Bees build their own entrance

[Der Alte Fritz]

I have left the entrance block off my hive this summer as it was so hot but when I looked inside the entrance yesterday, I could see what appeared to be a mouseguard.

When I looked closer I could see it was actually a screen of propolis with lots of bee sized entrance holes through it that they had built running from the inside of the front wall of the brood box to the floor.

Anyone else seen this?

 

[Black Comb]

Any chance of a photo?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Anyone else seen this?

Yes often,perhaps the bees dislike gaping holes at the bottom of their hives.

 

[Brosville]

I've had it on the entrance holes to a Kenyan top bar hive, both as a defence against wasps, and during the winter (2 holes completely blocked, one tiny bee-sized hole left in one)

 

[Suzi Q]

Yes, saw something similar on a TBH, the bees obviously want to reduce the entrance!

 

[Poly Hive]

Only in pics and it is common I believe to some strains of bee.

PH

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

Any chance of a photo?

Yes as soon as the torrential Bank Holiday rain eases up a little.

 

[DorsetB]

I was going to post the same question, as two of my nucs have done the same thing - never seen anything like it: small holes yes, but never anythnig so large; will try and get a piccie later when the rain stops.

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

The Great Wall of Winchelsea

 

[Luminos]

Great pictures - it looks as though they're doing their best to "carpet" the open mesh floor, too

 

[psafloyd]

That's a lot of propolis. I could do with a hive that did that...

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

The bees glue EVERYTHING down. They block up the air vents in the roof, block the hole in the crown board ( they are getting a lovely new solid crown board this winter) and glue the frames to the runners and the boxes to each other.

But this new entrance is quite feat. They seem to have two rows of holes, one along the top and the other along the bottom and by and large, they go into the hive via the top holes and leave the hive via the bottom holes.

I did notice a double hole exit in the bottom photo, presumably to let the fatter drones out!

 

[BeeJayBee]

That's amazing. I didn't imagine, from your description, how effective the propolis wall would be.

About how many holes have they made, across the whole width? It might be a fair indication of the maximum size entrance they need.

 

[Black Comb]

Clever bees.
In my 1949 edition of J.G. Digges 1905 "The Practical Bee Guide" he makes reference to Huber saying "Huber describe the construction of barricades of wax and propolis in the hive entrance, to exclude the Death's Head Moth (Sphinx Atropos) ."
Huber published books in 1792 and 1814.
They've been doing it a long time.
Nice pic. Thanks for posting.

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

That's amazing. I didn't imagine, from your description, how effective the propolis wall would be.

About how many holes have they made, across the whole width? It might be a fair indication of the maximum size entrance they need.

It is fairly hard to count as there is quite a lot of activity with bees coming and going and the holes are failry small and easy obscured.

I would say around 12-15 holes, each one bee sized so around 6-10mm across so an entrance of around 90mm long x 6mm high.

Given that a National entrance block is 21mm high, the photographs would indicate that the holes are 6mm diameter. But bear in mind that the wall must be quite thin but even so you can see that the holes are 'countersunk'. So the bees are climbing through a 'hole in a fence', whereas if we cut the same sized holes in a standard entrance block, the bees would be 'going down a tunnel' which might require more room. The answer to this might be to countersink holes from both sides and then drill a final 6mm hole in a standard entrance block. The bees seem to like some holes along the bottom so that they can clean out rubbish and a mixture of other holes in the middle and top for traffic control.

On Dave Cushman's site he shows an APEX entrance block with half moon holes along the bottom edge which are 9mm high and 22mm wide which would have an enxtrance about the same size as the ones the bees have built.

The other thing I have noticed with this colony is that on summers evenings a large mass of bees sits outside the wall on the ledge and often it is standing room only. I know that old fashioned porches and landing boards are no longer used but the bees seem to like a covered area outside their wall to 'hang out' So I plan to build them a porch and landing board for next summer.

 

[yeogi75]

this what i have made for winter
View attachment 7244
View attachment 7245

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

That looks quite a good effort but shows the technical challenge of making smalll holes in small blocks of wood close to one edge.

Another idea that sprung to mind was to use a entrance block with a very large entrance and cover this with a mouseguard. Easier to punch small holes into sheet metal if you want to try smaller holes or a different arrangement of holes, some on the bottom and some on the top.
My idea would be to mount the mouseguard strip on the 'rear' of the entrance block so that you left a 'porch' area in front of the holes within the entrance block itself.

Or add a porch and landing board to your hive and stick a mouseguard across the entrance as per normal.

 

[tonybloke]

nice photo's.

propolis living up to it's name!!

(it's Latin, BTW. 'pro' = in front of 'polis' = city, for those that don't know )

 

[SixFooter]

I've seen bees reduce circular entrance holes in nucs, but nothing like that!
Someone told me it was a carnie trait so maybe your bees are super carnies?

 

[REDWOOD]

Brill photos, puts another myth to rest