BBKA Forum

That’s a really interesting idea Steve, be good to hear how you get on with it. Take some Badger to tip that over !

Stands look fantastic. I would think about marking the hive fronts though as you are at serious risk of drifting there.
I once ended up with probably half the bees from one colony in the other next to it. I now mark each hive above the entrance in large numbers, never had a problem since.

Cheers, Mick.

Good point about drifting Mick..luckily up to now i have had no issues but just to be on the safe side all the landing boards are different colours with different markings on them..

I collected up a load of different coloured pop bottle tops with the intention of screwing them to the entrance blocks for the same purpose but never got round to it.

Alfred wrote: ↑

04 Jan 2021, 08:43

I collected up a load of different coloured pop bottle tops with the intention of screwing them to the entrance blocks for the same purpose but never got round to it.

Not sure how effective colours are as I thought shape was more important and they will all be the same shape. I am sure Nigel can tell us
What I found by accident was when undersupering for winter. My brood boxes all have large numbers on them above the entrance, all in white. I put the supers which have no number under the broods for winter and 10 mins later I had a clump of bees trying to find their way into the brood box between that and the super. So I got my marker pen out and wrote the same number on the super above the entrance and 10 mins later all the bees were happily flying straight into the entrance. Some times we really don't need to think harder than the bees..LOL

Cheers, Mick.

Shape is a funny one. Bees can distinguish and recognise, for example, a solid circle from an X, But cannot distinguish between a solid circle, square, triangle or a single slanted line (p 165 Gould and Gould, The honey bee).
But they do recognise colour with a preference for blue and they don't see reds.
So in that brood box they probably recognised there were lines (numbers) at the entrance and when you put the number on the supers they reoriented to a "lower" entrance quicker.

So perhaps a combination of bottle top colours ,on different sides of the entrances and different orientation e.g. vertical line, horizontal ,diagonal ,square triangle

I use Wickes masonry paint taster pots - 25cl plus brush approx £2 and paint triangles and circles in blue or yellow on hive fronts and tops. especially mating nucs.

I thought when I did this with my mating nucs I was being clever. Retrospectively I would have been better painting them different colours. It might explain the lack of success I had with these apideas.
Or that might just be my cackhandedness

NigelP wrote: ↑

05 Jan 2021, 19:43

I thought when I did this with my mating nucs I was being clever. Retrospectively I would have been better painting them different colours. It might explain the lack of success I had with these apideas.
Or that might just be my cackhandedness

Looks like minecraft