Wasp excluder - mesh size?

[fizzle]

Hi All,

I have been trying to find information on the size (width) of the common wasp as I was thinking to put some mesh over the beehive entrance similar to a queen excluder. Would still leave a gap for queen, drones (and wasps) but it would be much easier to defend for a small colony.

What would be the ideal size mesh to use?

 

[Erichalfbee]

No. Wasps are smaller than bees. It’s only the queen who is large and you are giving the bees lots of small holes to defend.
The best defence is a hive full of bees covering every frame. Even a nuc can defend itself if it is well populated.
You could consider an underfloor entrance and you can even reduce the porch

 

[Ian123]

Beekeepers have a fascination with entrances I remember years ago being told to adjust to summer and winter sizes, come summer we would open the whole thing up it’s rubbish. I got fed up when often moving hives andbentrances falling or pulling out when stuffing foam in. I simply made up a load of floors with the blocks screwed in. They are 5” wide and 18mm high come wasp season I stuff a bit of foam in a corner to restrict and that’s it. On my home made nucs there’s an 18mm tunnel about 2” long that’s all they need all year.