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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Thomas Grizzle <griz AT mindspring.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Entrance Reducer
  • Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:07:08 -0400

Tom,

The only reason you "need" to make it larger is to increase foraging efficiency; time wasted on the landing board standing in line to get in is time the bees aren't out foraging. On the other end of the spectrum, an entrance must be defended against robbing bees, yellow jackets, etc.; a too-large entrance makes that harder. So you are balancing those two considerations.

When I use an entrance reducer, I start small and increase the size incrementally when the incoming bees start having traffic jams getting in & out. That's a good sign that the population is large enough to defend a larger opening.

Randall Austin
 

On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 8:39 AM, Thomas Grizzle <griz AT mindspring.com> wrote:

Newbee Question: How long, and at what setting, “should” the reducer be used at when hiving a new bee box w/queen?

 

To rephrase, there are three settings, the smallest hole, the medium hole, and no reducer at all…which is best, for what length of time for this time of year given my new set up?  Multiple opinions are expected…

 

My one Langstroth hive with a top feeder ate the equivalent of a 5 pound bag of sugar (as 1:1 syrup) in the 4 days since it was hived last Friday!  I’m surprised, this time of year.

 

Thanks!

Tom Grizzle


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