What a difference the slatted rack makes!

[Zoot]

Brian -

Why use 1" dowels? Is there an advantage to this size? The one rack I've seen that used dowels used thinner stock, maybe 3/4" or even 5/8". I never questioned the guy who made it so his choice could have been arbitrary.

[Brian D. Bray]

The 1" doweling is the closest I can get commercially to the width of the top baqr of the frame or the thickness of the comb.  Proper alignment of frames and slats lets all parrasites fall through and if you're using a SBB they fall out the bottom.  Also the roundness of the doweling doesn't give any ledges for errant parasites to land on.  If they hit the slat they usually keep on going.  One final advantage is that the roundness of the doweling actually allows for more bees to gather between the slats as they can piggy-back.

I hope that answers your question.

[BeeHopper]

Another believer in the slatted rack just join the ranks. After weeks of watching my girls beard up the front of the hives after their long day on the job, I installed my racks last weekend and noticed the results tonite. More than half of the beard is gone in all 3 hives. Soon it will be time to try the rack as a Queen excluder, but there will be some modifications to them to work properly, way too much space on the underside.  

[Brian D. Bray]

Which is why I designed mine the way I did.  The 1 inch doweling centered on a 1 3/4 board allows 3/8 inches above and below the dowel.  This eliminates the free space.  The other solution is to use 1 x 1's instead of the dowel but 1 x 1's are really only 3/4 x 3/4, so the spacing is all out of wack.

[Zoot]

Brian,

I actually made the rim of my slatted racks 1 1/2 inches high with 1 inch dowels centered. Do you feel that there is enough room for the bees to move comfortably above and below the dowels?

[Brian D. Bray]

As lomg as you have at least 1/4 inch on each side of the dowel you'll be fine.