Beehive cover

01 · WHAT IT IS

A pine frame that fits, sheet metal that protects

The pine frame is what seats on the box; the metal sheet covers the top face and is what takes the sun and the rain. The 10.5 cm skirt leaves enough depth for a crown-board feeder to sit inside without the roof riding up. It is a replacement roof: it has no ventilation holes, so if your management calls for ventilation from above, it has to come from the crown board.

02 · THE MEASUREMENT DECIDES

Measure your hive, not its nominal size

The internal opening is 43 × 51.5 cm. If the outside of your box exceeds that by even a little, the roof sits proud instead of seating — and once forced on, it is hard to get off again. Here is the detail behind most of the mismatches: a hive that has spent years in the field may have spread. Timber swells with damp and moves in the sun, and a box with the correct nominal size can measure a centimetre or two more today. Take a tape and measure the outside width and length where the roof lands, not at the floor. And measure at the widest point: a warped box has almost always grown in the middle, not at the corners, and that is where the roof will jam.

03 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is made for a 22 mm wall, which is what migratory equipment uses. Static hives are built with a 25 mm wall and take a different roof: the two are not interchangeable. It does not fit the Domínguez model or Dadant Blatt either.