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I've tried top entrances and I found the following:
1) The higher the entrance is above the ground the more it gets affected by wind. Right above the ground there is much less wind than 1 meter above the ground. Wind is almost zero at ground level. Too me the height does make a difference, since we have a lot of wind here.
2) Guard bees guard the entrance. With a top entrance the first bees you meet when inspecting a hive are the guard bees. Now that is intelligent. First stir up the troublemakers.
3) The hive ventilation is completely different from a bottom entrance. The cold air enters the hive and falls right down on the bees. While the winter cluster doesn't heat the hive, the spring cluster with brood does heat the hive. It cost much honey and energy to maintain the hive warmth with a top entrance. It doesn't matter if you are wasting ressources anyway, wintering on many boxes and even more comb. And even on more honey. But if you want to be efficient, a solid bottom board with an entrance and a very well insulated hive does help a lot. Top entrance means forced ventilation which is the opposite to bee-controlled ventilation.
4) It is a pain to watch the bees drag out the debris and dirt all the way through the hive up and out of the top entrance! How much easier it is with a bottom entrance for the bees to clean the floor. Also in Spring during the cleansing flight, bees tend to poo when flying out of the entrance, due to the urgence. With a bottom entrance only the floor gets a few drops while all the dirt falls right away on the other bees and comb with a top entrance. If you ever experienced in a top entrance hive how readily bees use a bottom entrance when you open it up for them to clean the hive, you will never again use a top entrance.
5) If you want to harvest honey without brood on every comb in that hive, you need to maintain the structure of a natural bee nest. Unless all the combs are parallel to the entrance it is simply not possible to have a clear separation between honey and brood combs. But even with the combs being parallel to the entrance (warm way) the broodnest does flood with nectar much more likely and produces more swarms than with a bottom entrance and a vertical way of storing nectar. With brood scattered all over the combs you cannot renew the combs continueously, so you have lots of old combs which does affect the taste of the honey.
6) You cannot use a queen excluder with a top entrance.
For me top entrances do not work at all. Just a point of view. All beekeeping is local, so maybe somewhere else top entrance are the only way to go. Can't see this for my bees, though.
1) The higher the entrance is above the ground the more it gets affected by wind. Right above the ground there is much less wind than 1 meter above the ground. Wind is almost zero at ground level. Too me the height does make a difference, since we have a lot of wind here.
2) Guard bees guard the entrance. With a top entrance the first bees you meet when inspecting a hive are the guard bees. Now that is intelligent. First stir up the troublemakers.
3) The hive ventilation is completely different from a bottom entrance. The cold air enters the hive and falls right down on the bees. While the winter cluster doesn't heat the hive, the spring cluster with brood does heat the hive. It cost much honey and energy to maintain the hive warmth with a top entrance. It doesn't matter if you are wasting ressources anyway, wintering on many boxes and even more comb. And even on more honey. But if you want to be efficient, a solid bottom board with an entrance and a very well insulated hive does help a lot. Top entrance means forced ventilation which is the opposite to bee-controlled ventilation.
4) It is a pain to watch the bees drag out the debris and dirt all the way through the hive up and out of the top entrance! How much easier it is with a bottom entrance for the bees to clean the floor. Also in Spring during the cleansing flight, bees tend to poo when flying out of the entrance, due to the urgence. With a bottom entrance only the floor gets a few drops while all the dirt falls right away on the other bees and comb with a top entrance. If you ever experienced in a top entrance hive how readily bees use a bottom entrance when you open it up for them to clean the hive, you will never again use a top entrance.
5) If you want to harvest honey without brood on every comb in that hive, you need to maintain the structure of a natural bee nest. Unless all the combs are parallel to the entrance it is simply not possible to have a clear separation between honey and brood combs. But even with the combs being parallel to the entrance (warm way) the broodnest does flood with nectar much more likely and produces more swarms than with a bottom entrance and a vertical way of storing nectar. With brood scattered all over the combs you cannot renew the combs continueously, so you have lots of old combs which does affect the taste of the honey.
6) You cannot use a queen excluder with a top entrance.
For me top entrances do not work at all. Just a point of view. All beekeeping is local, so maybe somewhere else top entrance are the only way to go. Can't see this for my bees, though.