Just wanted to provide you’ll a visual of two forms of how I protect my hives from the elements during the cold and wet season.
This first colony, yes, still 5 mediums tall with a full load of honey, is insulated with a few pieces of plywood on top. Then I use a larger piece of plywood, add roofing material, and some bricks on top to hold everything down. I could nail the tar paper onto the plywood but why, this method makes it easier to break apart and store when I don’t need it anymore. The plywood leaning against the hive, well, that was for the Summer. I need to remove it. 🙂
Here is a photo of two hives with also plywood insulation on top and a corrugated roof to keep the rain and frost off of the hives.
Both methods of providing some protection to help the colonies through the Winter is simple and effective.
I can see that you have entrance reducers on hives in both pictures. Do you use them year round or just winter? When should they be installed and removed?