Ultimate Top Cover/Bottom Board/Robbing Screen Combo (8 OR 10 Frame) for Beekeepers from Famstand Supply

First the top. It's FANTASTIC for size and shape. Love everything about it... if I were rating it alone, I'd say it was 5 stars... for me, it did not blow off in a pretty darn big storm, but I realize it's lightweight and should have a rock or something on top.The bottom. This is why I bought the set... I LOVE that it's plastic and can't rot. It's great in so many ways... but. The board sits so high, that the wire mesh the bees walk on drops to the slide out board. I greased the tray, and the wire actually stretched down til it touched in the middle, killing bees. I used this base temporarily while I cleaned my old hive bottom, and thank goodness I discovered the problem before I tried something like diatomaceous earth!!!!My Queen could have died moving around the wire mesh if she got stuck in the grease pit in the center. That's a 2 star product at best, since if it can kill the queen bee, it's horribly useless.The top is fantastic, and I would absolutely buy that alone again, but that bottom is a disaster waiting to happen. If you do not grease the board, then varroa and SHB just walk right back to the hive through the center of the mesh. If you try to slide it in on the floor, the bees fly in from outside and try to get into the hive, getting stuck and dying in the grease on the tray. Just poor design.Why not just mold the flaps at the BOTTOM so there's enough gap to actually put diatomaceous earth in a plastic TRAY? A removable tray that actually slides in and out would be perfect for diatomaceous earth and not that complicated to add. That small change would make this the perfect bottom for anyone!!!

I got these because my wooden bottom boards were showing signs of rot after one season. I thought using a plastic cover and bottom board would better preserve my hives over the long haul. So far that seems to be the case. I have done nothing to these since installing them and my bees and hives are doing fine.I have used them with an inner cover and without. Without an inner cover the bees build comb in the plastic cover and fill it with honey. In a way this makes it easy to just swap covers, rob the honey and go on with life. I'll probably continue to do this for one hive as it is always nice to have a little honey on hand for guests who are curious about the bees. For the other hives I've got inner covers on now so the hives are more traditionally set up.The bottom board works well. It has removable plastic guards that I've taken off for the summer months. If I see signs of robbing I put them on with two in the closed position and one allowing access. It makes it easier for the bees to defend the hive. The screen works much like any other screened bottom board.I've looked at all kinds of equipment for my hives. I think this is the best option to add years to your wooden hive setup and highly recommend it.One last thing is that the the cover can be drilled for the hive top feeder by the same company. I've done this and it seems to work pretty well. I'm not entirely crazy about that feeder but it's not bad. Sometimes it empties too quickly and I worry about drowning the bees, but that hasn't happened so far.

Used this for a full season and I like it a lot. Cover is lightweight and durable. I like the entrance reducers - much easier to flip those over than to pry out a regular entrance reducer gummed with propolis.My only complaint is that on the reducers, the little half-circles seem too small for the bees to pull dead ones out of the hive. One bee can pass through the space, but they cannot drag a dead bee body. Toward fall I noticed one of my hives was using the tiny top entrance much more than usual - turns out the bottom entrance had been blocked with dead bees they were unable to remove. Not sure how to fix this but I did start clearing the entrances regularly and it's been back to normal.All in all I am tired of my woodenware wearing out with use and weather, so I will continue to replace my top and bottom boards with this set as they wear out.

Bought this because I had a bee package coming and every other top cover/bottom board was backordered.They both seem pretty solid, feel like they're made out of foam core with a hard plastic shell. I get the feeling they'll be durable. I don't know how they'll weather compared to the wooden hive bodies, so things might look a little weird in a year or two.Top cover is a little light so I put a heavy rock on top of the hive to keep the wind from picking it up.Bottom board design is nice with the included reducer/mouse guards. My only issue is that once I put a hive body on the entrance wasn't tall enough to accommodate my boardman feeders, so I had to go with a top feeder.

This product is great but needs 2 adjustments. (For package installation and you have a weak hive)The entrance reducers are (3) pieces with arched opening on one side and a small gap on the other for ventilation only.1. The gap side need to be flush with vent holes only. (If you don't get the tabs on the ends push down in the slot opening provided that gap will allow bees to squeeze under). Robber bees can get in.2. There needs to be one entrance reducers with just 2 or 3 arched openings.This help with newly install packages.

I keep bees on the Big Island in Hawaii where sun and salt age things outdoors very quickly. Several months ago I bought this hive top and bottom and set up a new Langstroth hive with them. They are working admirably and I like the single cover on top without an inner hive cover. This is well designed and works very well. The screened bottom is excellent in allowing air flow and dead varroa mites to fall out. I will be using these again on future hives I set up.

A little pricy for plastic but we will see how many years use I get out of it.

Well made, easy to assemble bees seem to like it!