Winter Insulation Calculated for Southwest Ohio
- Posted
DISCLAIMER: The blog below is generally created from the research listed in the “Referenced Material” section. This is not my research. All credit is given to these studies and researchers who are helping beekeepers better understand how we can improve our management practices.
You may already have seen a presentation by Etienne Tardif of North of 60 Beekeeping but if you haven’t I highly recommend you check out his website, watch a growing number of his YouTube presentations or if you are in his neck of woods (Yukon Territory, Canada) attend one of his classes. I feel he has done significant work with sensors in his hives helping the beekeeping community better understand what is really happening. His work along with Derek Mitchell’s research on hive thermal dynamics is changing how we understand the colony and especially issues such as insulation, ventilation, internal environment, and food consumption during the winter.
Below is the information generated by Mr. Tardif’s hive insulation calculator (link below) for Southwest Ohio based on 2025 weather data. Many thanks to Mr. Tardif for making this tool available to the beekeeping community.
Note: I highly recommend you complete this process with your PC. The data on the pages may not be displayed completely on a cellphone.
How I used it:
Step 1 – Download your local weather data from this site – https://meteostat.net/en/. I suggest you select the date range of 2025.
Step 2 – While on his Bee Weather App I entered the following and selected the CSV file format for download. The following table was generated and noted the CDD total that you will need in the next step.
Step 3 – I then entered the following information into his Bee Hive Insulation Calculator
- CCD generated – 1442 (Maineville, Ohio)
- 1 Layens Hive (equals 2 Deep Langstroth boxes)
- R-15 Lid Insulation (Wild Hives Layens Insulated Hive)
| Metric | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 |
| QColony HT Loss (W) | 167,377 | 84,913 | 57,426 | 43,682 | 35,435 | 29,938 | 26,011 | 23,066 | 20,775 | 18,943 |
| Energy (Calories) | 143,944 | 73,026 | 49,386 | 37,566 | 30,475 | 25,747 | 22,370 | 19,837 | 17,867 | 16,291 |
| Honey Consumption (lbs) | 104.2 | 52.8 | 35.7 | 27.2 | 22.1 | 18.6 | 16.2 | 14.4 | 12.9 | 11.8 |
| Metabolic Water (L) | 20.11 | 10.20 | 6.90 | 5.25 | 4.26 | 3.60 | 3.12 | 2.77 | 2.50 | 2.28 |
| % Reduction from R-1 | 0.0 | 49.3 | 65.7 | 73.9 | 78.8 | 82.1 | 84.5 | 86.2 | 87.6 | 88.7 |
| Diminishing Returns (%) | – | 49.3 | 16.4 | 8.2 | 4.9 | 3.3 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
Impact of Insulation
- QColony heat_loss = 1/R x A x (To-Ti) + Top Vent + Box Leakage + Lower Entrance
Main Assumptions: No top ventilation
- R-6 to R-8 Equivalent to typical polystyrene hive boxes
Results
It’s clear that the Layens fully insulated hive with an R-value of 8 for the sides and bottom and R15 in the lid significantly reduces the colonies heat loss, honey consumption, and metabolic water. If you are interested in learning more about this simple hive design with over 1 million used commercially in Spain (similar latitude to Ohio) visit our website, Wild Hives, and fill out a contact form. We would love to share how we fell in love with these amazing hives.
Referenced Materials