Clearer boards - best and worst

[Patrick]

I am late extracting this year and even though I put on clearer boards on Saturday, I didn't get a chance to take off supers until today - so on for 48 hours.

I ran out of rhombus plastic escapes and pressed into use a few unused Porter escapes, two to a board. I haven't used porters for some years as i found them completely ineffective and switched to just trapizoidal.

When I came to remove supers this evening, all the rhombus clearer board colonies were totally bee free. Lift off and into the back of the car, job done. Easy peasy.

All the porter supers by contrast were still loaded with bees. Really annoying. Used them out of the packet, totally clean. Maybe not sprung completely right and could have been tweaked but no such issues with rhombus. Can just bung them on normal crown boards when you need them.

Are there any fans of porters out there who can tell me where I am going wrong?

[thewoodgatherer]

I thought I'd worked out how to get them to work last year after carefully adjusting the springs, took one super of with only one bee left in it. Then next time I used them it was back to the 50% clearing mark. I'm thinking it not just the gap setting but the tension also, I've noticed how much they vary.

[Patrick]

Thanks Woodgatherer. Mine were out of the packet and came from a main supplier. Untweaked.

[Chrisbarlow]

Never been a fan of porter bee escapes. For reasons stated much prefer the rhombus ones instead

[Patrick]

Have just edited to swap references from trapezoidal to rhombus to avoid confusion. Mainly mine.

[AdamD]

Porters generally work OK for me although they need to be clean and the space correct at the end of the springs. I have just bought a few spares from Thornes eBay site so I can swap them out easily before putting the propolised ones in a tub of washing soda solution to clean them. There are cheap porter bee escapes that have a plastic spring which doesn't work well in my opinion (I have a few that I obtained from somewhere). Metal (stainless steel) must be the best option. I have a few porters which were made with translucent plastic which seems to bend and go out of shape and mine need throwing away.
As with most things, if they are good quality and maintained well, they will work better than otherwise.
I have a couple of Canadian escapes and rhombus ones too which work OK. However if they are on for too long, bees can find their way back.

I have never used Bee Quick to clear supers. Does it work?

[NigelP]

and rhombus ones too which work OK. However if they are on for too long, bees can find their way back.

Interesting point this.
I have left rhombus clearers on for over a week and usually for 48 hours and rarely a bee in the supers. Yet others report lots of bees in them. I wonder if they ever cleared in the first place?....... as no-one seems to have done the obvious which is see the supers are clear after 24 hours and leave on and see if bees find their way back.
I find rhombus don't work well if there is insufficient space below the board (mine are all on at least a 1 inch eke some on 3inches) and there also needs to be space below this for the bees to clear into. Rule of thumb is I clear 2 supers into at least 1 empty super added below or 3 into 2 and so -on.
They also don't work well in hot weather as I think part of the reason why bees leave the supers is the lack of heat and there is heat entering via the rhombus that attracts then downwards (that and missing queen pheromones). And when it is really hot there is less requirement to seek out the heat source.

[Patrick]

I don’t think my Porters ever cleared in the first place tbh.

There has to be a risk that full supers undefended by resident bees by leaving on any effective rhombus for too long may also allow pirate neighbours to find a way in and start to rob out. Boarders would normally be repelled but if no one on deck, once they are in - it’s quick as you like.

I lost 5 full supers due to this once. Full and heavy then 48 hours later light and empty. Gutted doesn’t start to cover it...as also proved to be the case with the roof in question.

Glad to hear you have had better luck with Porters Adam, happy to accept is partly user error. The thing that annoys me is that for many years I used to just shake and brush anyway in one operation. Now gone to rhombus am really annoyed to put on porters then have to shake and brush anyway.

[AdamD]

and rhombus ones too which work OK. However if they are on for too long, bees can find their way back.

Interesting point this.
I have left rhombus clearers on for over a week and usually for 48 hours and rarely a bee in the supers. Yet others report lots of bees in them. I wonder if they ever cleared in the first place?....... as no-one seems to have done the obvious which is see the supers are clear after 24 hours and leave on and see if bees find their way back.
I find rhombus don't work well if there is insufficient space below the board (mine are all on at least a 1 inch eke some on 3inches) and there also needs to be space below this for the bees to clear into. Rule of thumb is I clear 2 supers into at least 1 empty super added below or 3 into 2 and so -on.
They also don't work well in hot weather as I think part of the reason why bees leave the supers is the lack of heat and there is heat entering via the rhombus that attracts then downwards (that and missing queen pheromones). And when it is really hot there is less requirement to seek out the heat source.

It has to be said that I haven't done the test of checking bees in a super and then putting it back on a rhombus escape to see if they return to the super - my comment is based on what I have noticed - maybe anecdotal evidence. A test I need to do!

[nealh]

I binned the porters in my first season in 2006/2007 and have since used converted C/B's, some into Canadian type board with an opposing hole and exit in two corners and the better board I like is the rapid (vortex) versions I made using the design from Dave Cushmen's site .