Clearer boards made cheap.

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Poly Hive

Queen Bee
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
14,093
Reaction score
393
Location
Scottish Borders
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
12 and 18 Nucs
Please see the pics of two of my clearer boards.

The white plastic has been cut in half, as it is in theory meant to be on the middle of a clearer board but I prefer the bees to exit via the corners which in my experience works more effectively.

The home made one is on the same principle and works just as well.

The batten for the home made one on which the mesh is mounted is stock from B&Q 10mm thick. The exit hole is 8mm. The arrival hole as it were on the top is 25mm.

The price for the whole unit is barely £3 or so.

I hope this give some inspiration.

PH
 
Nice piece of kit

How long do you leave the clearer board on and are there any bees left in in the supers when you take them off?
 
I put them on in the afternoon and the bees are clear by morning. Near always one or two left but that is pretty much always the way of it.

PH
 
Yes.

If not I would not make them having being doing this for a long time now it it don't work I dinna do it. :)

I have had the plastic ones kicking around for years to decided to get them into use and out of the way....lol

Plus it illustrates the point of making better usage of them than the makers intended.

PH
 
I think those rhombus type escapes are better than porters. Home made versions are even more to my liking.
 
The critical difference is no moving parts to get stuck down.

PH
 
Do you find the bees will come back up if they are left on for any amount of time? I try not to leave my rhombus ones on for to long just overnight normally, if I missed getting the super off when planned they start to move back up. Yours look great, will definitely try this.
 
Home made clearer board

Hello everyone, can you advise me please?

I want to make a clearer board by putting Ported bee escapes, which I already have, into a blank crown board for the dual purpose of clearing the bees from my full honey supers and also to provide access to feeders.
I see that suppliers have boards with one escape centrally placed and another about a quarter of the way across. What do you think is the best arrangement?, bearing in mind that I have:-
1. A full sized box feeder with access 11.5 cm in from each side - do I place the holes directly under the feeder access giving the bees quick and easy entry into the feeder?
2. Also a round feeder of just under 14" diameter with a central access hole - do I make a clearer board to the same pattern as the commercially available ones?

Thank you.

I am a new beekeeper and am sure to have more questions, but things are going very well so far and I am very happy with my bees.
bee-smillie
 
Hello everyone, can you advise me please?

I want to make a clearer board by putting Ported bee escapes, which I already have, into a blank crown board for the dual purpose of clearing the bees from my full honey supers and also to provide access to feeders.
I see that suppliers have boards with one escape centrally placed and another about a quarter of the way across. What do you think is the best arrangement?, bearing in mind that I have:-
1. A full sized box feeder with access 11.5 cm in from each side - do I place the holes directly under the feeder access giving the bees quick and easy entry into the feeder?
2. Also a round feeder of just under 14" diameter with a central access hole - do I make a clearer board to the same pattern as the commercially available ones?

Thank you.

I am a new beekeeper and am sure to have more questions, but things are going very well so far and I am very happy with my bees.
bee-smillie

Try this

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/natcrown.html

Standard holes which can be covered up (not with Porters) when not in use. Just use the Porters for clearing or they will get propolised up.
 
Want to have a go at making these, what size wood is the batten around the outside of the board and could you use 6mm ply? Where do you source your mesh from?
 
home made clearer

Please see the pics of two of my clearer boards.

The white plastic has been cut in half, as it is in theory meant to be on the middle of a clearer board but I prefer the bees to exit via the corners which in my experience works more effectively.

The home made one is on the same principle and works just as well.

The batten for the home made one on which the mesh is mounted is stock from B&Q 10mm thick. The exit hole is 8mm. The arrival hole as it were on the top is 25mm.

The price for the whole unit is barely £3 or so.

I hope this give some inspiration.

PH

what size is the batten around the outside edge ?
 
Do you find the bees will come back up if they are left on for any amount of time?

Due to circumstances changing, I ended up leaving a board just like this on for a good 48 hrs and there were still only 2 or 3 bees in the super.
 
bob bee - standard 21mm stripwood - you'll find it in the horizontal mouldings rack in DIY stores NOT the upright planed timber section.
 
Last edited:
bob bee - standard 21mm stripwood - you'll find it in the horizontal mouldings rack in DIY stores NOT the upright planed timber section.

Aha
thanks.
 
Alternatively use 18mm x 95mm and after cutting to approx (longer) length, you will find a convenient width hiding in your bandsaw just waiting to be ripped down to size.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top