David A. Cushman logo  

Switch System for Bee Escape Boards

When 'wet' supers that have been extracted are returned to the bees for cleaning up, they need to be separated from the bees, so they remove the honey.

This method, using a sliding metal plate to cover a hole  in the clearer board, has been used in conjunction with porter escapes to allow the beekeeper to open and close the access to the supers. 

In the past most manufacturers made clearer boards like this, but few, if any, do now. The main problem was the slot the blade slides in becomes glued up with propolis, making it difficult to move the blade. It is possible to treat the area with Petroleum Jelly to try to avoid sticking, but this is quite unsatisfactory.

I have never used these for this purpose, even though many of my boards have them. The simple thing to do is to partially cover the porter escape hole.
Switch System for Escape Boards

Written... Spring 2001, Revised... 05 April 2002, Upgraded... 20 September 2005,
This page has actually been validated by W3C Javascript Navigational elements removed as per W3C Link Checker version 4.1 (c) 1999-2004 Requirements
Escape favicon