Clearer board with 8-way bee escape and hatch

01 · THE HATCH

Switching it on without taking anything apart

The classic bee escape means going up to the hive the evening before, with smoke and everyone stirred up. With the hatch closed, this crown board can be put in place several days ahead and simply left there. The evening before harvest you only have to move the lever from outside to open the passage, and by morning the supers are ready. One handling less, at the time of year when you appreciate it most.

02 · HOW IT WORKS

The bees go down and cannot find the way back

The escape is a one-way passage: the bees in the super go down towards the brood chamber, drawn by warmth, brood smell and activity, and on trying to come back they cannot find the route. With eight exits the clearing is quick, and the board goes between the brood chamber and the supers, not on the very top. Before closing up, check the queen has not stayed above: it happens with badly fitted excluders or with supers carrying brood.

03 · THE SIZE

500 × 425: the footprint of a Dadant Blatt

This is the question that reaches us from France and it deserves numbers: it measures 500 × 425 mm, which is the footprint of a 10-frame Dadant Blatt (body of 500 × 430). On a Langstroth it falls short, because that box measures 510 mm along the long side. Measure your body on the outside before ordering: the number of frames does not settle it.

04 · THE LIMITS

Heat, nectar and cold work against you

It is no magic: with a strong nectar flow or a lot of heat, some of the bees insist on going up, and in cold weather or short flows the clearing takes longer. Even with stragglers, you save most of the smoke and of the frame-by-frame brushing. The hatch also serves for occasional manipulations, such as a progressive union of two colonies with the board in between.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The fixing screws can protrude on the underside. If they touch the frame top bars, file them down before fitting it.