Front Entrance

JordanM · April 16, 2008, 08:19:02 AM

I made a mistake building my beehives front entrance instead of drilling holes in the front above the front entrance, I accidentally drilled them in the side so tht they come in and they run into foundation not the end bars of the frame. Will this make a difference in the beehive? Will it kill them making it easier for robers to get in? Should i just go down to 9 frames in the box instead of 10?

MustbeeNuts · April 16, 2008, 09:31:05 AM

You could try getting some wood dowels the same size as the hole and making little plugs . or just a hair bigger and glue and hammer them in,flush, then redrill.

Scadsobees · April 16, 2008, 09:48:52 AM

It won't make a difference for the bees. In the wild they can have the entrance facing into comb. What I don't like about it is that there are more than one entrance to a hive making them a little more difficult to manage because you have bees coming and going in all directions, sides and front.

If you don't mind, you can leave them, otherwise do as MustbeeNuts recommended and plug it and re-do it.

Robbing can happen almost anywhere so if they are in that situation you have to pay attention and diminish the entrances no matter where they are.

9 vs 10 frames is personal preference. I have 10, it makes it a little more difficult getting frames in and out, but now that I'm used to it it isn't a problem. If you go to 9 they will draw out the honey arch at the top all the way to the next frame anyway and you will have trouble going back to 10 if you want.

Rick

JordanM · April 16, 2008, 05:23:49 PM

So would you just say plug all the holes and just leave the entrance at the bottom?

Michael Bush · April 16, 2008, 09:32:19 PM

I have run a lot of hives with the entrance in that configuration. The British call that the "warm way". Since a British standard hive is square you can run it the "warm way" or like we do here the "cold way". The bees don't really seem to care that much.

JordanM · April 17, 2008, 06:35:30 PM

So MB your saying just leave them how they are?

Understudy · April 17, 2008, 10:21:49 PM

Leave them. The bees don't care.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Michael Bush · April 17, 2008, 11:35:29 PM

>So MB your saying just leave them how they are?

If it matters to you, then take some tin can lids and tack them over the holes. The bees won't care much either way, but they probably enjoy the extra entrance.

JordanM · April 18, 2008, 05:09:33 PM

Thants settled i will leave them how they are.