> Upper entrances may be nice in the winter but can cause your honey yields
> to take a dramatic drop and are not necessary even in the hottest and
> wettest locations...
 
Now there is an interesting statement.
 
Not that I disagree, but I would like to know more of Andy's thinking on
this.  I've said similar things and gotten quite a bit of flack.  Here's
are some of my thoughts:
 
Comb building will suffer in a hive which does not conserve heat due to
being too large or too draughty. I'm curious about the 'dramatic drop' Andy
mentions being caused by top entrances,  how this can be proven -- and how
he has arrived at this conclusion (one with which I tend to agree --
without much proof though).
 
Generally hives which lose their lids do not produce honey very well
around here -- even if there is no rain.  A 'no lid' condition is is
definitely too much ventillation in our area.  I wonder if Andy's comments
refer to the ventillation aspect of upper entrances or some other factor
such as loss of contact between workers and queen? The entry of light may
be a factor here too?  Drifting?
 
Hives which have upper entrances in a yard where other hives do not
have them may pick up bees from those other hives over time, particularly
if the yard is disturbed, say by removing and adding supers.  Comparing
two hives, one with and one without upper entrance holes may be difficult
due to this effect.
 
If ventilation is the problem which causes the 'dramatic drop', an
interesting point is that the designer and promoter of the DE hive claims
increased and better ventillation --and also much improved production.
(Hmmmm.  I've wanted to say something critical about that design ever
since he wrote me -- out of the blue -- threatening to sue me if I
attacked his baby.  I find it hard to resist such a challenge, but have
never seen a DE hive and don't have much to say other than that I
personally wonder if it measures up to all the designer's claims.  I
suppose if I see one sometime I'll have something to say).
 
My experience over the years has been that there is a correct level of
ventillation and that the bees can manage the air flow in enclosures
with many different configurations of holes and shapes during periods when
they are not forced by cold to cluster.  However there is a cost to this
work and, moreover, some configurations -- particularly those with excess
uncontrollable air flow -- can cause work to stop prematurely due to
temperature drop in the hive.
 
Allen
 
 
 
 
 
 
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