Open floor

[biglad]

Hi all . Just put a omf on my hive would you leave the entrance open full or put in the block provided . Cheers Neil

 

[Poly Hive]

The critical issue is how strong is the hive? Type of hive?

PH

 

[enrico]

As per ph.... They need a reduced entrance to stop robbing or help defend against wasps. If you have neither it serves no purpose.
E

 

[biglad]

Hi it was a nuclear . It's now on seven frames and a good few bees it's a national standard hive just wandering about the size of the entrance cheers . Neil

 

[Poly Hive]

The way to gauge a colonies strength is not frames covered but frames of brood.

None of mine have entrance blocks in BTW.

Welcome to beekeeping and enjoy your bees.

PH

 

[Arfermo]

An old beek with 75 years experience behind him and 50 or so hives in 6 apiaries is adamant that a narrow entrance is what feral bees often have and he NEVER leaves the entrance block out for that reason.

 

[itma]

I think its simpler to think of keeping the entrance reduced EXCEPT at those times when there is obvious traffic congestion.
But then, I don't have hundreds of hives to look after.
And to think that its only a few months before the 'mouseguard with or without reduced entrance' discussions start ...


One thing I've noticed is that hives with reduced entrances seem to me to tend to be less "forwardly" defensive. Probably fewer guards and a greater sense of security.
However, "Invariably, bees do nothing invariably."

 

[Martin G]

Entrance block

I had a similar conversation with our SBI only last week. He reasoned that you only need enough of an entrance to stop too much congestion and once the bees get inside they will need to wait to be ‘unloaded’ anyway so they may as well wait outside in a queue. The ability to guard effectively outweighed the ability to get loads of bees in and out quickly.

Oh and he doesn’t like OMF’s but that could be another story

Martin