This beautiful Advanced Hive Cover is highly functional. It has a large interior cavity with six screened vent slots at the top. This provides plenty of space for dry feeding, liquid feeding, insulation, moisture management, and mite treatment.
Feeding: Depending on your hive setup, the Advanced Hive Cover supports several feeding options:
Liquid Tray Feeding: Using just an inner cover, our tray feeder fits comfortably inside the Advanced Hive Cover, with plenty of spare room above it for insulation and ventilation.
Liquid Jar Feeding: When combined with a standard Vivaldi Board, the Advanced Hive Cover is roomy enough to house a quart jar feeder, or even a pair of jars if you use our two-hole jar feeder. This is how we like to feed.
Dry Feeding: The enables you to conveniently dry feed your bees in winter when they tend to refuse sugar syrup. You can apply fondant directly under the screen, and if you place insulation above the screen, the bees will come up to feed, as it is a warm place with food. Similarly, you can pour Drivert sugar right through the screen, which saves lifting it.
Insulation and Moisture Management: You can fit 4 inches of insulation in this cover and still have room for ventilation above it. If you use permeable insulation, this can be combined with a to draw hive moisture out through the insulation into the ventilation slots at the peak.
Mite Management: Some mite treatments require a spacer shim above the boxes. One example is Apiguard. The Advanced Hive Cover provides plenty of room for the treatment without needing a spacer shim. (As with the spacer shim, you have to check the bees are not building comb in this space.)
Another example is Formic Pro. There are conditions when Formic pro is too strong for the hive, such as high temperatures or a weak colony. The large ventilated cavity of the Advanced Hive Cover is a great tool for this. Its high roof and ventilation help reduce the intensity of the treatment.
Construction: Made of premium pine. All joints are glued and stapled. The roof is attached with stainless steel screws. The vent slots are screened with stainless steel hardware cloth.
