Big boys.

[seyc]

I put the entrance reducer in one of my hives and then had to flip it over and move it out a bit. My drones were getting stuck. My excluder came with the "starter package" I got at my local bee shop. It has an opening 2-3 bees wide and one that is about 4 inches wide. They are currently using the 4" one. Are my bees bigger than normal? They were on rite-cell foundation (which I think is 5.4mm, yes?). The reducer looks like the standard one sold at Dadent http://www.dadant.com/catalog/produc...roducts_id=720 and Mann Lake (there is not a direct link).

Maybe, I should just measure the drone cells that they made and see how big they are. I am not sure I want to try that any time soon. The weather report for the next week says that it is going to warm up to 54 on Friday and Monday, and rain the whole time.

[Scott J.]

Are they "stuck" outside? This time of year the girls will drag the drones out and not let them back in. Its a bit late in our season to still have drones. Sometimes a hive will keep drones around later if there is a queen problem of some sort too. Scott

[seyc]

Actually, they were stuck inside. I put the reducer on to stop robbing a couple of months ago, and the drones did not fit. A few weeks later, I turned it so the big opening was their access and the drones still did not fit. It has been sitting that way for at least the past month and a half.

[tommyt]

B93101.jpg

the small whole in this pic( Dadant) should allow Drones

[seyc]

As we both put up a picture of the same thing from the same company, I think the main thing is that "should" and "does" are two separate things.