The last few days of warm Minnesota sun came and went here on Fry Family Farms. The crisp autumn air reminds us that it’s time to put the apiary to bed for the chilly winter ahead. 

I’ve been revisiting Adrian Quiney’s The Cavity Compromise this month - ever read it? 

Quiney’s research and approach mimics the natural world, bees over-winter in much narrower spaces, clustering as closely as possible. Tree cavities provide a vertical column that makes for optimal heat clustering in the wintertime. We're trying to recreate that this winter, rather than keep them in their summer production-sized boxes. 

A simple concept…yes. An effective one…also yes! 

With this in mind, we ended up deciding to transfer three of our colonies from their standard 10-frame double brood boxes and moved them into stacks of narrower 4-frame boxes. We then grouped the stacks close together so the colonies can share their body heat.

This was quite the feat, but I think it will be well worth it in the end.

Here's our bee bedtime routine:

To start, we were required to complete all of our fall feeding so that the bees had the maximum amount of stores built up in fully drawn comb before we got to freezing temps (which has already happened, believe it or not). 

Within each stack, each of the frames containing brood cells were positioned in the centers of the bottom two boxes in each stack flanked by honey and pollen frames on the sides and above.

The top 2 boxes in each stack have solid honey all the way across. Heavy stuff!

I wrapped this stack with shipping stretch wrap a couple of layers and then 2 inch thick foam insulation on the back and sides. On top of each stack sits a double layer of Hive Hugger vacuum insulated crown boards, with every edge taped taped tight with aluminum vent tape. 

To make it even toastier, I added two additional layers of 2" foam, cut large enough to make an overhang on both the front and sides.

Finally, I stapled 1/4" hardware cloth stapled over the entrances to keep the critters out. Mice also need warm homes in the wintertime, but they’ll have to find somewhere else to snuggle in! 

We’re now able to relax into the chilly months of the year knowing the girls are tucked in for the season, well-fed, and ready for whatever weather this year’s Super El Nino has to offer to us in Central Minnesota.

All the best,

Mick