Should I ventilate the crown board.

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

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

MerryBee

House Bee
Joined
Jun 14, 2014
Messages
242
Reaction score
52
Location
Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
8
Here in the south my bees are really piling in the nectar. There is OSR only 400 metres from the hive. Today I put a 3rd super on the hive. Last week I added the second super of foundation, after a week they have drawn 9 of the 11 frames and they are filled with uncapped honey. The first super is partially capped.
My hive has a OMF and a polycarbonate crown board with the feed hole covered with a block of wood.

So my question is: should I ventilate the crown board , by replacing the block of wood with a porter bee escape.?

Will this assist the bees in ripening the honey. Obviously I want the honey capped by the time the OSR ends (3 or 4 weeks?). Or will it just make the hive drafty?
 
In a nutcase (and a few will probably pipe up later) No - there is no need for 'ventilation' in a hive with OMF - all you are doing is turning the hive into a cooling tower - the bees will sort out ventilation themselves.
Crownboard should have no holes in and never propped open with a couple of matchsticks.
as for replacing the block of wood with a porter escape - the only time a porter escape should be in a crown board is if you are clearing bees out of the supers - the bees will only clart the whole thing up with propolis which will make the escapes even more useless than they are when clean and well maintained (ditch them and make a rhombus clearer board :D)
 
I leave the holes open all the year round and without insulation. Never any probs. Your choice which way you go - no set rule.
 
Okay I'll pipe up.....and say there is no need for ventilation with an OMF. In fact I'd even go so far as to say a bit of insulation on top is not a bad idea either.
Some good keepers I know say there is no need for an OMF.....it's too drafty. Not totally sure I go along with this come summer, but winter......
Got me thinking, given this god awful spring, whether to change some OMF floors over to solids on my wooden hives...at least for a few weeks.
 
Thanks JBM. The only reason I have porter escapes is that they were supplied with a new crownboard. I know they are useless at clearing and I am in the process of assembling what I need to make a rhombus clearer board.
 
Here in the south my bees are really piling in the nectar. There is OSR only 400 metres from the hive. Today I put a 3rd super on the hive. Last week I added the second super of foundation, after a week they have drawn 9 of the 11 frames and they are filled with uncapped honey. The first super is partially capped.
My hive has a OMF and a polycarbonate crown board with the feed hole covered with a block of wood.

So my question is: should I ventilate the crown board , by replacing the block of wood with a porter bee escape.?
No
Will this assist the bees in ripening the honey.
No ripening requires energy so don't throw energy away add insulation to assist ripening
Obviously I want the honey capped by the time the OSR ends (3 or 4 weeks?).
Or will it just make the hive drafty?
Yes - Google stacking effect
 
Last edited:
I leave the holes open all the year round and without insulation. Never any probs. Your choice which way you go - no set rule.

I'd agree that you get few problems, but do you get to see the full potential of a colony by allowing the bees to live in a chimney of upward cold air movement?
Maintaining heat requires energy.
 
I leave the holes open all the year round and without insulation. Never any probs. Your choice which way you go - no set rule.

If you leave the holes open, dont the bees go up in the "roof space" and build wild comb?
 
.
Do not leave to to open. Even in hot weather 30C it makes chimney effect and hive temp is out of control. At night brood box will be cold. Yes I know that very well. I have upper entrances in every box in 6-8 boxe hives.

Brittish weather is guite cold in these days. Bees however ventilate off nectar moisture even if it would be zero temperature outside.
 
.
Yes I know that very well. I have upper entrances in every box in 6-8 boxe hives.

Is that a second entrance Finman? And is it directly into the supers?

I've thought about doing this on some of my large hives; but until your post had not come across anyone who has. I presume it saves the foragers/or receivers from having to traipse up and down through the brood boxes.
 
Obviously I want the honey capped by the time the OSR ends (3 or 4 weeks?).

changing the advice to a question, I was lead to believe that with OSR you removed it before it was capped otherwise it sets like stone
 
Some it seems still like to vent the crownboard by placing a matchstick under each corner of the crownboard to provide a bit of ventilation... but it appears this advice was given back in the last century when many beekeepers used WBC hives with solid floors.

Yeghes da
 
the first time the SBI looked at my hives she removed the wood blocking the feed holes in the crown board, the last time she came to inspect i either had (on purpose) solid crown boards or on those with porter slots I had screwed the blocking wood to the crown board :biggrinjester:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top