slatted rack

[BearNBee]

I run a 2 deep hive with a screened bottom board with a slatted rack on top of that. I need to purchase another hive. Are a lot of you, that use the same set up as mine, using the slatted racks?

[NasalSponge]

I will be trying them out this year on two hives to see if it will be worth the extra money and time.

[Charlotte]

That is the same set up I use, except I run all mediums. I have always used the slatted rack. I think it helps prevent bearding in the summer, & buys you some time if you have a hive that wants to swarm because they have a little more space to cluster. I also am planning on doing some cut comb honey & I have read that it's recommended since you have to keep the hive alittle more crowded for that type of production.

[BeeAware]

When I first started, I used slatted racks on the hives. I still use the ones that I originally purchased and I agree with Charlotte's comments. However, once I got past a couple dozen hives, I decided the extra expense wasn't justified.

[Natalie]

I use them on all of my hives. I am not sure what the poster means by extra time though.
I am confused by the cut comb honey post.
I have heard that you need to crowd bees into the supers if you are using comb sections but not if you are doing cut comb.
I do cutcomb and its no different than if I was extracting the honey, I just pull the frame and cut it.
If it did require the hive to be more crowded then you would want to remove the slatted racks not leave them on since the racks give the bees more space to cluster not less.

[KQ6AR]

I have the slatted racks from better bee, the slats run the same direction as the frames. That helps the mites fall through the screen.
Don't know if they help or not, but only have 2 hives.