My husband is a great frame holder and queen spotter 
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Hi Dangerous, he sounds like a good bloke:) is he into the bees? We went out on a seniors bus trip today, on the way home I noticed a lot of the trees in the area where my bees are in full blossom.
Heās ace;
I like to read lots of science about bees but heās much more intuitive than me and often has a solution without the knowledge.
Alsoā¦heās not frightened at all and if a job needs doing in a nasty hive heās in there no messing 
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Well done, I have some nasty hives to visit in the coming days. I swear they are Africanised, I have to do some swarm control on them with another month of winter to go.
How much are these? I donāt see any pricing on their website.
The beesource website has a design for a slatted rack but after starting the cut list and reading some other posts realised the beesource design had the slats the wrong way! Anyway after a bit of change in approach got one madeā¦I think the wood glue might expand when drying as some of the slats are now under compression with a slight bow?
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I got 2 of those slatted racks from Mann Lake - no one else seems to do them in UK and they are for Langstroth so they suit me, but here everyone else seems to prefer Nationals. Mine are the same way round as the frames - Cool way but for me it is the ventilation. Iām having difficulty getting 8 frame ones
Sorry Valli, not sure what you mean by same way round as the entrance? I wasnt sure what spacing was correctā¦on yours, are the side spacings (space from inner wall to first slat) the same or half of the other spacings? I think ill make another, this time from cedar, and using a full sheet cut out the gaps rather than cut out the slats if that makes senseā¦
The design criteria of the slatted rack was to provide cluster space and controlled ventilation. The intent was to baffle the air coming in as much as you can to prevent draft. Thatās why the slats run across the frames as they should. Recently when the screened bottom board craze took over there was concern that the mites couldnāt fall through efficiently (which they donāt seem to do much anyway) and some people have started turning them the other way. I prefer them the original way, across the frames as the Beesource plan is. The actual original plan was a rack that set ON an extra deep bottom board. C.C. Miller and Carl Killion were fond of this design (the actual original design).
Hereās a photo from Carl Killionās, āHoney In The Combā originally published in 1951.
And hereās one I bought somewhere, probably Walter T. Kelley.
@Andrew_1101 the 10 frame and 8 frame Lange run perpendicular (at right angles) to the entrance. The slats on my Racks run the same direction as the frames. This is the āCool Wayā as in the picture above with the Rack and Crown Board in your photie.
āWarm wayā the frames run parallel to the entrance. Same as Michael Bushā photie of the Carl Killion
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thanks, that is some good information Michael. Your bottom photo is the exact layout of the beesource plan, and an easier manufacturing layout from my experience of both (my home made one started out that way) so probably preferred by suppliers to keep costs down especially if the alternate design doesnt add much effectiveness. Im a newbee so dont have any experience on the layout or results other than it seemed to make sense that the SHB would fall to the bottom screened try if there wasnt an obstruction. I suppose that even if the beetle fell onto the slatted rack the bees keep hounding them until they fall onto the screened board anyway for the same end result.
I donāt have a lot of experience with SHB, although they are around here, but Iāve seen them in larger numbers other peoples hives in other locations. They donāt fall. They run. They fly. Varroa are the reason people are concerned about it and then only if you have a Screened Bottom Board (SBB) and only if you believe it helps with Varroa, which is in doubt.
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Hi, Steven here from Melbourne, Australia. I was wondering if it would be possible when making your own slatted rack to substitute the wooden racks with a queen excluder? Sandwich that between appropriately cut frames, add a board at one end and pronto! An easy and quick āslatted rackā. I guess the biggest problem would be that such a rack would make swarming impossible. Any thoughts?
All your drones would die trying to get out
Maybe it would be possible to modify the queen excluder pretty easily by cutting out some of the spars with a pair of pliers. Or maybe thereās some other type of screen or mesh (not necessarily from beekeeping) that could be used for the purpose. Again just a thought. Maybe Iāll look into it and build a prototype.
Isnāt the whole purpose of the slatted rack to have some depth to give the bees a place to hang out. The spaces correspond to the spaces between the frames. A queen excluder is flat. Maybe Iām wrong. I donāt use one. Somebody else will elucidate Iām sure
Dee, thanks for your comments. I really donāt know much about these racks, but I like experimenting! If you have a look at Michael Bushās earlier post (with photos), youāll see that there are many different designs, including slats that are oriented crossways, not lengthways. As far as I can tell from reading about it, itās the space below the slats that the bees use to hang out, as well as providing a temperature buffer during very hot and cold weather, which could be useful in hot Melbourne summers and cold, moist winters.
Spoken like a true Melbournien. Having spent 10 years in Melbourne it is the only place I know that has 4 seasons in a day, pretty well all year round. 
Loved Melbourne despite that. 
But yes, you would do well to have a temperature buffer in places like Melbourne.
If I think about it, give me a solid bottom board, hive boxes of any size with corresponding frames, (deep/medium/shallow), a sheet of plywood to cover the top and a brick or two and the bees will make lots of honey and be happy and healthy. Everything else is just āhive blingā lol.
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Iāve just been to a Beekeeping show and you wouldnāt believe the bling people were buying!
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