Cone bee escape

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waggie

New Bee
Joined
Oct 1, 2011
Messages
1
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0
Location
Nottinghamshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
1
I am a bit confused. being unhappy with a flat roof for my national hive, I bought a gabled roof (flat pack) which came with a cone bee escape.
The bees are getting in and out of the bee escape!
I contacted where I bought the roof from and recieved this...

Cone escapes are primarily used in gabled roofs to allow bees to escape from the roof space or the cavity of a WBC hive if bees become trapped during inspections for instance.



From the roof space or cavity if the hive is assembled correctly there should not be access into the brood or supers.



The cone escape is not a one way escape like the Porter pattern and bees will find they can return as well as exit.

My hive is national - have they given me the wrong roof?

Any suggestions out there?
Waggs
 
My hive is national - have they given me the wrong roof?

Doubtful, if it fits. Another beekeeper awakened to the fact that the top of the hive is sealed by the crownboard and the roof is there to protect everything underneath it from the elements.
 
My WBCs have cone escapes.. bees do get into the space betwixt the floor, brood, supers and outer covers, the cones also provide some ventilation.
The flat roofs on my Nationals have ventilation slots with mesh affixed and bees could neither enter or exit through them.
I have some pitched National roofs with cone escapes.. they have mesh inside them and act as the vents on the flat roofed ones.

Even with insulation over the crown board / quilt, ventilation is necessary to stop mildew?

My suggestion would be to pin some mesh on the inside... obviously fitted to give that "Classic WBC Beehive " look !!

Point of interest... what do polystyreen hives have in way of roof ventilation... if any?
 
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I am a bit confused. being unhappy with a flat roof for my national hive, I bought a gabled roof (flat pack) which came with a cone bee escape.

Waggs

And even more unhappy when you realise you can't rest the supers hygienically and safely on the inverted roof and cover neatly with the crownboard whilst you check through the brood box(es)....
 
And even more unhappy when you realise you can't rest the supers hygienically and safely on the inverted roof and cover neatly with the crownboard whilst you check through the brood box(es)....

Aha ! the beauty of WBC outer covers!not worthy
 
My WBC bees use the cones to go in and out - but WASPS can't!!
Interesting, this - as I have seen wasps going in via the small round hole in the "apex" of the ventilation cone - so OH plugged it with a dowel
 
so OH plugged it with a dowel

The classic case of acting, not thinking first? Happens a lot.
 
so OH plugged it with a dowel

The classic case of acting, not thinking first? Happens a lot.

What prompted this comment RAB? If any of my hives had wasps getting in through any aperture, cone escape or knot hole, I would bung it up pronto.
 
What prompted this comment RAB?

The absolute simplicity of the situation. Wasps going in and out of a roof are NOTHING if they cannot access the colony. Simple. Non issue. The escapes have now been closed for any potentially escaping beesand/or the roof space (for a National roof, would likely now have no ventilation?).

Anyone thinking of the rammifications would surely understand that? As for those that advocate leaving the crown boards with a gaping hole - well they would deserve the consequences, when the solution to the problem is so simple.

Better get out there and fill all the knot holes in the garden fence if, a wasp could get through it (although I can't really see the reason for your comment). Again a simple think about it might reveal the futility of taking such inappropriate actions.

A case of 'curing the symptoms, not the disease' might be a good analogy.
 
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What prompted this comment RAB?

The absolute simplicity of the situation. Wasps going in and out of a roof are NOTHING if they cannot access the colony. Simple. Non issue. The escapes have now been closed for any potentially escaping beesand/or the roof space (for a National roof, would likely now have no ventilation?).

Anyone thinking of the rammifications would surely understand that? As for those that advocate leaving the crown boards with a gaping hole - well they would deserve the consequences, when the solution to the problem is so simple.

Better get out there and fill all the knot holes in the garden fence if, a wasp could get through it (although I can't really see the reason for your comment). Again a simple think about it might reveal the futility of taking such inappropriate actions.

A case of 'curing the symptoms, not the disease' might be a good analogy.

Um, hang on a minute...the whole cone isn't blocked, just the middle hole (2mm?) where I saw the wasp go in. The ventilation isn't compromised.

The wasps could get access to the colony - via the holes in the crownboard.
(The crownboard holes have a tile placed over them in winter).

Similarly, the bees could have escaped back down into the hive via the crownboard holes, if they'd needed to?

I don't understand your advice regarding the knot holes in the garden fence - I don't have a garden fence :confused:
 
I've found that my worker bees can squeeze out of the centre hole in the cone (and it is a squeeze) but then can't get back in through the same hole. Drones have tried but are too fat!

Nick
 
And I don't want wasps building a nest in my hive roofs, either
 
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