We got this question last week from someone researching hives while looking for an apiary mentor for the 2026 season:
"I'm curious how you are obtaining an R-50 insulation value with 30mm of EPS insulation when standard EPS has a much lower R-value per inch in most applications. Do you use an air gap in the EPS insulation or how is the performance obtained? Heat transfer is heat transfer."
It's a great question. The kind that makes us realize we need to do a better job explaining how Primal Bee hives actually work.
Thermal efficiency is all that matters in a beehive
Before we dive into the numbers, let's talk about why any of this insulation stuff matters for your bees.
More thermal insulation means less work for your bees. Less work means they need less food (honey). Better energy balance means better bee biology—stronger immune systems, healthier brood, better populated colonies.
The basic principle: when your hive holds heat efficiently, your bees can dedicate their energy to thriving instead of just surviving.
One standard approach to improving thermal efficiency is increasing wall insulation—basically, boosting the R-value. That's what most "insulated hives" do. They add some foam to the walls and call it done.
But Primal Bee takes a different approach. We use special features that work together as a system, based on physical principles like thermo-fluid dynamics and coupled heat exchange. Instead of just making walls thicker, we're addressing how heat actually moves through a hive—reducing thermal dissipation through smart configuration and hive design (shape and materials).
For example: to reduce thermal losses to the frozen soil below, Primal Bee detaches the nest chamber from the ground using a 90mm air cushion layer, then adds an insulated waterproof bottom board. Compare that to standard hives where the nest frames sit just 10mm above a cold, non-insulated bottom board in direct contact with the ground.
First things first: we don't use 30mm of insulation
Not sure where this 30mm thing started, but let's clear it up.
When you actually look at a Primal Bee hive, here's what you see:
The top cover system:
- 70mm of EPS foam
- Then a 175mm air chamber
- Then another 70mm of EPS foam
- That's 315mm total of insulation system up top
The walls:
- Side walls: 65mm of EPS
- Front wall: varies from 84mm to 127mm depending on where you measure
The bottom:
- 110mm bottom board design
- Plus a 106mm air chamber underneath the nest —this is the air bubble trapped between the varroa tray/bottom board and the bottom of the frames. This air space acts as thermal insulation separating the nest from the cold ground.
R-value isn't as simple as it's cut out to be
Here's where it gets interesting, and honestly, where we had to do a lot of learning ourselves.
You know how when you're insulating your house, you can basically multiply wall thickness by the R-value per inch and get your answer?
That works great for houses. But it turns out bee colonies are more complicated.
Inside your hive, heat isn't just moving through the walls by conduction. You've also got:
- Air moving around from bee activity
- Temperature differences between the warm brood nest and cooler outer parts of the hive
- The shape and size of the space affecting how heat flows
- Moisture moving around
This is what our engineer (Gianmario, who designed Primal Bee through years of lab and field testing) calls "combined conductive-convective coupled heat exchange." Fancy term for "heat moves in complicated ways that simple math doesn't capture."
Another feature that slows down thermal dissipation: Primal Bee's vertical nest design. The enhanced, reduced vertical cross-section creates what we call a "shape factor" that saves energy just from geometry—less surface area means less heat loss.
The question that actually matters isn't just "what's the R-value of your walls?" It's "how much energy do your bees have to burn to keep the brood nest at the right temperature?"
Comparing a Primal Bee hive to a Langstroth
So when we measured and tested the Primal Bee system (this is all documented in the patent if you want to dive deeper), we found variability in R-value across different parts.
The top cover sandwich: R-140 Why so high? Because we've got those two layers of foam with a big air gap in between. This is where most heat wants to escape (hot air rises), so this is where we focused the most attention.
The nest walls: R-25 The variable thickness helps here—thicker insulation where the bees tend to cluster and generate the most heat.
The bottom board system: R-75 Most hives have basically nothing on the bottom—the nest sits just 10mm above a thin, uninsulated board in direct contact with cold ground. We added a 110mm insulated bottom board plus a 106mm air chamber (that air bubble between the varroa tray and the bottom of the frames). This air cushion separates the nest from frozen or cold soil, dramatically reducing heat loss to the ground.
Average across the whole hive: R-50
Compare that to a standard insulated hive you might see marketed:
- Top: R-7
- Walls: R-7
- Bottom: R-4
- Average: R-7
What actually matters: how much honey your bees burn
But here's what we really care about—and what you should care about too.
It's not just about R-values. It's about actual energy efficiency. How much honey do your bees have to eat just to stay warm?
When we tested this (using thermal dissipation equations in the patent), here's what we found:
A standard insulated hive is about 1.3 times more energy-efficient than a regular wooden hive. That's where you get the "30% better" claims you see in marketing.
Primal Bee tested at 10 times more energy-efficient than a standard wooden hive. That's 1,000% better—or ten times the efficiency. (We specify this because saying "10 times" and "1,000% more" can be confusing—they mean the same thing, but percentages make the improvement clearer for some people.)
Think about that for a second. The amount of honey it takes to keep one regular hive warm could keep 10 Primal Bee nests at the right temperature.
Why thermal efficiency matters for beekeeping
Your bees need to keep the brood nest at 33-36°C (91-97°F). Non-negotiable. They do this by burning honey to generate heat.
Every bit of honey they burn for heating is honey they can't use for:
- Fighting varroa mites or pathogens
- Building up their immune system
- Growing the population
- Making surplus honey
- Dealing with pesticides and other stressors
- Protecting brood from diseases—brood diseases are dramatically affected by temperature control, so stable temperatures mean healthier development
When a hive is 10 times more energy-efficient, your colony has way more resources available for all the things that actually determine whether they thrive or just survive.
That's the real difference. Not just "it's warmer" but "your bees have energy to spare for everything else."
Why "heat transfer" isn't exactly right
That phrase from the original question—"heat transfer is heat transfer"—is spot on.
Physics is physics. Heat moves according to the same rules whether we like it or not.
That's exactly why we needed to actually engineer a solution based on how heat really moves, not just add foam and hope for the best.
The multi-layer assemblies, the air chambers, the strategic positioning—all of that comes from trying to work with the actual physics of how heat transfers in a bee colony.
Why Multiple Features Matter
There's no single "trick" that makes this work. It's a bunch of things working together:
The thick top assembly (315mm total) where heat loss is naturally highest
Variable wall thickness (84-127mm) with more insulation where we measured the most heat
Actual bottom insulation —that 110mm insulated board plus 106mm air cushion separating the nest from cold ground. Most hives have zero bottom insulation.
The shape of the nest cavity itself saves 25-40% energy just from geometry—less surface area exposed to temperature differences
It's like... imagine trying to heat a room. You could add insulation to one wall, and that helps. But if you insulate the ceiling too (where heat rises), and the floor (where cold comes up), and pay attention to the shape of the room, you get way better results than just adding thickness to one wall.
The Bottom Line
When someone asks "how do you get R-50 with 30mm of insulation," it usually means they're thinking about one layer of foam and simple multiplication.
But Primal Bee uses:
- Multiple layers with air gaps in between
- Different thicknesses in different places based on where heat actually concentrates
- Bottom insulation that most hives don't have at all
- A shape that reduces heat loss just from geometry
The measurements are in the patent (certified for Western countries) if you want to dig into the methodology.
We're not claiming magic. We're saying we spent a lot of time figuring out how heat actually moves in bee colonies, and designed a system to work with that reality.
Does it take more material? Yes. Does it cost more to make? Also yes. But when you're trying to help colonies survive increasingly challenging conditions, thermal efficiency matters.
Hope that clears up the confusion. And thanks for asking—it's a good question that helps us explain our approach better.
