Why Remove Entrance Reducers?

[Devbee]

Howdy fellow beekeepers,

I just hived my package 6 days ago, and I have the entrance reduced to the smallest hole of my reducer (which has two size "settings", the smallest one and one that is maybe 4 inches wide).

I am somewhat paranoid of robbing, so I thought, "Why should I ever remove or widen my entrance reducers?". My thinking is that they can live with the small entrance, and it helps them defend their hive more easily.

Is there a downside to leaving just a small entrance on the hive? If so, when do I know to remove the reducer?

Thanks!

[drobbins]

the goal of many beekeepers is to prevent the hive from swarming and thereby have an un-naturally large hive which will gather lots of honey.
if you succeed at this you will have so much traffic at the entrance that the reducer would be stopping the girls from doing the job you want them to do.
but I kinda agree with your point, when the flow is over, why not leave it restricted?

Dave

[iddee]

Why should the bees have to suffer because of a paranoid beek? When the brood has hatched and making forager flights, change to the four inch opening.
About 5 weeks.

When the second box is drawn out, open the entrance completely and stop feeding. The bees need unencumbered access when the flow is on.

[Oldbee]

If you hived a 3 # package of bees the population is about 10 to 12 thousand bees; [from a book]. A good strong hive will have 35 to 45+ thousand bees at its peak in the summer. I am only guessing now but you are probably seeing only about 6 to 12, maybe 20 bees around the entrance at any one time moving in and out. You will probably know when there is a lot of congestion at the entrance and it will be time to open it up more. Also when it gets warmer; and it will we hope, there will be bees that will need space for "fanning" by the entrance to create air circulation for the hive. As far as the "congestion" at the entrance during the peak of your honey flow, don't be overly concerned about robbing. It all takes experience. Good luck.

[Michael Bush]

>Is there a downside to leaving just a small entrance on the hive?

Sooner or later there will be a traffic jam.

> If so, when do I know to remove the reducer?

Where there is a traffic jam.

[Limey]

I hived a package 2 weeks ago and I have already gone from the small to the wider 4" entrance. There is so much pollen around at the moment and the days are nice that I noticed a jam at the peak of the day.

[Brent Bean]

Three reasons not to leave the entrance reduced all season. Congestion and ventilation during hot weather and processing nectar into honey during a good flow. Besides a good strong hive can defend itself form robbing.