I was really tempted by Finmans use of reptile heaters and something I may consider in the future as its a way to mitigate the changing environment. We have had more frosts in April than we had in the whole of Nov, Dec, Jan. Winter is now an extension of Autumn and Spring is now more like Winter. Nigel is right when he says that its not possible to test the true thermal properties of poly hives under our usual Winters. I have 1 poly hive that died, and 1 that has 9 frames of brood but I also have a wood hive in the same apiary that has 10 frames of brood. So go figure...?
Rather than try to calculate so called ' winter losses ' maybe it should simply be how many colonies alive say 1st October compared to how many on 1st May which would cover most of the country.
Rather than try to calculate so called ' winter losses ' maybe it should simply be how many colonies alive say 1st October compared to how many on 1st May which would cover most of the country.