Removing Entrance Block (Entrance Reducer) from the hive

[john1]

Hi,
I have an entrance block (entrance reducer) in the hive. I can see when the weather is good, a lot of bees are outside the hive near the entrance and I feel like I should remove the entrance block. Is it time to remove the entrance block?
Thanks,

 

[thorn]

Hi,
I have an entrance block (entrance reducer) in the hive. I can see when the weather is good, a lot of bees are outside the hive near the entrance and I feel like I should remove the entrance block. Is it time to remove the entrance block?
Thanks,

Definitely.

 

[enrico]

Up to you, some leave them in all the time. All mine are out now!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi,
I have an entrance block (entrance reducer) in the hive. I can see when the weather is good, a lot of bees are outside the hive near the entrance and I feel like I should remove the entrance block. Is it time to remove the entrance block?
Thanks,

Depends on the aperture in the block. Some of us use floors with fixed aperture restrictors

 

[citrus]

i was late with my paynes entrance block spinning from the 4 holes to fully open and caused a backlog to go under the hive .... .finally spun it around now but will make a mental note .... but do any of you folks take the whole thing out ?

https://paynesbeefarm.co.uk/products/plastic-entrance-block

 

[Ian123]

It’s a beekeeper thing to endlessly fiddle with a hives front door

 

[Nannysbees]

We have various sized blocks which we use so ours isn't fully open probably about 6 inches

 

[JimBee463]

I've built an underfloor entrance for my hives (for when I get a colony, next year) which doesn't have a reducer - is a reducer a required part of the entrance or is it fine to leave it open full width?

Edit to add: the floor is the same design that Laurence (Black mountain Honey) demonstrated in one of his videos, so the opening is only 8mm wide where the bees will crawl up and into the brood box.

 

[Finman]

I evaluate the need of ventilation from the number of ventilating bees. In July during main flow I keep entrance block off.

 

[Finman]

Yes, I don't from others what they do. Bees tell when the enrances and ventilation is proper. Keep in mind that weather is coolest at night.

Here among beekeepers there are huge bebates, what kind of floor and what kind of ventilations hives should have. Debates are eternal. Mere mesh.

Guys here are often afraid that our summer is too hot to the bees. I tell them that the bees are from Africa.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've built an underfloor entrance for my hives (for when I get a colony, next year) which doesn't have a reducer - is a reducer a required part of the entrance or is it fine to leave it open full width?

Edit to add: the floor is the same design that Laurence (Black mountain Honey) demonstrated in one of his videos, so the opening is only 8mm wide where the bees will crawl up and into the brood box.

All mine are on UFE. I leave it wide open all year.

 

[JimBee463]

All mine are on UFE. I leave it wide open all year.

Thanks - good enough for me (although i'm sure i'll learn what the bees 'need' as I go along )

 

[Finman]

E. I leave it wide open all year.

What is the idea? What kind of floor you have ?

If I would keep the entrance wide open, the queen would not come to lay into the first box.

And I keep the entrance block as mouse quard

 

[Erichalfbee]

Entrance under the floor with mesh on half of it.

 

[JimBee463]

This is what mine is like (but I have a slide out varroa board in mine below the mesh by a couple of inches). Grabbed this pic of the net, this isn't mine.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is what mine is like (but I have a slide out varroa board in mine below the mesh by a couple of inches). Grabbed this pic of the net, this isn't mine.



View attachment 31838

Yes I have my entrance half way back and like you have an inspection board a couple of inches below.

 

[Finman]

View attachment 31838

that style gives 40 times more fresh air to the hive, what the bees actually need.
Everyone knows, what does it mean in a human house.

 

[JimBee463]

that style gives 40 times more fresh air to the hive, what the bees actually need.
Everyone knows, what does it mean in a human house.

Do you mean the entrance slot?

 

[Erichalfbee]

No the mesh

 

[JimBee463]

No the mesh

Ah right. But, @Finman surely the vent holes at the top of the hive are just as important as the underfloor entrance as the size of those will limit the amount of air that can flow 'through' the hive (same as a house - you can open a door but if there is no way for the air to flow through it, i.e. an open window, then it won't, to a huge degree), so the relatively small vent holes in the roof will limit the air flow anyway(?).

Also, from the research i've done on this, this seems a pretty common design of floor so it surely must work and not be too detrimental to the bees - or have I missed something?