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National Bee Hive Nucleus Coverboards

A set of drawings of cover boards, (inner covers or crown boards) suitable for use on two frame, three frame and five frame nucleus hives that are built to British National bee hive standards.

The Grain should run along the longest dimension of any part. Cutting of parts (all dimensions in mm).

The Grain should run along the longest dimension of any part.

Cutting of parts (all dimensions in mm).

Qty	Length	Width	Thickness	Material	5 Frame Nuc
1	460	230	9	Exterior Plywood	Main Panel
2	460	19	9	Pine	Long sides of rim
2	212	12	9	Pine	Other rim parts


Qty	Length	Width	Thickness	Material	3 Frame Nuc
1	460	153	9	Exterior Plywood	Main Panel
2	460	19	9	Pine	Long sides of rim
2	115	12	9	Pine	Other rim parts


Qty	Length	Width	Thickness	Material	2 Frame Nuc
1	460	115	9	Exterior Plywood	Main Panel
2	460	19	9	Pine	Long sides of rim
2	77	12	9	Pine	Other rim parts

Use with rims downwards for bottom bee space or with the rim uppermost if top bee space use is required.

The holes shown are circular for feeding, some use the standard
Porter Escape Holes instead, but I can see no valid reason for doing this.

Note 1.
9 mm plywood is specified owing to it's greater rigidity and freedom from warping. Thinner material (6 mm) can be used, but if the boards are to be used in sets then all must be made the same.

Note 2.
9 mm is specified for the thickness of the rim material but commercial supplies are often of 8 mm thickness, using 8 mm is unlikely to cause any problems.

Assemble using a waterproof PVA type glue and 16 mm pins or staples.

The versions drawn above are simple and durable. If petroleum jelly is used on the rims and raw linseed oil is used on the main panels the items will give many years of practical service.

The cover boards may be used either on individual nuc boxes of the same size or in sets to make up the footprint of a National bee hive so that a roof or outer cover can be used. Similarly the nucs do not have to be in individual boxes, but can be in sections of a brood box that has been divided up into sections.

Written... Date Unknown, Upgraded... 13 January 2006,