With regard to the entrance reducer thread.
 
All my hives make a propolis wall about a centimeter in from the
entrance with a few holes in it. The bees shut the holes they don't
need in winter.
 
If I put a reducer over the entrance, the amount of space for bees to
land on is reduced, so bees bump the reducer and are too chilled to
get back in occasionally. If they had had that 1cm of space to touch
down on they would have been okay.
 
Also, the entrance reducer gives the bees little place for guards,
leading to robbing problems on warm days.
 
So my feeling: entrance reducers are a waste of time that interfere
with the bees natural ventilation mechanisms. I have only used them
on hives that I have started during the winter which cannot gather
much propolis because it is all rock hard on the trees due to the
temp.
 
Keep well
 
Garth
 
---
Garth Cambray       "Opinions expressed in this post may be those
15 Park Road         of Pritz, my cat, who knows a lot about
Grahamstown          catfood."
6140                       *[log in to unmask]*
South Africa               Phone 27-0461-311663
 
In general, generalisations are bad.
But don't worry BEEEEEE happy.