Hive Top Entrance

Bee-Haven · February 22, 2015, 07:38:04 PM

Ok, I was looking at Michael Bush's usual setup for his hive top entrances but I don't know if I am really understanding. Is there another place that has a good step by step setup for a top entrance? I probably won't do it right a way but I do plan on making the change later. After this winter I don't want the girls to have any worries wintering.

Michael

DMLinton · February 22, 2015, 08:12:48 PM

I cannot help with references however I chose to go with top entrances when I started last year. I did end up with a few hives with conventional bottom entrances. I simply moved the entrance from the bottom to the top - bottom boards have a solid rim all around and inner covers are made more or less like an in inverted bottom board, which doubles as a feeder and/or blanket box.

I use migratory type outer covers. I do have reversible screened bottom boards but the jury is still out on whether the screened side is beneficial. I could not, as a rank amateur, see a performance difference between screened and solid bottom boards.

My happiest bees this winter (with temps down to -28 C or -18F) are in the hives with no bottom entrances or vents and top entrances reduced to an inch or less. My hives with bottom entrances almost completely blocked but with the corresponding top entrance are also doing pretty good.

I made up shims that are placed between the top brood box and the first honey super to create a full sized "top" entrance when honey supers are on. Bees go down to the brood nest or up to the honey supers. I move my winter inner covers to the top of the top honey super and block the entrance so that there is no entrance at the top of the honey supers.

Michael Bush · February 22, 2015, 11:14:52 PM

>Ok, I was looking at Michael Bush's usual setup for his hive top entrances but I don't know if I am really understanding. Is there another place that has a good step by step setup for a top entrance?

What part is confusing you? You cut a block for the bottom and you cut a piece of plywood the size of the top and put a shim on each side. Maybe it's too simple?

DMLinton · February 22, 2015, 11:24:28 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on February 22, 2015, 11:14:52 PM
What part is confusing you? ...

Michael, I think it might be the idea of shimming the top open for Winter. Or it could be the mindset of a lot of new beekeepers that there are a very stringent set of rules for managing hives - Langstroth or otherwise - when really all one needs to pay close attention to is the amount of space and that it is a real good idea to respect the rules on bee space unless one wishes to deal with the mess.

Bee-Haven · February 22, 2015, 11:31:03 PM

I think it might have been that it was too simple. I am trying to wrap my head around so much information, and it seems like every source has a different idea of what is right. I want honey out of my hives, but I really want to make sure the bees are going to be healthy and safe first.

DMLinton · February 22, 2015, 11:39:32 PM

I know what you mean, Bee-Haven. I justed started last year. Did a lot of reading. Spent a lot of time on the forums. Got confused as H**l with the 10 beekeepers will offer at least 12 opinions idea, all conflicting. Finally just started doing my own thing and things are now going pretty good.

Bee-Haven · February 22, 2015, 11:47:50 PM

Trial and error seems to be the name of the game. I think I will just have to jump in and do what seems right. I am going to try and go as organic as possible: non medicated, no artificial feed and things like that. I have a feeling the things I do next year will be drastically different from what I do this year. So yeah, I will continue getting ideas from the forum, but I think i may have to bite the bulllet and check out my local bee keeper's association.

Michael

DMLinton · February 22, 2015, 11:59:48 PM

Quote from: Bee-Haven on February 22, 2015, 11:47:50 PM
Trial and error seems to be the name of the game. I think I will just have to jump in and do what seems right. I am going to try and go as organic as possible: non medicated, no artificial feed and things like that. I have a feeling the things I do next year will be drastically different from what I do this year. So yeah, I will continue getting ideas from the forum, but I think i may have to bite the bulllet and check out my local bee keeper's association.

Michael

Jumping in and doing what makes sense is a very good idea. Be careful with the organic thing so that you do not "paint yourself into a corner". Monitor for disease and pests so that you know as well as you can what your bees are up against so that you can then make informed decisions as to whether to treat or risk the loss of bees. I am avoiding treating ... for as long as I can get away with it. That may be the rest of my beekeeping career or this Summer. One thing about feeding - there are times when it will be the only alternative to losing bees.

Michael Bush · February 23, 2015, 08:25:15 AM

With a lot of things in life you have to sort out the essentials from the non-essentials. What is really important from what is unimportant and often what the real ramifications of any given thing are. With beekeeping, as with other things, even experienced people sometimes get obsessed with one idea or another and beginners often latch onto something someone said in passing and give it far more importance that it really merits. In the end, bees seem to manage to thrive in a wide variety of holes and hollows with a wide variety of placement of entrances and sizes of entrances. Sometimes we attribute more importance to things than they deserve. I do think, though, that a lot of things have small ramifications and that these sometimes add up. Bees manage ventilation in trees (and soffets and old water heaters and dried up gasoline takes) under various conditions and seem to do amazingly well. But I do think top works best to resolve condensation issues. Too many or too big of an entrance may on occasion cause issues if a colony is already having some other issues that have weakened it (recent split, queenless etc.). I've really never seen too small of an entrance cause an issue other than the appearance of an issue. A traffic jam seems like a waste, yet hives with traffic jams still seem to thrive and produce.

You probably could reduce the size of the top entrance with a piece of screen molding (or a piece of 3/8" lath or a ripped piece of a one by that is 1/4" thick or so) down to 2" wide or so and they may do better in winter and may be better able to fight off robbers during a dearth. Many of my hives have such a reducer.

CapnChkn · February 24, 2015, 05:11:50 AM

The winters you would have there wouldn't be so harsh you would desperately need a top entrance. You will want to vent the moisture the bees will produce though. The moisture will exit the hive if you leave any opening at the top regardless of temperature, even without a bottom opening.

To simplify, for a top entrance you would want an opening that allows the bees to get in and out, 1/4 inch (6mm) to 3/8 inch (9mm) high, and as wide as you want. Don't leave a space on top of the frames larger than regular bee space without something to fill it up, like candy boards, or feeders. They would fill it with comb. In contrast the bees will leave an inch or more of open space at the bottom.

Easiest would be to cut a groove or dado in the trim of the inner cover as wide as you want; I cut 3/4 x 1/4 inch (19 x 6 mm) openings in all my inner covers. You want the opening down, so the bees don't have to go through the hole in the middle of the inner cover, but will go out at the wall of the hive body. My bees like to use both top and bottom openings.