Would bees enlarge a crack to make 2nd Entrance?

[pcooley]

When I built my hive, one of the warped boards didn't pull tight when I screwed it together. Since the board was starting to split where the screw was going in, I just left the space figuring the bees would fill it in with propolis, and would probably do a better job than I could with glue.

I've been peeking in the crack at them since I hived the bees last week, and they have been hard at work on the crack, but it doesn't seem to be filling in, and I hear the distinct sound of chewing.

Would bees enlarge a gap to make a second entrance? And would there be any problem with that?

The hive plans I used call for a three inch long side entrance, and it does seem a little crowded with bees coming and going, so my current inclination is to let the bees do what feels right to them with the crack. I could always work a shim of wood into the crack if I should seal it in.

Any suggestions?

[Michael Bush]

>Would bees enlarge a gap to make a second entrance?

They will try. With good solid wood they usually don't succeed but with rotton or punky wood they will.

> And would there be any problem with that?

If you want to close the hive those extraneous entrances are a bit frustrating but otherwise they cause no problems. You can seal it too. It doesn't really matter.

[girl Mark]

One of my friends' hives has a chewing-prone colony. Just another genetic thing?

anyway, theyve been sealing the wood with that flooring plaster-like sealant- anyone know what I"m talking about? Comes in a box and mixes with water and seems like a really hard-setting version of plaster? anyway, it doestn' seem to stress the bees. Caulks are sometimes smelly, which might be bad.

I've used various glues to deal with holes from chewing and the bees seem to remove those while they're still wet.


the only problem I'd see with a second entrance is if it's toward the back and they post guard bees at it, which would theoretically make them a little more defensive when you start going through the back of the hive. In my experience that's only a problem with extremely defensive bees.

[size="1"][ April 22, 2006, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: girl Mark ][/size]