How to stop robbing with top entrance.

[lupester]

I have been changing my hives to top entrances, basically migratory covers with door shims glued to them. With this sort of setup how do you stop robbing?

Regards,
Lupester

[Michael Bush]

I have a piece of screen molding cut to reduce the entrance to about an inch and a half and put one nail in the middle so it will pivot. You could cut some one by and make the same thing, but the screen mold was the right thickness and width and easily cut by just scoring with a pocket knife on both sides and breaking. If you already have robbing you might find screen more effective. Just cut a small piece to go across all but the last inch or so. That way the robbers get more confused by the smell through the screen. You could even build robber screens. They would be just a frame of one by (could be as small as 3/4" by 3/4" for the stock) probably about five or six inches tall and the width of the hive with a notch for the entrance and put this over the entrance with the screened in portion below the entrance. Just an upside down and simplified version of this:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/RobberScreenHiveSide.JPG

The picture is of the back side of the robber screen.