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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #4420  by Japey Edge
 09 Aug 2019, 15:47
Following on from a wasp thread, could we post photos of our hive entrances on here? I'm looking for some inspiration on making an efficient entrance for the bees that can also help them defend from wasps. At the moment my hive entrances look like this:

Image Image

Both my Abelo entrances are like that. I have since reduced the nuc entrance but I don't have a good enough photo.

I'm thinking of shaping a piece of wood and fitting it to the front of the Abelo floor/landing board.
 #4508  by WalnutTreeBees
 14 Aug 2019, 18:42
With the poly nucs I either swivel the disc round a bit more so the gap is really small, or you can try putting a bit of pipe in there (MDPE or similar) to make a tunnel entrance so that the wasps cant just fly straight into the hive.

For the full size hive you could make an american style wasp/robber guard which consists in a piece of mesh covering the front with an entrance on one side or the top/bottom.

No photos I'm afraid, for me the easiest way to avoid wasps is just to keep strong colonies that will look after themselves. If they can't look after themselves then I wouldn't bother trying to keep them going, it's more trouble than it's worth. Obviously nucs are a bit of an exception, you just have to make more than you will need so that you can absorb any losses.

Also, once the wasps have started overwhelming a hive the only chance is to move it ASAP, all of these anti wasp devices are only worthwhile as preventive measures as the wasps will find a way in once they know the hive is weak.
 #4511  by AdamD
 14 Aug 2019, 19:29
WalnutTreeBees wrote:
14 Aug 2019, 18:42

Also, once the wasps have started overwhelming a hive the only chance is to move it ASAP, all of these anti wasp devices are only worthwhile as preventive measures as the wasps will find a way in once they know the hive is weak.
Agreed.

I happened to look 'elsewhere' the other day by mistake and someone had posted a picture of her hive with a full width entrance asking what to do about her colony being robbed. Probably too late! Even a big colony will struggle to defend an entrance of that size.
 #4529  by thewoodgatherer
 15 Aug 2019, 14:22
One advantage of having your apiary in the garden is being able to constantly monitor and adjust the hive entrance, noticed the odd wasp getting past the other day and a slight adjustment later all put pay to that. :D Image