# Kefuss Hybrid Cloake Board



## JensLarsen (Mar 14, 2007)

I read in the January Edition of ABJ about Kefuss operation. There are some pictures of what is called "Kefuss Hybrid Cloake Board". I'd like to learn more about them and how they differ from regual cloake boards.


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## JensLarsen (Mar 14, 2007)




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## Jack Grimshaw (Feb 10, 2001)

I think the only difference is the size.

A cloake board allows a full super on top. http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/cloake.html
Search for cloake board on this site.


John Kefuss has adapted this with a piece of plywood so he can use a nuc as the upper chamber.

Jack


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## JensLarsen (Mar 14, 2007)

Jack,
It seems you are right, modification is to reduce footprint. Heres the response I got from John:



> Dear Jens,
> 
> The cover is made to set a 5 frame deep frame nuc over 2 ten frame
> deep supers. When the entrance to the hive at the top is closed off
> ...


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## LT (Aug 17, 2006)

Can someone help me out. On closing the top entrance does he mean closing the outside entrance or the entrance below from the deeps? In opening the bottom entrance what would draw 10 frames of bees to the nuc on top? Brood and the cells? Thanks


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## JensLarsen (Mar 14, 2007)

I was wondering the same but I think he means _closing the board_ between the queen-right two boxes below and the five-frame box on top. Bees exiting from the now opened rear bottom will return to the entrance on front and become part of the temporary queen-less five frame box on top. That box will be given grafted cells and become packed with bees. After two-three days the board is removed and the bottom rear entance closed.

Check out the article on Cloake boards, it has some nice illustrations:
http://www.leedsbeekeepers.org.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=225


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## BosqueBees (Aug 10, 2009)

I interpreted the article to mean that he found having only a nuc in the cell area above the cloake board (vs. a standard deep) gave him larger cells. I am curious as to why that would be. Seems like you would be able to have more bees to support the cells in a larger box, not a smaller. Anyone heard of other people building cells in a nuc above the cloake board?


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## bleta12 (Feb 28, 2007)

It is about density of the bees (nurse bees).

Gilman


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## BosqueBees (Aug 10, 2009)

I understand the importance of young bee density. But I don't understand how a smaller box accomplishes this better. I can fill a normal deep with more bees to tend the same amount of cells than I can pack into a nuc. I must be missing something.:s


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## techmant (May 21, 2008)

I believe what is trying to be said about nurse bee density is not the total quantity of bees in a box but what amounts to the number of nurses per cubic inch so to speak. As I understand it, you want to keep more bees in a smaller space when queen rearing so that the cells get visited more frequently thereby feeding and tending the queen larvae more abundantly.

Tim


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