Best diameter for round hole upper entrances?

I'm thinking of using some upper drilled holes as the only entrance to some nuc-type starter colonies in regular hive boxes (with SBB for added ventilation).

I know lots of people advise drilling 3/4" round holes for upper hive body entrances, which can be plugged and opened according to need, with either corks or slider doors.....but
3/4" seems to me to be really large and may be hard for nucs to defend against robbing. Do others use smaller 'corking hole entrances' to advantage? How big do these holes really need to be to allow a good number of bees to go in and out as a main entrance without a huge area to guard against robbing?
Did folks arrive at 3/4" for some particular reason?
Thanks for any thoughts on this.

Well...with lots of wine corks laying around...I choose that diameter...;)

Look at a 3/4 hole now place guard bees around it, how many ?
5-6 would have it surrounded, I believe there are a lot more guards then this in a Nuc sized hive.

Course I've been wrong a time or two before.

:lookout: PCM

drill the 3/4" hole and screen it on the inside then you can put a cork in the outside to close it but it does not have to be guarded.

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Originally Posted by slickbrightspear

drill the 3/4" hole and screen it on the inside then you can put a cork in the outside to close it but it does not have to be guarded.

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Thanks, but...

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I'm thinking of using some upper drilled holes as the only entrance to some nuc-type starter colonies in regular hive boxes (with SBB for added ventilation).

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I used 7/8" upper entrances on my nucs last year. Worked well, no robbing problems and they were in the same area as some of my production hives.

I used 7/8 also which the girls pretty quickly propolized to single bee size.

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Originally Posted by Growing Boy

I used 7/8 also which the girls pretty quickly propolized to single bee size.

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They fix things how they want them in a hurry. I'm using 3/4 holes in mine. They propolized that down to 1/2 inch. I'll stick with 3/4 holes and wine corks.

We are taught to use 5/8" holes here in MA

jeb123 ,,,,
Well...with lots of wine corks laying around...I choose that diameter...

so do you brew ???? if you do have you try ed brewing honey ??? mine turned out great

Big enough for one to get through:)

I use 3/4" and Cabo Wabo plugs!

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Originally Posted by Ueli Hoffmann

I use 3/4" and Cabo Wabo plugs!

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Reposado o Anejo?

:applause: Sólo Añejo mi amigo, sólo Añejo!

Mine are just a little larger diameter than 3/8".