Hi all,

I'm a second-year beekeeper. I started last year with a Langstroth hive, but now want to try the top bar hive design. Moving full Langstroth supers gets old really quickly.

Anyway, I'm building my own top bar hive, using the Phil Chandler design. He advises drilling 3 1" holes for the entrance. A 1" hole is definitely big enough for mice to get in, but I really like the idea of being able to use a cork to regulate flow.

So my question is: do I need an entrance reducer? I was thinking that 1/2" hardware cloth (which I have on hand), attached inside the hive would work as an entrance reducer and still enable me to use corks to regulate flow. Or would something like that mess with the bees? What's your experience with this?