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Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #9805  by Alfred
 19 Jan 2021, 06:53
The last pair of floors I made were maisemore clones simply because Id then have the removable parts interchangeable .
I'm doing some more soon but I'm pondering whether to dispense with the entrance blocks altogether
Last year the only time I ever touched one was to pick it up out of the grass when moving the floor.
I run reduced entrances permanently and mesh based provide ventilation.

What's the downside to just having a hole at the front?

The aperture could be adjusted with a sliding shutter or a disc and the floor then would be more weatherproof
 #9806  by NigelP
 19 Jan 2021, 08:40
Alfred wrote:
19 Jan 2021, 06:53


What's the downside to just having a hole at the front?
Traffic jams in a big flow.
When you see bees queuing to get in and out of your hive you know they are not working optimally.
I run productio9n hives with entrances fully open (length of hive) during late spring and summer. Reduce in the autumn and winter.
 #9807  by AdamD
 19 Jan 2021, 10:21
As usual in beekeeping - a different view!
I tend to run hives with blocks in, or the floor only has a 15 - 20 cm opening in any case. The picture below of the large hive had a reduced entrance and seemed to suffer no issues as a result. You can see a third brood box (I put it on as I was going away as there were 20 frames of brood in there and I wanted to ensure enough space). You can also see a clearer under the top two supers and some had already come off. In the background you can see another National hive with a reduced entrance. Yes, the entrances were busy but didn't seem to be overly congested. This photo was taken in July 2018 - a good year for honey.

Image
 #9808  by joe10
 19 Jan 2021, 12:20
Traffic jams in a big flow.



This is the problem
 #9809  by Patrick
 19 Jan 2021, 12:47
Crikey Adam, impressive stacks 👍!

It may depend on your situation. For much of the year it’s probably academic. With big colonies at their peak during a big flow there might be congestion around the entrance. How much that actually affects the final crop taken off I don’t actually know.

For me with bees in out apiaries with high wasp populations, the offset of that is the risk of wasps or robbing bees getting a hold before you notice and constantly placing the bees under stress trying to defend their stores. Actually it’s my stress as well, as seeing a hive under attack is not nice to see or deal with once underway. It’s all probably a matter of degree. Small entrances also reduce the risk of mice in winter without mouse guards.

Another downside I have with built in too small entrances is the practical work around to allow you use an tray oxalic vapouriser that doesn’t come with a spout.

Removeable blocks maybe give you the best of both worlds?
 #9810  by Alfred
 19 Jan 2021, 14:33
Adam you need flashing red lights on that thing to warn off low flying 737's.
My visiting deer would also make short work of that little lot!

Perhaps I should have worded differently
My query is not so much the size of the hole as this could be adjusted with a shutter,but is there another importance of a removable block( honey is way down the list for me now)that I'm missing
 #9811  by Patrick
 19 Jan 2021, 16:41
Can’t think of any outstanding ones Alfred.

I have certainly built nucs with a simple fixed hole entrance without issue and most of my self built floors simply have a small slot missing out of their top edge which serves as the entrance.

I have to admit to rarely seeing much congestion around the entrance but maybe that is because my bees don’t go to crops/ other folks colonies are larger/ I work during the day so only tend to see them in the week after most foraging flying is slowing down maybe?
 #9813  by Alfred
 19 Jan 2021, 17:47
Thanks chaps
I may just do a one-off of this idea and see what goes wrong.
Also what about the tray?

I can't measure daily drops because I'm usually only there weekly(and I've only ever seen one mite so drop counting cannot be accurate anyway)

With my location I have the trays out in winter to prevent the bees drowning in condensation and out in summer to prevent them frying .

So what are the trays there for otherwise?
Could the design be simplified weatherproofed some more?
( obviously with good underfloor venting and provision to renew the mesh )
 #9814  by NigelP
 19 Jan 2021, 18:20
Adam, just as well you did have restricted entrances /wry grin/

Image
 #9816  by NigelP
 19 Jan 2021, 19:13
Alfred wrote:
19 Jan 2021, 17:47
Thanks chaps
I may just do a one-off of this idea and see what goes wrong.
Also what about the tray?

I can't measure daily drops because I'm usually only there weekly(and I've only ever seen one mite so drop counting cannot be accurate anyway)

With my location I have the trays out in winter to prevent the bees drowning in condensation and out in summer to prevent them frying .
Try counting weekly drops?
Mine are slid in over winter to give almost solid floors. I leave a small gap just before the entrance so any rainfall drifting in through the entrance falls straight into the ground and not the tray.