I would imagine that as well as the profit/loss calculation there are practical considerations driving cold storage. You can overwinter with just a brood box and not have to worry about supers or hefting or fondant. Plus, if you are in an area that had significant snowfall you don't have to worry about buried hives. The bees are just a tool in the food production process but it makes me slightly uneasy; its the difference between bee farming and hobby beekeepers.
I read Adam's letter with interest. We seem to have radically different approaches with some believing that ventilation is all and the great enemy is condensation whilst others try to emulate the bees in a tree condition and any condensation is used as a source of water without having to go outside (I think that's the argument..).
I guess I go for a halfway house. I try to create a chimney with a sealed and insulated top. The hive stand is an equivalent of a super underneath to keep draughts out, the OMF sits on top, a nadired super on top of that and then the brood box with well-insulated cover board and the brood box wrapped in closed cell "karrimat" that insulates but more importantly keeps the wood from becoming staurated in the winter rain. But the insulation doesn't go on until after the first couple of frosts and I take it off in mid-March because I want the bees to know that W inter is coming and then Spring - I think there is some data that suggests bees in uninsulated hives get going quicker in Spring??
Be interested to know what others do in this country and their rationale....
I read Adam's letter with interest. We seem to have radically different approaches with some believing that ventilation is all and the great enemy is condensation whilst others try to emulate the bees in a tree condition and any condensation is used as a source of water without having to go outside (I think that's the argument..).
I guess I go for a halfway house. I try to create a chimney with a sealed and insulated top. The hive stand is an equivalent of a super underneath to keep draughts out, the OMF sits on top, a nadired super on top of that and then the brood box with well-insulated cover board and the brood box wrapped in closed cell "karrimat" that insulates but more importantly keeps the wood from becoming staurated in the winter rain. But the insulation doesn't go on until after the first couple of frosts and I take it off in mid-March because I want the bees to know that W inter is coming and then Spring - I think there is some data that suggests bees in uninsulated hives get going quicker in Spring??
Be interested to know what others do in this country and their rationale....