telescoping covers without inners?

[justgojumpit]

is there a problem with using telescoping covers without inner covers? I am guessing that the bees would propolize the cover to the top of the box it is resting on. What if I were to put a 3/8 inch piece of wood across each corner. then they would have a top entrance all around the hive, and there would not be too much surface area to propolize. Then in theory I could just lightly knock upwards on the corners of the cover with a hammer to loosen the connections. Or perhaps I can rub vaseline on the inner edges of the cover so propolis won't stick to it? I know people use migratory covers without inner covers, so i am guessing that the inner cover is not all too essential.

Thanks,
justgojumpit

[BULLSEYE BILL]

On a migratory cover you need to wiggle your hive tool in the side to seperate the frames from the cover before lifting or you will lift the frames out. I really upset a lot of bees when I do this, so I tend not to use them.

I was short an inner cover once and put a tel cover on for the week without it. Bad idea during the flow, I nearly ruined the cover trying to get it off, and talk about upsetting the bees. Glad I was armored up.

I suppose if you had spacers to raise the lid it would be ok for a while if you removed it on a regular basis and scraped the wax off.

I have noticed that a wider space the bees use wax to fill and seal and is much easier to pry apart. A smaller gap and they use propolis and is much harder to seperate.

[jfischer]

> I have noticed that a wider space the bees
> use wax to fill and seal and is much easier
> to pry apart. A smaller gap and they use
> propolis and is much harder to seperate.

The critical thing is "can a bee fit its
head into the space". This is (apparently)
the trigger to decide between wax and propolis.

If your outer cover is "stuck", a single
sharp upwards blow with a hammer at one
corner usually does the trick. Sends the
cover flying off sometimes, but the bees
are less disturbed by one solid "thwack"
than a serious of less abrupt attempts.

Migratory covers tend to be less problem
overall, but I wonder if anyone has ever
compared the two set-ups with any eye
towards impact on production. Idle bees
hand out on top of the inner cover, and
with a migratory, where do they lounge?
Do they get in the way of work? I have
a random mix of both types, and I don't
see any difference from hive records that
jumps out at me, but it would be hard to
see a mere 10% advantage.

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Michael Bush]

I'm with Bill. When I've done it, the problem is breaking the migratory cover loose. But I actually like to do this once for each cover, so that there's a bit of propolis on it to stick it a little bit to the inner cover. But not too much. It helps keep the lid from blowing off.