Purpose of inner cover?

[knpeterson]

I am curious what the real purpose of an inner cover is? I know in winter that is it to keep condensation from forming but what about summer? Do I have to keep one on in the summer?

[xC0000005]

Don't be alarmed. Many beekeepers are ignorant of the true purpose of the inner cover. My theory is that the inner cover was invented by someone who believed that beekeepers didn't have enough to argue about. Most people feel better with a nice blood feud or tribal or religous war to return to and for beekeepers, the inner cover is a convenient point upon which to converge. For those who do not use them they are the tool of satan, created to dupe new beekeepers into buying yet another piece of equipment and part of the great beekeeping conspiracy by publishers, equipment manufacturers and older beekeepers everywhere.

For the inner cover converts, the inner cover is a holy tool of salvation without which the hive is never set right. Without an inner cover the hive is doomed to destruction and only the return of properly slotted piece of luan with a rail can make all well.

The truth, as I see it:
It's a tool, like anything else. It's great if your bees have attitude - smoke those bees until they taste like jerkey before they can come pouring out at you. It's a handy way to give them a top entrance and an easy way to separate out a super you want them to abandon. It keeps telescoping covers from getting burred down (since those can be a pain to pry up). And at times it gets in the way, and I have a couple hives without one at all that do just fine. It costs more and isn't absolutely necessary.

So if you have an inner cover, and you want to use it, feel free.
If you have an inner cover and you do not want to use it, do not.
If you have no inner cover and you don't want one, let no one force one on your hive.
If you have no inner cover and you want one, they are easy to make.

Bees live in trees. In trunks. In lamp posts, chimneys and barrels, none of which have an inner cover. Then again my hive has movable frames and barrels, lamp posts and chimneys aren't known for those either.

The other subject like this is foundation. Foundation is like religion - I have just enough of both to trust the bees to do the rest.

[walking bird]

Good answer. I went to great lengths to outfit my first hives with all the recommended gear.

Then I bought a couple of hives from a commercial beek after the almonds, and the only tops are migratory tops (one is really just a plank of thick plywood). Both those hives are going gangbusters without inner covers or telescoping tops.

For me, that equates to less equipment to buy for future hives.

[BoBn]

A telescoping (outer cover) without an inner cover is not a good plan. The bees will propolize the top edge of the super and it can become very difficult to remove.

[beedeetee]

The bigger problem of a telescoping cover without an inner cover is when they run bridge comb from the top of the frames to the underside of the lid. They do this with migratory covers too sometimes. With the migratory covers you just run you hive tool under the cover and pry the frames down.

With a telescoping cover you can't do that. Quite a mess. I use the inner cover to support feeders, store stuff like shims, reducers, etc. and provide a more waterproof protection.

My nucs have migratory covers. I just need to make sure I have something on top for a while so that the cover doesn't blow off. It seems that they always warp just a little requiring the hive to post guard bees there to keep robbers away.

[dsquared]

Bobn hit the nail on the head. Prying off a telescoping cover propolized to the top bars and top of the hive body is a pain. If you are using telescoping covers, I'd suggest using an inner cover. Otherwise, use migratory covers.

[knpeterson]

X, I like the way you think! I have some inner covers but I am not using them right now. I wondered if my hives would just fall apart if I didn't use them. I may put them on in the winter. Right now they just kind of get in my way. Thanks for the advice.

[Adamd]

In England we call them a Crown Board. We like to do things differently over here!

[Eaglerock]

The inner cover helps me remove the lid. I can take the cover off and gently pry the inner cover off. The inner cover is great to use with a bee escape to remove bees from supers when harvesting or removing honey. I have had some hives with no inner cover and when they glue the lid down it just isn't as gentle and calm when getting into them.

[hilreal]

I normally prop the lid up for ventilation purposes, pretty much removing the sticking issue.

I run my hives with no inner covers without problems. Just something else to have to keep track of.

Tim Arheit at Honeyrun Apiaries does have a "ventilated inner cover" that I am going to try this year. Looks like a good idea.

[Eaglerock]

Tim Arheit at Honeyrun Apiaries does have a "ventilated inner cover" that I am going to try this year. Looks like a good idea.

Might be a good idea. I myself have never found the need to vent the top lid. Years ago I drilled a hole in the top super though.

[BoBn]

A small scale beekeeper can experiment with lots of different options.

Almost all of my inner covers are homemade out of scrap material. A piece of plywood (or luan) with a 3/8" X 3/4" frame on one side of it and a 2" hole cut in the center. The flat side goes over the top super and leaves a bee space of 3/8" over the tops of the frames. there is another bee space between the inner & outer cover. I keep the inner cover the same all year.
The 2" hole can be used for feeding or smoking as need be.

My outer covers are made with a sandwich of 2 pieces of plywood and a 1/2" piece of foam insulation in between. It works well for the bees that I keep.

[hoodswoods]

1. Allows something to quickly observe some bees (above hole) without suiting up
2. Something to place your gallon pail feeder on/above while keeping the inside bees confined
3. Something to allow bees access to your top box feeder while diminishing their ability to build comb up into the cavities from their frames below - not pleasent to deal with
4. Something to smoke under without dealing with the over-lapping frame cover or bee-crushing box
5. Not a hassle to deal with if you have one

I'm new this year, but since I bought it - I use it

[m.zook]

I use inner covers to splt colonies..the ant colonies live on top and the girls live down below

[BoBn]

True

I once had trouble separating the bottom 2 brood boxes on a hive. When I finally got them apart, I found the boards hollowed out by by a very active carpenter ant colony.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#innercover

"An inner cover was invented to create an air space to cut down on condensation on the cover. The original ones were made of cloth but over time the wooden ones took over. In the North the problem with winter is condensation and most of that is on the lid. The warm moist air from the cluster hits the cold lid, condenses and drips down on the cluster. An inner cover was designed to prevent this. Over the years, many other uses have been found for them. You can put an inverted jar over the hole to feed. You can put wet (just harvested and extracted) supers over them to get the bees to clean them up. You can put a porter bee escape in the hole to get the bees out of a super (I've never had much luck with this). You can double screen the hole and use it between a nuc above and a hive below in the spring or fall to help the nuc stay warm. (This has not worked well for me in the winter due to condensation). ?

[bejay]

I use inner covers to splt colonies..the ant colonies live on top and the girls live down below

thats what I end up using them for to keep hoping those ants will make some honey one day.