighborhood yesterday and stopped by to take a look at them. All the covers were off and they were all dead and filled with snow.

Turns out he thought he had a good idea for wintering. He had pushed them all together, put a whole sheet of polystyrene insulation across all of them, and put rocks on top of that.

A strong wind got under the polystyrene sheet and blew it off, and all the covers as well, because they were frozen to it.

[Kathyp]

are you sure they are dead? 

[Michael Bush]

Put the lids back on, the styrofoam back on, double up on the rocks (at least one good heavy one for each hive) and wait for spring.  Some of them may still be alive.  They are not dead until they are warm and dead...

[Oblio13]

I was going to bring the hives home to clean them out, but they were all frozen together in a solid lump, so I put the covers back on and left them there. So I guess I did the right thing by accident. I doubt any are still alive, but I have nothing to lose by waiting. I'll update this when it gets warm enough to do a real inspection.

[Moots]

Put the lids back on, the styrofoam back on, double up on the rocks (at least one good heavy one for each hive) and wait for spring.  Some of them may still be alive.  They are not dead until they are cold and dead...

I think Michael means "WARM" and dead...At least that's the saying for people, I assume the same is true for bees
and it fits the context of this conversation.

Good Luck!   :)

[Kathyp]

Lol.  Yup.  We have all experienced them warming up and coming back to life!

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[GSF]

Sorry to hear about that Oblio, what a bummer!

[Kathyp]

The insulation is not a bad idea.   I use some but cut to fit under the lid.  I have wind issues here too.

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[Oblio13]

He put the sheet of insulation across the tops of the lined-up hives. I don't think it does a thing that way, on the outside of the covers. I think the metal would conduct any heat away before the insulation could trap it.

[rober]

cut the foam to the size of the hive. put that on top of the inner cover & replace the outer cover....

[Michael Bush]

>I think Michael means "WARM" and dead..

Yes.  Brain fart.  I fixed it...