How much door

[bet]

Okay the bees are v busy should I open thedoor right up, ie romove wooden door strip all together. Or leave in place for some protection??

 

[Cazza]

If they are busy and queueing up why not remove it? If they are strong they will repel any robbers and we are not into wasp season yet so no need to close down to keep them out.
Cazza

 

[YorkshireBees]

You will almost certainly get opinions suggesting both.

I personally used to remove the entrance reducer during the summer but I read somewhere that it doesn't make a difference to the foraging bees having a larger entrance but the guard bees have more area to cover to protect the hive.

So this year so far I have left most of my entrance reducers in place. The only time I have seen the entrance congested is when I have created the situation whilst during a manipulation I have needed to shake bees onto the grass in front of the hive.

 

[Davelin]

I think the main reason that there is a removable entrance block harks back to the days of solid floors. Removing the entrance block allowed more ventilation in hot weather.
In the wild they don't change the size of the entrance so neither do I.

 

[REDWOOD]

No need for extra ventilation with varroa floors, how big is your colony, is it big enough for the guard bees to protect it with the entrance block removed

 

[jackbee]

Interesting points about ventilation, guards and natural size, hmmm, points to ponder!

I did increase mine but the original was only about 15mm square on a healthy overwintered colony - it did look very busy so I widened it to full height, about 5cm wide by cutting 2 separate short blocks for each end. Also made longer ones to reduce size if necessary later in year.

My other hive, small swarm (2-3 frames) only has a small entrance, 8mm by about 40mm and they seem to be coping ok, no crowding.

 

[REDWOOD]

Interesting points about ventilation, guards and natural size, hmmm, points to ponder!

I did increase mine but the original was only about 15mm square on a healthy overwintered colony - it did look very busy so I widened it to full height, about 5cm wide by cutting 2 separate short blocks for each end. Also made longer ones to reduce size if necessary later in year.

My other hive, small swarm (2-3 frames) only has a small entrance, 8mm by about 40mm and they seem to be coping ok, no crowding.

Well done jack keep thinking you will do a lot of this here

 

[jackbee]

Well done jack keep thinking you will do a lot of this here

already am, and enjoying it