bottom board w/ 3/8" entrance

[Carol]

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.

[Michael Bush]

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.

[AllenF]

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. 

[BlueBee]

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.

[Carol]

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.