Early Cold Snap, Seeking Sunlight, A Quilted Top Cover.

I've had my 8 frame nuc at my parents' place for a week now and the cool weather has hot with vengeance: the coldest May maximum temp for decades. The snow fields received a drop of 50cm of snow, five weeks before the start of the season.
I checked my baby hive through the week and it was very busy with bees added lots of sealed honey. In fact it was too busy to lift a frame without upsetting them. They're a lively enough bunch anyhow.
But it was concerning to see them not working this afternoon, knowing they were in "heat generation mode" and using up honey stores already, before winter is officially underway.
I also noticed that the sun goes of the hive in the early afternoon. So, I now want to move them out of the shade about 2 minutes and add a quilted cover. This is just a standard lid, hessian tracked across it's bottom and filled with wood shavings. This adds insulation and absorbs moisture which is manufactured by the bees heating the hive in cold conditions. Moisture is destructive to honey stores and the structure of the hive.

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More Spring Bee Lessons

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Novice Beekeeper

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