Entrances

[Stickyfingers]

Top, Bottom or Both?

any one tried both with one below the supers?

 

[Arfermo]

A pal of mine drills holes in the sides of some BBs so as to give bees something else to think about. In winter he put corks in them.

 

[BeeNice]

The reason for holes in the super is so the bees don't have to travel the full height of the hive to store, stores. If you make holes in the super make sure the entrance holes are the same way as the main entrance.

 

[Stickyfingers]

Be interesting to know if any one has tried both entrances without a queen excluder to see how brood pattern occurs

 

[BeeNice]

Be interesting to know if any one has tried both entrances without a queen excluder to see how brood pattern occurs

Without a QE you would have a rose hive or a Warre, the holes in supers only work with the queen below the QE.

 

[lebouche]

Without a QE you would have a rose hive or a Warre, the holes in supers only work with the queen below the QE.

Sorry can you elucidate please?
Does that mean I can't do this with no queen excluder?

Thanks!

 

[Stickyfingers]

Sorry can you elucidate please?
Does that mean I can't do this with no queen excluder?

Thanks!

This is the thing I can't see why you can't? I was thinking of a complete separate entrance rather than holes in a super.

 

[BeeNice]

You can do beekeeping without a QE, but as I said it would have to be treated as a warre hive, where you would have to keep putting the supers under the whole hive (you would need to read up on the whole subject of the warre hive and how it works) gives the queen lots of space to lay, but hard to find QCells. With the QE in and holes in the super the bees don't have to travel the whole hive which in a good year could be 3 or 4 supers. Saves time for the bees and saves wear of the comb from travelling bees inside the hive. I don't make holes in my supers by the way, have read about it and if I had 5+ supers I might do it.
Steven

 

[BeeNice]

This is the thing I can't see why you can't? I was thinking of a complete separate entrance rather than holes in a super.

If you are thinking of an entrance under a super rather than a hole then your hive maybe open to robbers. If you have a separate entrance where would that be? if you are thinking of another entrance above the brood box then you have to think about bee space.

 

[MuswellMetro]

if I had 5+ supers I might do it.
Steven

i have 40+ supers and dont make holes in them...if you want to try it raise the super with a 8mm block at one corner...but to me not worth the effort of even lifting the super

 

[PBee]

Top, Bottom or Both?

any one tried both with one below the supers?

I have used a top entrance only when pollen trapping and it works well until you deconstruct for inspection - traffic chaos ensues!

In the US Imrie shims (an eke with an entrance) are used between supers or sometimes supers are just offset to create an entrance. Here is an article from the ABJ that describes a trial of entrance/queen excluder configurations. They found that an upper entrance over excluder with lower entrance closed was the best for yield and brood nest management. http://www.beesource.com/point-of-view/jerry-hayes/queen-excluder-or-honey-excluder/

 

[BeeNice]

i have 40+ supers and dont make holes in them...if you want to try it raise the super with a 8mm block at one corner...but to me not worth the effort of even lifting the super