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If I am using a shimmed migratory top for an entrance do I still use the inner cover?
Top entrance
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I don't. I give them full access to the top of frames. Now I also make my own boxes and will cut out an extra three-eigths on the frame rests giving them bee space on top instead of underneath. Have had no burr comb from this as they use the tops of the frames as a walkway.
>If I am using a shimmed migratory top for an entrance do I still use the inner cover?
No.
http://bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#innercover
No.
http://bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#innercover
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Same setup for winter? Just close bottom screen and add styrofoam to the top?
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What about feeding? I know optimally it will be frames of honey but just starting a nuc or in emergencies do you use regular top feeders? It seems like a top enterance + a top feeder = robbing.
>Same setup for winter? Just close bottom screen and add styrofoam to the top?
It's nice to reduce the top entrance. I use a piece of screen molding that is 2" short of the width of the opening with one nail in the center to make a pivot. The Styrofoam is a good idea. I haven't done it for the last six years or so, mostly because most of that time I wasn't around, but also the price of Styrofoam has skyrocketed in recent times...
It's nice to reduce the top entrance. I use a piece of screen molding that is 2" short of the width of the opening with one nail in the center to make a pivot. The Styrofoam is a good idea. I haven't done it for the last six years or so, mostly because most of that time I wasn't around, but also the price of Styrofoam has skyrocketed in recent times...
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Well in my neck 'o the woods I can expect 2-3 weeks of 0 to -10 degree (or colder) temps, usually in February when we finally see the sun for the 1st time in months, so a frozen cluster is a concern.
>What about feeding? I know optimally it will be frames of honey but just starting a nuc or in emergencies do you use regular top feeders? It seems like a top enterance + a top feeder = robbing.
I use a bottom board feeder IF I feed, which I have not needed to do for the past six years...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#BottomBoardFeeder
and IF I don't just give them dry sugar, which is what I did the few years before that.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#drysugar
But I have contemplated drilling a hole the size of a mason jar and just putting an unpunched lid in the hole when not feeding, or a smaller hole for a 20 oz soda bottle, or an even smaller hole for a 1/4" tube soldered onto a jar lid which they should just propolized shut when not in use...
I use a bottom board feeder IF I feed, which I have not needed to do for the past six years...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#BottomBoardFeeder
and IF I don't just give them dry sugar, which is what I did the few years before that.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#drysugar
But I have contemplated drilling a hole the size of a mason jar and just putting an unpunched lid in the hole when not feeding, or a smaller hole for a 20 oz soda bottle, or an even smaller hole for a 1/4" tube soldered onto a jar lid which they should just propolized shut when not in use...
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But if you have no bottom board (#8 hardware cloth under a slatted rack) how do you use a bottom board feeder?
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