clear crownboards

[Madge]

My experience was that any 'props' simply acted as a starting point for propolisation.
Have you found a way of preventing that, or just accepted it?

The sticks are often propolised onto the top bars, Itma, but it's really not a problem. I can't remember that they've ever propolised the sticks to the plastic sheet. Their preferred spot for propolising remains the area where the frame lugs meet the box walls (and that was the case even for my super-active propolising hives).

Rather than using lose sticks, for some boards I created little feet by sticking small pieces of 6mm rubber around the hole on the crown board. That worked well. They've not propolised it. I used Sugru, but that's a bit too expensive to use for lots of boards.
Kitta

 

[itma]

Aaaah, Sugru, the manual alternative to 3-D printing!

 

[Madge]

Aaaah, Sugru, the manual alternative to 3-D printing!

I like that idea. Yes - so many possibilities ...

 

[user 6228]

Just add a few spacer sticks underneath near the hole to prevent sagging.

glue/fasten strips of matieral (polycarb, wood) to the top side. this will stiffen the sheets

 

[itma]

glue/fasten strips of matieral (polycarb, wood) to the top side. this will stiffen the sheets

Increasing the z-section would indeed stiffen the sheet, but would get in the way of the feeder!
Really, the simple thing to do is to have no-hole clear boards for use most of the time, and cheap ply boards with hole(s) for the brief periods of feeding and clearing.

 

[drstitson]

as above - crown boards should be just that. feeder/clearer (with holes) are not the same thing.

 

[pargyle]

as above - crown boards should be just that. feeder/clearer (with holes) are not the same thing.

Feeder boards with holes can have the holes sealed for winter (as mine do ... with the circle of poycarbonate that I cut out re-used by gluing it to a larger square of polycarbonate and then used to fill the hole for the feeder when the feeder was taken away. Bees soon sealed what little gap there was with propolis.

I like things that serve two purposes.

I did the same with the previous plywood ones I had in use.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

as above - crown boards should be just that. feeder/clearer (with holes) are not the same thing.

Nothing wrong with using one board for two or more purposes. Simply covering the hole achieves the desired result and saves having shedfulls of different boards

 

[BeeJayBee]

Nothing wrong with using one board for two or more purposes. Simply covering the hole achieves the desired result and saves having shedfulls of different boards

Acrylic boards aren't cheap. It seems daft to always have a duplicate set of flat pieces of acrylic in the shed when the hole in a feeder board can easily be covered ... and the money could be used for something else.

 

[itma]

No, you don't need to have clear feeder/clearer boards - so they can be cheap home-made plywood items.
Unless you find a special local deal on polycarbonate, there's not much saving on DIY for clear crownboards.

Personally, I don't find the cost of the second dedicated plywood board to be prohibitive, nor do I find that they take much storage space.

Initially, I got clear boards with a hole and then covered the hole, allowing the bees to prop and wax around it.
I now have a better solution. No-hole clear boards for most of the year.

I'm trying a 'conversion' of a board with hole, plugging the hole with a silicone-sealant-filled Porter escape. We'll see what that provokes from the bees!

 

[Madge]

No, you don't need to have clear feeder/clearer boards - so they can be cheap home-made plywood items.
...

You don't need clear feeder boards, but they are a huge help particularly in the winter. You can lift the roof and insulation and see how they're doing, where they're clustering, and whether the candy is above their heads without letting in cold air. Clear board are less important in the summer. Kitta

 

[fatshark]

Here's mine … 4mm Perspex, 6mm rim on one side, 50mm eke built in on top with a block of Kingspan that is cut to fit. When you want to add fondant/Apiguard simply remove the Kingspan and invert. With an additional 50mm eke underneath one of these (inverted) you can fit 12.5kg of fondant. No feed hole, no condensation.

4mm Perspex from my local DIY place is £38 for 6'x3', enough for 8 roofs. I cut it by scoring and snapping, rather than with a saw.

 

[pargyle]

Here's mine … 4mm Perspex, 6mm rim on one side, 50mm eke built in on top with a block of Kingspan that is cut to fit. When you want to add fondant/Apiguard simply remove the Kingspan and invert. With an additional 50mm eke underneath one of these (inverted) you can fit 12.5kg of fondant. No feed hole, no condensation.

4mm Perspex from my local DIY place is £38 for 6'x3', enough for 8 roofs. I cut it by scoring and snapping, rather than with a saw.

Nice job ....

 

[Gilberdyke John]

You don't need clear feeder boards, but they are a huge help particularly in the winter. You can lift the roof and insulation and see how they're doing, where they're clustering, and whether the candy is above their heads without letting in cold air. Clear board are less important in the summer. Kitta

Given the price of perspex from economic sources I fail to see the logic of promoting "working blind" with wooden crown boards. Cleaning the perspex occasionally with a soft cloth, patience and surgical spirit deals with propolis very effectively. Having clear boards also enables a quick glance into the hive by lifting the roof sans bee-suit and without disturbing the bees at any time of year.

 

[beesknee]

glass crownboard

I understood that there was more condensation with glass crownboards, causing damp for the bees... is this a myth?

Hi Heather no it is not a myth, I use glass crownboards,have done for years,provided you insulate them in winter they are fine, but if not they do get condensation under them, this is because the under side is warm and the top (outside) is cold just like the single glazed house window.

 

[pargyle]

Hi Heather no it is not a myth, I use glass crownboards,have done for years,provided you insulate them in winter they are fine, but if not they do get condensation under them, this is because the under side is warm and the top (outside) is cold just like the single glazed house window.

All the more reason for polycarbonate ... mine are 6mm and I think they actually aid the insulation ... I even taped round the edge when I got them ready for winter so they are sealed in completely at the top of the hive (mesh floor of course).

 

[itma]

You don't need clear feeder boards, but they are a huge help particularly in the winter. You can lift the roof and insulation and see how they're doing, where they're clustering, and whether the candy is above their heads without letting in cold air. Clear board are less important in the summer. Kitta

By 'feeder board' I meant a board with a hole for a rapid (or whatever) feeder.

I absolutely agree that a see-through cover board is great for checking fondant without actually opening the hive.

// sent from someone else's iPad

 

[Madge]

By 'feeder board' I meant a board with a hole for a rapid (or whatever) feeder

Yes I know, Itma - that's what I use over winter: clear feeder boards with about five holes each but four covered up and only the one above the cluster used for feeding candy.

 

[itma]

Where we are differing begins with the way we feed fondant.
To get it closest to clustered bees, I put it under a clear no-hole crownboard (with an eke if large pieces are being given).
My boards with holes are for syrup feeding (and clearing).

There is no one true way!

 

[bellsbees]

I double crownboard my hives. First crownboard is wooden with 2 holes, then an eke, then polycarbonate crownboard, with one hole. Any condensation is caught between the two crownboards. Eke is where I put fondant, I can then just lift roof look through polycarbonate crownboard and check my bees have fondant. If you ever unsure that your bees are alive and have open mess floors just stick the varroa boards in and you will see bees drop wax and sugar crystals below the bee cluster.