Not using the bottom board entrance?

[Jf01]

This is my 3rd year. I've yet to go in & inspect my two hives this spring due to time constraints and weather. I do notice that on warm days the Bees are mainly using the top vent hole of the inner cover as an entrance and exit, very little activity at the regular opening of the bottom board?

What would cause this? They were not like this last spring or summer...


Thanks
John

[Joseph Clemens]

Natural preference.

[Michael Bush]

>Natural preference.

Probably. But perhaps the grass is taller now?

[Mike Gillmore]

Could there be piles of dead bees still on the bottom board limiting free access to the entrance? If so, it may be easier for them to navigate through the top notch rather than fight their way through piles of corpses.

Just a thought.

[brooksbeefarm]

I would check the bottomboard for dead bees, or maybe mouse nest.

[Jim Fischer]

If you provide an upper entrance and a lower one at the same time, some
hives will prefer one over the other for no apparent reason at all.

I think it is an intelligence test.
"Smarter" colonies avoid the crush of the brood chamber, and use the upper entrances when available.

Of course, no one buys this explanation, as there is no metric for relative
levels of bee intelligence. I'm not about to push it, as the entire concept
of a "smarter" bee stinks of anthropomorphism.