[BjornBee]

One of the pieces of equipment that I find useful for a variety of jobs, is a two inch shim or spacer. I'll use a spacer to introduce a queen with a cage, feed sugar or fondant, and even provide "hangout" space above the inner cover.

I'm not talking about an "Imrie shim" that has a entrance notch, which many use between boxes and might as well be called a "Burr comb" shim. I'm talking about a spacer that can be used above the inner cover or below. (If used below you need to remove as soon as possible after the need passes as they will fill in the space.

Spacers can be made by cutting down older boxes, or with scrap wood.

Once you have them, they can be very handy.

 

[Iddee]

For you "good" beeks, they work fine. For us lazy beeks that may not get back to a hive for months, they don't work so well. Too much burr comb to cut out if you aren't right on top of your schedule.

Of course, there are many ways of beekeeping. We all do it differently because our final goals are different.

 

[barry42001]

for upper entrances I offset the supers 1/2 inch or so another full length entrance front and back only issue is bees tend to heavily propolize around the " new entrances " perhaps only characteristic trait of the the strain of bees I have. I would ONLY do this with very strong colonies, they have enough bees to protect the new entrances adequitely. And only during hot weather assists bees in ventilation and easier access to honey storage.

 

[Sue]

I live in LA where it is HOT. Despite shading my hive, I have had massive crowding/fanning/bearding at my bottom entrance. Rather than put in a whole extra layer of shim, I've just inserted a couple of flat sticks (about 3/16") between the top two supers (actually between the top super and the top feeder.) This seems to help with ventilation and entrance crowding---I can't see any problems with having two entrances. If they propolize, it's easy enough to scrape off.

 

[Iddee]

Shims work great to ventilate, but if they are thick enough to make an entrance, and you are feeding, watch closely for signs of robbing. Especially during August, Sept. and Oct.

PS. Welcome to the board, Sue. I hope you enjoy it and stay around.

 

[alleyyooper]

I made this inch and a half thick shim so the girls wouldn't haqve to travel thru the whole hive to make nice yellow comb honey. Putting it under the comb super made for nice bur comb in just 2 weeks plus they had the side vent screens full of proplis. Placeing it above the comb super stopped al that and ihad some real yellow cut comb honey.

Al

 

[Charles]

Good idea Al, bet it makes nice looking chunk honey too :goodpost: