Do you cover or leave open your crown board holes

just as it seems to create a great deal of debate, What do you do with the holes in your crown board

lets ignore feeding fondant or syrup period but for any other time, vote in the pole

I have mine closed in the colder half of the year, but having read "that thread" it prompted me to do more research and I'm going to see what happens if I bung them up all year round (poly sheet on top). From what I've read it would appear to be a good idea.

lol.......no option for 'Our boards have no holes'............so closed all year is the nearest thing.

i keep mine covered

Open in Winter stops condensation and mould. Through rest of year gives bees access to stored supers. Also creates a space for bees cleared from supers when the honey crop is removed.

The holes in my acrylic boards are covered with a small piece of acrylic, and I've noticed that the bees propolise it around the edge, thus gluing it to the crown board.
So, clearly*, they don't like even a tiny gap.

(*Clearly - geddit??)

Luminos said:

The holes in my acrylic boards are covered with a small piece of acrylic, and I've noticed that the bees propolise it around the edge, thus gluing it to the crown board.
So, clearly*, they don't like even a tiny gap.

(*Clearly - geddit??)

Click to expand...

I saw right through that

I've always kept mine open, no real reason why but it's what I was shown when I did my training.

Close winter, one hole open summer.

I follow BBKA guidelines to the letter

crown boards or quilts do not have holes
lift board up on matchsticks during winter to give a good through draught as the icing sugar will go sticky if the hive gets too humid !







will I be sent to the naughty girls corner now?

icanhopit said:

I follow BBKA guidelines to the letter

crown boards or quilts do not have holes
lift board up on matchsticks during winter to give a good through draught as the icing sugar will go sticky if the hive gets too humid !

Click to expand...

Matchsticks there'll be no forum members left after the bans if we start a poll on that one

My crown boards don't have holes so I've followed ITTLD and put covered all year as it will give a better indicaton of opinion - holes are meant for feeding or clearing and for leaving bees up 'outside' to clean up extracted frames.
OMF and crown board with no holes (and definitely no matsticks) last winter and not a sign of damp or mould

icanhopit said:

I follow BBKA guidelines to the letter

crown boards or quilts do not have holes
will I be sent to the naughty girls corner now?

Click to expand...

I see your hive or that you are not conversant with the full pecification issued by the British Standards Institution (British Standard 1300) and summarised the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Advisory leaflet 367, The British National Hive, Crown Copyright 1961,which specifies two porter escape holes in a multi-purpose crown/clearer and feeding board

but then thats what this poll is about, what do beekeepers do rather than what we or others think we do, or should do

Debate on this reminds me of:

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin?

madasafish said:

Debate on this reminds me of:

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin?

Click to expand...

I am trying to keep it on track as a poll of what beekeepers actually do rather than a debate, and not get into set positions or criticisms of others methods or views ( unless light heartedly)

........life is too short for that

madasafish said:

Debate on this reminds me of:

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

Click to expand...

4.

no crown board => no holes | one big hole

Voted for 'Other', since holes are opened when needed for feeding, access to top space for frame cleaning etc. Other than that, closed all year with insulation above the CB.

Then there was the retired maths teacher who kept his bees in logs.. he found that they multiplied more quickly that way... exponentially in fact!

I leave the Porter-escape shaped holes in my variously-named internal cover boards open all year (except when using the holes as feed holes or the boards as clearer boards) because I don't know any better but made it through my first three winters as a beek without losing any colonies (AND that includes propping the roof with the heretical sticks of flame-making during the first winter!).

Yes, I've had a little bit of brace comb in the roof space, but that goes into the bucket like all the rest.