is it best to reduce entrance

[alan gilly]

what is best for the bees a large entrance or use a reducer .is it right bees like a smaller entrance

 

[thenovice]

I think bees will choose an entrance they can easily defend. I have a small entrance year round. less likely to have robbing. on a good flow you will have a queue at the entrance, that is why others open up completely on a flow. I don't bother and live with the obstruction it causes.

 

[itma]

what is best for the bees a large entrance or use a reducer .is it right bees like a smaller entrance

Welcome to the forum.

You will doubtless get differing opinions.
A small entrance, being more easily defended, makes the bees less "defensive" - and particularly so when there is a small queue at the entrance. This is of greater importance if your bees are in your garden!
However any queuing/scrummaging at the entrance will inhibit the foraging effort, with a potential small impact on the size of the honey crop.

Prof Seeley (in "Honeybee Democracy") put some bounds on the bees preference. If I remember it right, their preference when 'house hunting' as a swarm is for an entrance about a quarter the size of an unreduced National entrance. However, the bees are looking for the best (fixed) compromise for the whole year. Beekeepers can help the bees by changing the entrance size during the year. Opening up during a period of frenetic activity (a honey 'flow') is quite normal (for beekeepers!)

Overwintering is a different matter, and we'll get to that in a few months time!

 

[wessexmario]

what is best for the bees a large entrance or use a reducer .is it right bees like a smaller entrance

When they swarm, they prefer to choose a new location with a small entrance.
The standard national entrance is at least 3 times bigger than they ever need, it's only so because of the simplicity of the floor construction, designed at the time more for minimal wood use rather than what the bees actually need.

 

[dexter's shed]

it's horses for courses,

hives in my woodland have reducers all year round, as lots of wood mice...

but hives in my garden are left full opening till autumn/winter or if I saw robbing going on, less mice in my garden

 

[Obee1]

it's horses for courses,

hives in my woodland have reducers all year round, as lots of wood mice...

but hives in my garden are left full opening till autumn/winter or if I saw robbing going on, less mice in my garden

Duh of course there's less mice in your garden. Word has spread you are a pest controller.

 

[REDWOOD]

Get your head down there and have a look, if you see a row of guard bees along the length of the entrance everythings fine. If you see wasps getting in or lots of fighting going on then reduce the entrance space.

 

[REDWOOD]

I have some in woodlands and I have never used mouse guards and never had a problem. My entrance blocks are in all year with a 100x8mm slot.

 

[itma]

...
hives in my woodland have reducers all year round, as lots of wood mice...

Since this is the beginners' section, lets make clear that a "reduced" entrance is not normally proof against mice getting into the hive.
And that this is ordinarily only a winter problem (when a proper mouse guard would conventionally be fitted). When the bees are active (rather than being clustered against the cold), whatever entrance size is used, the bees should be well able to deter any rodent intruders.

Some (but not all) "reduced" entrances are low enough (opening less than 7mm tall) to be considered proof against British Standard mice. But for winter, a proper mouseguard is well worth the investment of the 75p or thereabouts that it costs. Straightforward advice for beginners. Consider alternatives later, when losing the odd colony wouldn't be total disaster.

 

[user 6228]

The entrance size - bees do not like is anything at 30 sq cms and above. (t.D.Seeley honeybee democracy).

As regards defense, its not only area but the depth of the entrance, a national only has a depth of 19mm where as in a tree can be 150mm+ deep
If you have seen a deep entrance you will notice it is often lined with bees, a more formidable obstacle for an intruder.

From a thermal fluid aspect, the flow of air and heat is not only dependent on the crossectional area but the hydraulic diameter and the depth of the entrance. (hydraulic diameter of a rectangle is 2(ab)/(a+b)).

 

[alan gilly]

thanks for the replies. As my hives are in an allotment i am going to reduce the entrance so the bees are less defensive. Making people and hopefully the bees happy

 

[Thymallus]

From a thermal fluid aspect, the flow of air and heat is not only dependent on the crossectional area but the hydraulic diameter and the depth of the entrance. (hydraulic diameter of a rectangle is 2(ab)/(a+b)).

How is the air flow affected by a continuous layer of bees standing back to back across each of the combs in a full hive?