re: leaving escape boards in place for up to a week

I used to leave them on for longer than 24 hours myself.  In my experience also, no bees found their way back.  Two factors argue against the practice, however.

1.  You're probably okay in northern climes but there are no bees left to thermoregulate your supers if the weather gets hot.  A summer day in full sun could get hot enough to affect the quality of the honey.  And if it gets over 140F, you risk the wax melting.

2.  The bees are stopped by the triangle escape board.  Small hive beetles are not.  Again, maybe not a problem in Montreal but a growing problem even as far north as the southern shore of Lake Erie.  A couple days don't matter but I don't think I'd trust it for a week.

Mike Rossander

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