My hive is on a bottom board with a 3/8" entrance. Is that too small for summer in FL. I can move them to one with a 5/8" entrance. Wax Moths and Ants can be a problem here. Am I better off with the small entrance? It seems on hot afternoons that the foragers have to work at getting in the hive with the washboarders and fanners. There is a birdbath with a continual drip about 10 ft from the hive, and the hive is shaded at 3pm, as the sun gets higher in the sky it may be sooner. I think I read there was someone in FL who had all 3//8" entrances.
Oddly enough, when reversible bottoms were invented, the 3/4" side was for winter, so there would be more room for dead bees. The 3/8" side was for summer... 3/8" will work fine.
Bees will work with about any size entrance. Look at knot holes in trees and cracks in wall of homes that the bees move into.
Not Florida here, but we get hotter here on occasion in the summer. All my hives have 3/8" entrances; summer and winter. Helps keep the pests out and is plenty of ventilation; especially with a top vent. The only problem I've had with the 3/8" entrance is dead bees blocking it in the winter. That is easily solved with a top entrance in winter.
Great, thanks Michael. I really didn't want to take a chance on losing or crushing the Queen. I realize changing bottoms is not much of a concern to those who do it a lot...but it looks like a big undertaking to me and I am concerned about them being able to guard it well.