Ron B. questioned whether a "shingle wedge" might work well to provide an
upper entrance over a queen excluder.

I use excluders when producing honey for extraction (DO NOT USE for comb
honey production).  As a strong believer in upper entrances for extracted
honey production, I accomplish this by setting all supers above the excluder
forward by about 2".  The bees then use this empty space for entering and
exiting the hive (above the excluder) and there are no signs that the rain
entering in the back 2" that is exposed has any negative effect.

I agree with Ron concerning his questioning of lower entrances.  My own
theory of how this started goes back to honey production in Langstroth's
time.  At that time, only comb honey was produced as the extractor had not
yet been invented.  When producing comb honey, an upper entrance is not
desirable as this will darken the comb from bees walking on it.  My theory
is that beekeepers have kept lower entrances (and solid bottom boards) just
because it has always been done that way.

On a related subject, Roger Morse used to say that when producing extracted
honey one is better off using frames with "ears", or spacers.  He claimed
that these were added solely for comb honey production, as they save the
beekeeper a lot of time by providing automatic spacing.  He said that
straight frames work a lot better in an extractor, but no one manufacturers
them solely because beekeepers have always used frames with the spacers!

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner of Ross Rounds, manufacturer of comb honey equipment
for beekeepers and Sundance pollen traps.
http://www.rossrounds.com
[log in to unmask]