So I had to transport a few hives last year in fairly hot weather. So I needed to quickly make a couple of top screens for full ventilation.
I came up with a simple quick solution that worked a treat. I got some old fly screens of a fallen down farm house that had the old brass fly wire. I just disassembled them and cut the frames to hive dimensions, fitted wire and trimmed with a knife.
They work so good they are still on the hives and I found them a great tool for quick inspections of the hive at any time. I can take off the lid and shine a torch down between the frames and see how the bees are working the flow frames. Sometimes it’s possible to see right down to the brood box if there are less bees on edges etc.
No bees can escape and the screen provides full ventilation and also stops burr comb building. If I decide to top feed (which I shouldn’t have to do) I can simply swap for the top board again. Has anyone else used the fly screen idea? The frame extrusion (in plain aluminium or any colour) corner inserts and brass wire are available off the shelf as far as I know if you cant get hold of old screens.
