Randy Oliver asks:

> Could others with bored entrances in upper boxes please chime in --
> do you observe that bees fill them with propolis, or not?

I don't use upper ventilation.  I did use sugar blocks on at least some of the hives the last three winters.  The shims on them had a half inch hole and they were never touched with propolis.

I have had hive bodies fit lose or the bees chew out corners higher on the hive and notice that the bees bringing pollen and I assume nectar wait in line to use those holes or gaps over just going to the bottom of the hive.  If I inspect and move a box and change the entrance, the bees will go there for some time and then crawl down or find up where the hole has been moved to.  They almost always seem to like the defects in my hives that are higher up then the bottom but some always still use the bottom.  This does not seem to change much whether I run a reduced entrance or and open entrance.   Some bees always use the bottom even while it seems their preference is the higher spots on the hives .  I did not ever see the bees using the hole in the sugar block shims very much at all which I find interesting and so consider it the working bees that like the higher areas.

Not a very big amount of hives to compare.  Year before last I had 10 hives with about four of them with shims and this year I have 9 hives and no shims.  Knock on wood, so far all my hives have lived through all winters regardless of if they had the upper entrance (one with shims) or no upper entrance.  Looks good so far this year but time will tell.  I do not have notched inter covers either.
Cheers
gww 

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