That makes sense with the vents. It was hard to find any good information on Webb about winter the hive. Not giving up on it yet will make some modifications and hope for the best. The vertical hive is easy as I got a good handle on it just the horizontal hive I'm still learning about it. Thank you for your input and a good idea and also thank you so much for a comment I greatly appreciate it. God bless. Happy Easter

If you didn't put screen in those holes and the bee's want them closed they will close them it makes no difference what size screen... Note 1 inch of wood is equal to 6 inches of insulation... It looks like you over did the insulation in your top...I know you had vent holes ...

Every comment every thought means a lot. Thank you for watching. I truly appreciate

Im going to try this. Thank you

Yes, it looked like he had an air gap between his frame cover boards and his insulation, which would make the boards drip with from a moist hot interior hitting ice cold frame covers.

2 big keys to this all is 1 vent better to have too much then not enough. 2 moisture absorbed material for winter months. Bees don't die because it's cold out side. As long as they are healthy and the mites count is low they will work hard keeping the hive warm in the winter. But by doing so there is a lot of condensation which they create and if there is nothing to catch that then it will drop on them and they will drown. If there is to much vents then some can be closed but to try to create the vents in the winter when there is not enough then you can brake a cluster and they won't survive. Good luck if you have any questions i can answer please send me a message. And thank you for your comment.

I was going to remove the roof and then the top trim and make the trim higher @ least 2" so I can install a box with wood chips to absorb the moisture. The fum board i can't remove because I glue it but was thinking to install more vents. If you have a link to how you build yours please attach it love to watch it. I'm still learning a lot on the horizontal hive not much experience in that. Thank you for your comment it makes sense

@@charnas2790 pick up a few of these bags from amazon to contain and maintain control of the wood chips www.amazon.com/Linen-Burlap-Potato-Sacks-Pack/dp/B01H5ZMH1C/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=burlap+bags&qid=1618050754&sr=8-2 they are cheap and you want to be able to rotate the bags so one is air drying while the other is in the hive absorbing excess moisture. you can trace a rectangular pattern around a major part of the fum board and cut it out with a jig saw and use that as a support for the bag to lay in, just might need a few strings going across for additional support.

@@charnas2790 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/etNhncJqxs-Yqps.html there is a link to one of my you tube flat roof design horizontals. shows inside view on one ,and a complete set up beside it. i do make peaked roof and double deep horizontals, and even make them out of 2 inch cedar

@@SilentDeath002 does bags are big. Do you fall them so they are double layer. On my vertical hive I use cotton cloth to absorb the moisture it works great. But with the horizontal hive didn't do it

@@charnas2790 my idea was to save you from having to rebuild your roof. it already has enough room. the board you have attached with vent to your inside of the roof? leave say 3 inches around on all edges and cut a rectangular part out of the middle. fabricate some cloth straps and fill bag so its about 2 inches thick and place in opening. use straps to secure it so it wont fall thru. now up on the out side of the roof , same area bags are in you want some vents. that allows air flow from bottom of hive,thru brood area, and thru the bags and out the vents. thats what you want for a horizontal. its easy to set them up for a lot of air flow. if it ever becomes to much air, cut a piece of foam to close off one or two vents. lack of air flow promotes mold. we can take care of your problem easy lol. by the way , nice job on your horizontal build.

Im working on it not giving up just yet. Thank you for your comment and thanks for watching

The goal was to give the girls good warm home for winter as it gets cold in the north east. Though was if insulation is apply they would work less in the winter to keep them warm. As with everything. Insulation and ventilation are the key to success. If you saw the amount of bees that got removed was just amazing. In the season the hive was putting numbers like crazy. If I aply same method with catching moisture and ventilation that I use in the conventional hive. Today they would be flying. I already have plans drown up and will make new one over the winter. Thank you so much for your comment and thank you for watching.

And yes sir. You are right about that. That's for sure. Going back to drawing board and improving what I mess up. One thing is when your colony dies because of other factors then because i didn't think through the winter months it was my fault. Not giving up that for sure

@@charnas2790 I’m no expert, but here’s a thought. Since the bees closed off the vents in your cover boards, moisture was not able to escape. What if you had another set of cover boards with vents and swap those out in the winter when the bees are clustered and not moving around much. I’m just starting my research on using long Lang’s, so I know next to nothing about horizontal beekeeping.. I’ve been old-school for five years with standard 10 frame Langstroth hives. I appreciate you making this video. You are helping to pave the way. You may have lost some bees and I can definitely hear the disappointment in your voice, but by sharing this video, you were helping more people to be successful. When we all share our experiences, the hive box will continue to be a better environment for the bees. In my research, I go so far as to read the comments on the videos that I consider have value. Someone else commented about breathable insulation. I’m not sure what that is but it sounds like a better choice than that solid foam. I live about an hour from the coast in SW Washington State, USA. 500 ft level and fairly moderate temperatures. We get a lot of rain, pretty much 8 months out of the year. On my Langstroth hives, I swear by what we call a garden top, which just means it has a pitched roof. I never use anything like a quilt board or cedar shavings or anything like that. I have never had a problem with moisture, ever. I successfully overwintered four colonies this year. I live on a city lot that is just under a quarter of an acre.

Unfortunately not. By going through the entire hive today frame by frame. I was shaking each frame and the amount of water that was in them. It was not enough air flow as well nothing to trap the moisture. Sadly you know the outcome but I have a solution. Not giving up on this insulation hive yet. Thank you so much for your comment. Grateful to get some responses from people. Thank you

@@charnas2790 I am building some hives soon for a Mid April NUC delivery. Excited and nervous!

@@pwkeely trying new things only expends our knowledge even if we fail.

I follow you for that very reason. I am thinking about video documenting my adventure. The good,The Bad, and the Ugly. We can't all be rockstars out the gate and my mistakes might help someone else succeed

@@pwkeely I literally read about this in Dr. Leos "Keeping Bee's With a Smile" last night on page 55 - I lost my colony last July to SHB after upgrading to larger hive so I study to avoid more rookie mistakes. I was checking out the cover of your hive and it seemed that it was missing the ventilation holes suggested in the book. The top hole is supposed to made earlier in the season and the bees are suppose to make the adjustments to airflow first with their bodies and then with propolis. I see the vent on the side but maybe you added the insulation and that obstructed airflow. Otherwise, great looking hive.

Mites count was done in the middle of peak time that was in midle of July and @ the peak of August and as well going in to the winter months. That was not a issue here. Just moisture. By staying on top of the mites as goes for that issue I'm almost 95%success rate as goes for the rest of my hives and even the one I lost. Lesson learned. In the process of remaking the hive. Thank you for your comment and thoughts and thank you for watching and sharing