To have landing boards or not?

[Heather]

I believe it also helps a newly mated queen to relocate back to the hive - so MUST be a bonus -apparently in a breeding area- when no landing boards were used -poor results- after landing boards great increase in success

AND it is somewhere for exhausted pollen laden bees to wait before the walk into the hive past the guards.

 

[Poly Hive]

I don't use them.

Returning bees use the front of the hive as a landing zone and trot down and in. NP there.

They do though act as a foliage suppressor and so keep the front clear which is a good thing. Plus some can spend happy hours sitting watching.

At worst: "Can dae nae ill"

PH

 

[Somerford]

I don't use them.

Returning bees use the front of the hive as a landing zone and trot down and in. NP there.

They do though act as a foliage suppressor and so keep the front clear which is a good thing. Plus some can spend happy hours sitting watching.

At worst: "Can dae nae ill"

PH

I agree - I might put one on the hive stand for one hive so I can sit and day dream this year, but I have taken them off all my floorboards.

The main reason why is they are a bl**dy nusiance when transporting national type hives - it means on one side you can't wedge another hive up against it and it also reduces the volume of hives one can transport on a flat trailer (the 2 inch landing board adds up !)

I think they are a throwback to the WBC type hives that have a long landing board. In the wild bees don't look for a site which has landing board !

Each to their own though.

regards

S

 

[jezd]

bl**dy nusiance when transporting national type hives

this is why I am looking at building them into the stand, the hive then slides up to the landing board.

 

[Black Comb]

Just watched my hive with the landing board.
Busy this afternoon.
About 10% of bees use the landing board.
The rest are accurate and go straight into the entrance or faff about above the entrance on the front of the hive.

 

[MrB]

I think the landing board should be at right angles to the front of the hive and have rows of landing lights

 

[Heather]

Oh that is such a man thought - and there are some sympathetic women here trying to help a lady back home after a wild date!!

 

[match]

I just make sure that whatever the hive is stood on (bricks, wood etc) sticks out a little from the front of the hive. This makes a landing board an inch or 2 below the hive entrance - sometmes the bees seem to go straight for the entrance, other times they queue up on it waiting to get in if its a busy day

 

[Brian Bush]

I build landing boards into my hive satnds. If I am moving hives I strap up the hve from the floor upawrds and transport the stand separately. I believe them to be a good idea. It helps heavily laden bees. They can queue in the summer. I can check on the colour and amounts of pllen arriving. I also think they make good take off platforms. Insects are cold blooded and often sit for a while in the sun on the board warming up thier muscles before taking off. Think of the Harrier jump-jet. A short take off and a vertical landing use less fuel than a vertical take off and landing.

 

[MrB]

Oh that is such a man thought -

No, not at all, the landing lights would help the poor girls!

 

[MrB]

I also think they make good take off platforms. Insects are cold blooded and often sit for a while in the sun on the board warming up thier muscles before taking off. Think of the Harrier jump-jet. A short take off and a vertical landing use less fuel than a vertical take off and landing.

Good point!