Insulating for winter

After a strangely warm October the temperature finally dropped in November so it was time to put some insulation on the hives. As with every year that just means popping a square of Kingspan between the crownboard and the roof. There's a few different ways to insulate hives including hessian quilts, layers of wood chippings, rags, polystyrene other expanded materials but Kingspan's insulation boards currently seems the most popular going by the forums. It's easy to cut, doesn't need any support and can easy bear the weight of a roof with a brick on it. I already had insulation for three hives but as I've got up to 4 this year I just needed to get another bit for the last hive.

Cutting a 46.5x46.5 square of insulation

Obviously it's not rocket science cutting a bit of insulation to fit the hives, just clamp a straightedge to the insulation and use a very sharp long bladed knife to cut it and you're done. As I'm now using candy boards for emergency food I won't even need to cut a feed hole for fondant.

Toasty warm. The roof will go on top.

I've actually suggested to a couple of Kingspan employees that they consider cutting 46.5 x 46.5cm squares from the damaged boards that the company currently bins off by the skip and sell them to beekeepers. It'd reduce their waste, generate a modest profit from damaged goods as opposed to none and be good for their green credentials -lets face it there's nothing green about disposing of foil covered fibreglass. They could probably even come to a mutually beneficial arrangement with one of the larger beekeeping suppliers to cut and retail it. Perhaps someone at Kingspan will chance upon this post and run with it. :)