# If you have Bees in a Cold Climate READ THIS!!



## docholiday (Jul 31, 2014)

*The moisture thing is a serious issue that I would have learned the hard way if not for glancing in my hive on Saturday. * This is my first year keeping bees, and will be my first winter with them. In preparing them for winter, this past Saturday I cracked the top cover to look inside and to my shock, I found that there was already so much moisture that was rising through the small hole in the center of the inner cover, that it was building up right above the opening on the top cover and was creating mold!!!

I already had the hive on an angle so moisture could run forward, but I have now angled the hive even more aggressively, and I flipped the inner cover around (it was on wrong for allowing the moisture to escape). I also drilled 4 small holes near the front of the inner cover to help the moisture escape towards the front of the hive, rather than only through the hole in the middle where it is then accumulating on the inside of the top cover. I then shimmed the top cover up along the front just enough to add further venting. Lastly, I added a square of insulation foam board on top of the hive to hopefully help buffer the temp difference between the interior of the hive and the top cover where the moisture was building up.

I really hope my bees survive the winter, and if I wouldn't have opened up that cover on Saturday and found that problem, they would have surely died this winter. If you have not done some preparing for winter, I would strongly suggest that you at least peak inside and make sure that your not having big issues like I was. At the very least, pitch the hive on an angle so moisture can run forward and not fall on the bees or accumulate into an area to produce mold, and make sure the hive has some way of venting that moisture out.


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## the kid (Jul 9, 2006)

look on this site about putting the quilt on for wintr


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## rwjedi (Jun 18, 2004)

docholiday said:


> *The moisture thing is a serious issue that I would have learned the hard way if not for glancing in my hive on Saturday. *This is my first year keeping bees, and will be my first winter with them. In preparing them for winter, this past Saturday I cracked the top cover to look inside and to my shock, I found that there was already so much moisture that was rising through the small hole in the center of the inner cover, that it was building up right above the opening on the top cover and was creating mold!!!
> 
> I already had the hive on an angle so moisture could run forward, but I have now angled the hive even more aggressively, and I flipped the inner cover around (it was on wrong for allowing the moisture to escape). I also drilled 4 small holes near the front of the inner cover to help the moisture escape towards the front of the hive, rather than only through the hole in the middle where it is then accumulating on the inside of the top cover. I then shimmed the top cover up along the front just enough to add further venting. Lastly, I added a square of insulation foam board on top of the hive to hopefully help buffer the temp difference between the interior of the hive and the top cover where the moisture was building up.
> 
> I really hope my bees survive the winter, and if I wouldn't have opened up that cover on Saturday and found that problem, they would have surely died this winter. If you have not done some preparing for winter, I would strongly suggest that you at least peak inside and make sure that your not having big issues like I was. At the very least, pitch the hive on an angle so moisture can run forward and not fall on the bees or accumulate into an area to produce mold, and make sure the hive has some way of venting that moisture out.


 
I think the best solution to this is to use sugar cakes or candy boards. I'm partial to a recipe using sugar, apple cider vinegar, some vitamins and minerals. 

This is the best of both worlds, it absorbs the moisture and then gives the bees something to eat.

Here's a video I did on making this recipe:[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMpe6-pXfTk&list=UUUJpugtC8DATt5CampP4RtA[/ame]

This year instead of a mixer I've used a paint stirrer on a drill in a 5 gallon bucket and it works great.


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