If you live in a place that gets cold in the winter you might want to consider winterizing your beehives. It is a simple process, easy to do, and very beneficial to the bees. It helps them stay warm. Well, it helps them to maintain the temperature that they want.

The black stuff is felt paper from the Home Depot. It has a waxy coating. We ended up stapling the paper to the hives because it came off in the rain and wind one night. We added a shim to each hive on top of the top box under the inner cover, so we can put fondant on a plate on the frames to feed them.

We are also going to feed the bees over the winter so we shimmed the hive on top of the top box and under the inner cover. This was done with a cut piece of insulating foam that is one inch thick.

And we placed another sheet of cut insulating foam on top of the hive. (Directly under the brick).

Depending on where you live you have to judge whether or not to insulate your hive. But here in New England it is a good idea. It will help the hive stay healthy over the winter and help them to expend less energy.

The white strip at the entrance with the holes in it is a mouse guard.