In days gone by, we wrapped hives for winter in tar paper to prepare for winter. Now, this tried and tested method still works, but we have so many amazing new technologies we can use as well.
Winter is a less pleasant time for bees and as beekeepers, we have to use our access to technology to help our little friends make it through winter in the best state possible. In this regard, we have two main types of beehive winter covers that we can apply.
Beehive winter wrap consists of some sort of material that we wrap around the hives. Typically this material is black to allow some thermal heat gain on sunny days.
In the sense of heat retention, an insulator is a material that resists the passage of heat through it. There are many types of insulators out there, with the most commonly used in beekeeping tending to be insulation boards.
There are a few options for ready-built hives that include insulation in their design. This unit by Apimaye is pretty amazing. I always enjoy Apimaye products as they are well designed and built.