Re upper entrances The conventional wisdom around here varies, but generally people wintering outdoors have an upper entrance, which often is closed in late spring to avoid excess bee activity from the top of the hive during inspections. Another version (wintering indoors) uses no upper entrance during winter (no snow blockage). In early spring, weak hives managed like this (always 2 boxes) don't seem to have an easy time, sometimes having to dig through a layer of cold dead mouldy bees near the entrance. They survive in spite of it perhaps. One large outfit has adopted a combined queen excluder/entrance (full width) above the brood chamber, to reduce forager traffic in the brood chamber and traffic through the excluder (feeling it damages bees). Although bee colonies process nectar through the brood chamber during light flows, it's hard to believe they do so on days the hive gains 20 or 30 pounds. There's lots of flight from these entrances during a flow, but I don't know if the nectar goes straight to the supers, as the beekeeper hopes.. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET [log in to unmask]