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It's a hand hole, isn't it?

16K views 53 replies 29 participants last post by  melliferal 
#1 ·
That oblong hole found in the middle of inner covers, it's called a hand hole, isn't it? That's what I was instructed to call it.

What do you call it? If anything. What do you use it for? I think that it is a pretty standard size so a bee escape will fit into it. Three or four fingers will fit into it too.

Thanks,
MarkB
 
#5 ·
Thanks Birdman. Don't drink coffee and it's an hour later here and this was brought up yesterday in another Thread and I wanted other points of view.

We could be talking about something that really matters I guess.
 
#6 ·
#29 ·
But was the escape made to fit the hole or was the hole made to fit the escape? The shape would be a simple one to make with common tools. drill two holes of proper diameter and then cut a straight line from one hole to the next. It does not make nearly as much since to design an escape to such a shape. For this reason I suspect the hole was already present and the escape was designed to fit it.
 
#9 ·
you know.....I never thought about it.....and really don't know what the original ones had the hole in them for. I actually make all my own equipment and every inner cover I make has the hole in it.....and I really don't know why, because I do not feed through the hole, but I do place wet supers above the inner cover with the hole for cleaning.

And I do agree, it sure looks perfect to put your hand in, but I have never put my hand through the hole to lift it or place it back on the hive. I think it helps with ventilation, and I always blow a puff or smoke in it when going in the hives. But I really have no idea why I put the hole in the covers when I make them.
 
#17 ·
I call it the inner cover hole or top vent or top entrance.

My strong hives seal em up eventually since I have kelley plastic covers that allow bee space. Wooden top covers essentially seal to the inner cover, so not much of a point for a hole. I don't think the top hole is neccessary with SBB. Maybe except in a strong flow or on very hot days.
 
#21 ·
It is a hand hole, you flip the hive over on its side and use the hand hole for a grip when you move the hive from place to place. If you assembled the hive correctly, there is another hand hole on the bottom for the other hand. Lay the hive on the side and see if it is there.

The cutouts on the sides of the boxes are only for when you are moving individual boxes.
 
#23 ·
Some times a question is just a question. Stop reading into my question things that aren't there.

I'm saying I don't know when inner covers came into being and asking for information. Where would I look that sort of thing up?
 
#24 ·
There are many kinds of holes I don't put my hand into and a 'bee escape hole' is one of them. I don't wear gloves.
 
#27 ·
Could be. But if u would go back and look, you will notice my first response to his question was a search for more info from him. Though I participated, I was not the one to start it down the Off Topic path.

So, no one knows when inner covers came into fashion and whether they had holes in them from the beginning?
 
#30 ·
So, no one knows when inner covers came into fashion and whether they had holes in them from the beginning?
In "A Practical Treatise on the Hive and Honey-bee" (1857) Langstroth describes feeding through holes of a "honey-board" which is above the bees/frames and under the surrounding box:

"If the weather is cool when bees are fed, it will generally be necessary to resort to top feeding. For this, my hive is admirably adapted: a feeder may be put over one of the holes in the honey-board directly over the mass of the bees, into which the heat of the hive naturally arises, and where the bees can get at their food without any risk of being chilled."

Langstroth also mentioned setting up spare honey-boards with straw and reversing them for winter:

"The upper * surface of the spare honeyboard, may be fixed in the same way, and reversed in Winter, so as to present the straw side to the bees. When the bees are put into Winter quarters, most of the holes in this board, may, in hives thus thoroughly protected, be left open, and when it is covered loosely,with straw, all excess of dampness in the main hive, will pass off into the top cover, from which it cannot possibly return, to annoy the bees. As soon as the bees begin to fly out, in the Spring, these holes should be carefully closed. If the spare honey-board is not covered with matting, it may have, for Winter use, the space between the clamps filled with straw, battened down, and may then be reversed and set on the hive."


Here is a link to images:

http://books.google.com/books?id=hL...put=html_text&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=4


So here's an early example of someone, Langstroth no less, feeding through holes of a board that is inside the hive...
 
#35 ·
It would seem odd, to me, that the hole size and shape be standardized unless it was meant to be adapted to a very specific tool, such as the porter bee escape. If there wasn't anything of any specific size to insert in that hole, then there would not be much reason to standardize the size, and every supplier would drill whatever hole is easiest or most convenient for them to drill. There might have been a hole in the inner cover before this bee escape, this would not surprise me, but I'd be surprised if the size was already standardized and that the porter bee escape was made to accommodate it.
 
#37 ·
The honey-board was an early name for an early form of queen excluder. They were not speaking of the inner cover.

The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture, in the section describing hives, states the standard inner cover usually comes with a center hole in which to fit a bee escape.
 
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