Greg,
I see that you made up your mind? That is good! One should listen, read and learn
and also know how to make ones own decisions.
Don't' forget! No insulation on the front of the hives, if they are facing the sun!
As it was already said here, such findings tend to work in areas where they are practiced and are not universal...
I insulated my hives for many years and when you run bees for profit, small things are not important, especially if they consume time or money - which is the same thing when you come to the bottom line...
With time I began asking myself: "Why were some winters, healthy, strong hives dying? They had plenty of food?
With time I had realized what was going on and the answer was simple, but sometimes hard to see.
The insulation has locked the hives in cold and they were not able to move. Most the time food was only inch or two away.
Of course, if one is lucky and blessed with a few sunny days now and again, than everything is well and nobody is the wiser.
Finsky's bees do well for 9 moths of winter and I am glad. But than only he knows how many make it and how many don't. And lets remind ourselves that he also uses heaters.
Our bees are in a cluster about 8 months, give or take a few days. I did some testing with heaters last winter - without the bees - cause they are 124 km away. I determined that that extra heat is just enough what keeps the area on centre from dripping? I also found, as he said, the sides and corners would be frosty and on warmer days - dripping. One big plus with heaters is that it keeps bottom board relatively dry. My observation was, that if heater wasn't on the bottom board - hive would be probably half full with ice.
This is like space exploration. Both, Ruskis and Americans are there, but we all know at what greater cost did one achieve the same over the other!
Regards,
Frank