Another newbee question

[_Brenda_]

Hi all.  :)
I have my hive built, painted and ready for my package bees.
I've been reading some good books about beekeeping, and keep reading about "migratory covers", but I haven't seen one or found out when or why they would be used.  :?

[Pond Creek Farm]

They are designed so that several hives can be stacked close together on a pallat for easy loading with a fork lift. With a regular top cover, there were be about a three inch gap between the hives as they sit on a pallat. Unless you are planning to stack several hives and move them around from field to field, you will not need one.

[_Brenda_]

Thank you, Brian.
I won't need one, then.

[rast]

 I had one laying here, so I threw it on an empty hive for you. Hive body would have recessd side handles or 3/4 X 1" front and rear handles right under the front and rear overhang on it if migratory.

[rast]

[Kathyp]

i use them.  they cost less.  i buy them pre-cut and put them together myself.

[Ross]

I wouldn't buy anything else.  Full tops and inner covers are wasted money around here.  I make 14 tops out of one sheet of 3/4 plywood, less than $2 each.  The bees don't know the difference.  Many northern beekeepers are using the also. 

[rdy-b]

THE only time the bees will know the difference is in snow country -your best bet is the telescopic hive cover -so it seals against the cold wind and snow drifts that could pile next to your colony -where i live we run all migratory tops as we dont need the extra piece of equipment from the necessary inner cover -that is a must with telescopic tops -RDY-B

[Michael Bush]

IMO a migratory cover with some kind of top entrance (a notch etc.) and some styrofoam on top is just as good as an inner and outer cover.

There are all some kind of migratory cover with a top entrance:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopentrance.htm

[_Brenda_]

Cheaper sounds better, but we can have some wicked winters here.
Thanks everyone. They will be something to keep in mind if I expand much.

[Brian D. Bray]

Another way to make a top is just to turn your old solid bottom boards upside down and put it on top the hive.  Top entrance, ventilation, and migratory top all in 1.

[Pond Creek Farm]

Brian:  Do you leave the existing bottom entrance through the SBB open as well?  I have several solid bottom boards that I never use, and if they could be used for top covers and be helpful to the bees, then I am game for that.  I could simply refrain from ordering the telescoping cover when expanding the apiary.

[CBEE]

If you use a bottom board for a top would you use an inner cover or not ?

[Brian D. Bray]

If you use a bottom board for a top would you use an inner cover or not ?

No inner cover, an inverted bottom board is like a migratgory top and used in the same way except the bees enter and leave from the top of the hive instead of the bottom.