Inner cover & Roof ventilation

Hello! New beekeeper here in Michigan, USA. I have an 8 frame Flow Hive 2. I assembled it and installed a nuc. Bees are doing great. I spoke with a local beekeeper who says that the hole on the inner cover needs to be left unplugged for ventilation. But I thought I read that it should be kept closed so bees don’t make comb up under the roof. Any help?

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Hi @Tom_Frederick ,

There is a a way to keep both sides happy :grinning:

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G’day Tom,
I leave it open for ventilation and use it as a bit of a guide to colony strength. When bees start overflowing into the roof cavity they need more space.
I have drilled a hole into the top of the roof gables for ventilation and I can keep an eye on whether they are populating the cavity through them.


I drill a hole either end about 1inch in diameter then covered it with fly wire on the inside.

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Thank you for the quick responses! Great ideas! I found these to cover the 1" holes I drilled:

and this one that fits right into the original vent hole on the inner cover:

Could be a nice upgrade for the Flow Hive 3 :slight_smile:

I used these (just the perforated half):

https://www.sailrite.com/Vent-Grommet-Brass-1

Those look classier than the ones I found. I may have to give mine to the guys down the road with a few Flow hives and pick a pack of those up!

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