Warre Quilt contents?

So I am thinking about starting to use the Warre quilt idea on my hives. We are in a very cold area and need really good insulation while still maintaining control of condensation. I like the quilt idea for this.

I have seen different suggestions on how to put them together.

My question is about what to use inside the quilt? Most people talk about wood shavings. Makes sense. They will insulate by holding small pockets of air, while absorbing and releasing moisture... What about using wool?

Wool has the best heat retention to moisture absorption of almost anything in nature. Could I use wool?

I raise sheep so I have an endless supply of high quality wool. I'm imagining a box with a fine metal mesh bottom filled with wool and topped with another layer of mesh. Not sure how think the wool should be. An 8" layer of loose wool would be VERY warm.

What are the problems with this idea? Where am I going wrong? I am a newbie to bees so I need direction. I've only had a couple hives for the last 4 years and lost then twice during the winters.

wool should be just fine. the quilt can also act as a moisture buffer, reducing the amplitude of changes in humidity, so absorbing water could be advantageous in some conditions.

When I had bees, I used mosses and lichens in the quilt. That was an idea that I got from Jacqueline Freeman. It seems like wool would be much warmer though! And if the wool started collecting a lot of moisture, you could just bring it inside to dry out and then put it back in the quilt.

Jahnavi, you just got me thinking... What about a bag of wool that is the right size for the quilt box? You could switch out the wool any time you needed. Easy and fast. You could even do it right before winter and go into the cold with dry insulation.

I like that idea.

unfortunetly lots of things like to eat wool I use sawdust and leaves

David

Hi David,
do you actually loose bees due to cold in Anjou?

It depends ( crossed fingers )
Usually its a combination of factors late season cold spells combined with running out of stores is what does it . It does not get that cold here but its not florida
This year particularly has me worried as we have had very little snow or frost and the girls are out most days but there is little food I hope they have found some gorse

David