REGARDING           RE>Brother Adam and the Buckfast Bee
 
Tom Cornick wrote:
>In the book beekeeping at buckfast abbey there are hive covers with pitched
roofs in the photographs
I am wondering if anyone out there has a description of their construction.
Specifically  is there an inner cover and is the hive cover with the pitched
roof open or two layers with an air space between.<
 
I couldn't speak about the situation at Buckfast Abbey, of course, but this
post brings back memories of our family apiary back in the 40's and 50's in
Wisconsin (USA).  My grandfather had about 125 colonies, in hives each with a
pitched roof cover.  In our hives the cover was made with a frame, pitched
front and back, and a ridge pole in the center.  Cedar shingles were nailed to
the ridge pole and the frame, and a wooden cap strip with a "V" shaped channel
beneath was nailed over the ridge.  I believe that my grandfather built these
himself - he was quite a handyman.  This cover was placed over a standard
inner cover, allowing quite a bit more air space than with our present
standard flat covers.  I don't remember that the bees ever came up much into
this space.  However, the paper wasps loved it!