I'll be starting a hive shortly and have a lazy idea for setting up the entrances, at least at first.
A while ago, I saw a video where someone took a fallen hollow tree and put plexiglass on one side and drilled multiple entrance holes in the tree. The filmmaker then filled most of the holes with mud, the idea being that the bees would open those holes as needed. Then got a swarm to move in, and filmed the whole bit (time-lapsed).
Would this work for a KTB hive? Yes it won't be that pretty, but if I start some bees off with 1 entrance, and (for arguments sake) 5 others filled with mud wouldn't the bees be able to adjust these openings without my intervention? (Hey we need another entrance, get rid of that dirt, or, hey it's breezy, close that new one up with propolis). I also think it would be interesting to do this and see which ones they choose to open. You could test if they prefer openings on the end, or sides, or top.
Just curious if anyone's seen of/done something like this.
A while ago, I saw a video where someone took a fallen hollow tree and put plexiglass on one side and drilled multiple entrance holes in the tree. The filmmaker then filled most of the holes with mud, the idea being that the bees would open those holes as needed. Then got a swarm to move in, and filmed the whole bit (time-lapsed).
Would this work for a KTB hive? Yes it won't be that pretty, but if I start some bees off with 1 entrance, and (for arguments sake) 5 others filled with mud wouldn't the bees be able to adjust these openings without my intervention? (Hey we need another entrance, get rid of that dirt, or, hey it's breezy, close that new one up with propolis). I also think it would be interesting to do this and see which ones they choose to open. You could test if they prefer openings on the end, or sides, or top.
Just curious if anyone's seen of/done something like this.