>leaving escape boards in place for up to a week

In my opinion and experience a bad idea. If in an apiary of more than a few colonies intense robbing will be incited. My lids all have 1/4" shims to allow ventilation, a necessity in our hot weather and for moisture evacuation in cool weather. Robbers will be all over any way in and in the old days when I had yards several hours away I sometimes came back to find empty suppers after a couple of days.I have been using triangular escapes with satisfaction for at least 20 years. I hate the smell of Bee-Go, the only repellent I did use and still do in "emergency " moves to get down to reasonable size. If the supers are full and capped and they have room below and especially if they have an empty sticky I find all but a few will move down overnight. Of course there can be no brood, I always use excluders. Yes it is an extra trip but can be combined with other hive management, mite counts for example, and you do have to lift the full supers twice but it allows for bottom supering and I don't have to go to the gym for exercise :-) We have a generator on the truck and blow the last few out easily with a portable shop vac in blow mode and load them in a closed cargo van. Works great and the reward is a bee free extracting room and no foul odors.

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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