clearer board

[mark s]

evening all

in my quest for beekeeping knowledge im currently reading bees at the bottom of the garden by alan campion.
ive reached the section about puting in the clearing board to move the bees out of the supers ready for extraction,
question 1 is : do you just take all the supers off to insert the clearer board,is it that simple.
question 2 is : do you have to remove the qx or leave it in place
sorry if this is a dumb question

 

[BKF Admin]

You can replace the QE with the clearer board.

Does your crownboard have 2 holes in it for porter bee escapes ?
If It does then get 2 porter escapes and fit them to the crownboard below the supers.

 

[jezd]

or if its got one large hole use a Rhombus Bee Escape.

 

[Poly Hive]

There is a vital point being missed here. Where are all the bees to go?

If I am clearing off the rape I clear to a super.

When I am sure there is no danger of anything flowing then I clear to the Brood Box for winter.

PH

 

[jezd]

There is a vital point being missed here. Where are all the bees to go?

If I am clearing off the rape I clear to a super.

When I am sure there is no danger of anything flowing then I clear to the Brood Box for winter.

PH

as in when you clear dont simply reduce the space for the hive, you need to add a super when you start to clear?

 

[Poly Hive]

I add an empty super over the Qex yes.

PH

 

[VEG]

This is a question I have been wondering about as I have just started to super some of my hives. Glad you asked it.

 

[Poly Hive]

On the topic of...

Porter bee escapes are rubbish to be frank.

One good drone blocks them and if you forget to vassie them they jam.

Forget them.

Buy a good plastic escape and cut it into as many bits as you can that will function. I used to buy one that was meant for the midddle of the board and had 6 holes, so I cut it into 6.

Make board, make hole in oposite two corners and fix escape. I got three boards from one escape.

They work over night and the sups are ready to come off in the morning.

PH

 

[mark s]

thanx all

 

[OXFORDBEE]

I'm using Canadian clearer boards with good effect. I've had to leave them on for a couple of days (due to the weather) but the supers are still nearly empty of bees.

PolyHive is right, you must think about providing enough space for the bees to go down into. Providing a clustering space under the clearer board will help empty the supers of bees, especially when you've got a lot of supers on a stong stock.