Insulated hive or not

[jhall]

West Texas the temps get up to 120. mild winters.  i have standard hive bodys with 11/2 vent holes.  i wonder if an insulated hive with vent holes would keep them cooler or just make them hotter..  Thoughts?

[vadentwin]

Here in Florida I use screen bottoms and they seem to be able to regulate the temps better. Before I used screen bottoms they would beard up on the fronts in the heat of the day. I leave the screen bottoms year round and they do fine in our mild winters.

[Dirt Rooster]

More insulation is better summer or winter in my opinion.  It makes the hive temperatures easier to regulate.  Inside temperatures aren't so quickly affected by outside fluctuations.  I recently started making my top covers double thick to help make a more manageable situation for the bees.  Especially the ones in full sun seem to do better with them.  If it were feasible I wouldn't mind having all my hive boxes made out of 2X material.

[OkieRob]

More insulation is better summer or winter in my opinion.  It makes the hive temperatures easier to regulate.  Inside temperatures aren't so quickly affected by outside fluctuations.  I recently started making my top covers double thick to help make a more manageable situation for the bees.  Especially the ones in full sun seem to do better with them.  If it were feasible I wouldn't mind having all my hive boxes made out of 2X material.

Bring a saw mill and I'll let you slab up some red cedar as thick as you want.

[Dirt Rooster]

I'll be over your way in a week and a half, not for the wood though.  Riding to California with Travis at Bee Wise LLC out of Duncan, OK to work bees on almonds.  Funny, as I type this I'm eating Jordan almonds.