[odfrank]

I am newer to all medium hives and 8 frame hives in the last 10 years only. So.....we found this year at a marginal site, that has done better than I expected early on, an unusual scenario. Because of good eucalyptus bloom and properly timed mite treatment, the two hives were full of bees brood and honey. But normally I find the bees have moved up and away from the bottom box over winter and prefer to store honey above the brood. But this time both of these hives had substantial honey and some brood in the bottom box and the bulk of the* brood in the two boxes above, with only some honey. So I am trying to understand what made them store so much honey in the bottom? Anyone have experience with this happening? The hives do have slatted racks.

 

[odfrank]

3/8" high wide open bottom entrance. 1 1/2" wide inner cover slot.

odfrank, how do you set up entrances? One at the bottom, or top, or multiple entrances? Airflow might make a difference. Just speculating from my own lack of experience.

My 4 hives are all right against the top and have been all winter, but that is due to poor flows last fall so they had essentially no stores and are subsisting off the sugar I put on the top. Sounds like your situation is different though.