inner cover

[mat]

On the video clip "Management of Bee Colony's by Annual Rotation" in the other part of the forum they show hive management in Germany. As you may see they use translucent plastic foil insted of wooden inner cover. What is the explanation of that? Does anybody uses it?

[Jerrymac]

I think it has something to do with condensation.

[Barnabus]

Hi:
It has gotten hot here in S.C. to the point that my bees were bearding on the front on the hive. A local beekeeper showed me a screened inner cover such as the screened bottom board except it was all open and the top pf the frame had notches 2" on all 4 sides that allowed the air to flow out below the telescoping top. I built and replaced eplacet all my hives with that screened top board and haven't had any problems with bearding since. It seem there is more that enough air flow through the hive for ventilation.
Hope this helps
Barnabus

[drgenegarris]

Addressed at this link:

http://www.beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=3331

Good results so far!

[Jerrymac]

I think he wants to know why they use " translucent plastic foil insted of wooden inner cover"

[TwT]

not sure , but i think it has to do with the hive's they are useing , that styrofoam hive design has a lip that is higher than the edges of the hive for a tighter seal, see how the lid goes farther down than our wooden hives or our beemax hives (lids look to be about 6 inches on the sides), if you watch the film you can see what im talking about, looks like it would be hard to build a intercover for that design hive and leave some bee space under the intercover, all breaks down to the bees not being about to glue the top down. just my 2 cents.

[Michael Bush]

I haven't tried plastic, but I often use canvas.  The plastic would be easier to pull loose, I'm guessing.

[mat]

Sounds like good explanation. BTW does anybody know how their bottom bord is constructed? Looks like they have everything in there: feeder, varoa trap etc.