Crown Board with Bee Porter Escapes

A BS National crown board with bee porter escapes is a specific type of beekeeping equipment used to manage the movement of bees within the hive, especially during honey harvesting or hive maintenance.

Crown Board (also known as a cover board):

The crown board is the flat, rectangular board that sits on top of the hive body (or brood box) beneath the roof of the beehive. It serves several purposes:

• Protection: It acts as a barrier to protect the hive from the elements, providing a roof-like covering between the hive’s interior and the external environment.
• Ventilation: Our crown board includes ventilation holes or slots to allow airflow through the hive, which helps maintain temperature control and prevents excessive moisture buildup, and aids in feeding the bees.
• Hive Management: It’s used as a surface to place additional supers (honey storage boxes) and frames, and is essential in maintaining the structural integrity of the hive.

Bee Porter Escapes:

The bee porter escapes are small, one-way exit devices built into or placed on the crown board. These devices are designed to allow bees to exit from the honey supers but not return. The escape is typically a small, one-way trap with a gate or ramp that only permits bees to leave the supers, effectively allowing the beekeeper to harvest honey from the supers without disturbing the bees.

The bee porter escape works by:

1. Allowing bees to exit: The bees can move through the escape mechanism, but they cannot return due to the one-way design. This reduces the number of bees in the honey super when it is time for harvesting.
2. Clearing supers for harvesting: By using the bee porter escapes, beekeepers can clear honey supers of bees before they are removed from the hive, ensuring that less handling of bees is required during honey extraction.

BS National Design:

This setup is specifically designed to fit the BS National Hive, which is a popular hive style in the UK. The crown board, with its bee porter escapes, is sized to fit the standard frames and supers used in National hives, ensuring proper functionality and ease of use.

Summary:

A BS National crown board with bee porter escapes is a practical and effective tool for managing bee movement, particularly when removing honey supers. It helps reduce disturbance to the colony by allowing bees to exit the supers but preventing their re-entry, making honey extraction more efficient and safer for both the beekeeper and the bees.