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Fri, 15 Dec 1995 07:58:00 -0800 |
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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]
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