BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > TOP BAR HIVES - WARRE HIVES - LONG HIVES

Here a door, there a door...

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Occam:
I spent this afternoon building a couple of long hives, they'll hold 31 standard frames at full capacity. Still have the tops to make, but that's for another day. I'd originally planned on putting 2 entrances on the long side opposite the side I plan to work from but now I'm wondering should I just put it on the end. I can of course put entrances on bothe the ends and a long side and using entrance discs close off whatever entrance I don't want them to use. Anyone have any reasons for using one entry side over another in a long hive?

I could also drill out several .5" holes in anticipation of putting dividers in and using one box as a multi nuc box/resource hive if I wanted to. Easy to keep them closed with a dowel piece or entrance disc when not in use

Aaron

cao:
I put slots about 1/2 x 3 inches long on one end of my long hives.  It has worked well for me.  With one entrance on the end, the bees tend to put extra honey stores on the far end.  I don't know how thet would store honey with multiple entrances along the side.

Michael Bush:
I prefer to have one entrance at one end, preferably at the top.  That way the brood nest is at one end instead of the middle.  This is important during winter so they don't work their way to one end and starve with food at the other end.  Also I have on occasion had a long hive get robbed from the back while they were only guarding the front.

Occam:
Good thoughts both, I appreciate the input

Bob Wilson:
I also think that entrances at both ends encourage a brood nest in the middle and honey on each side. That messes with inspections, and (I would think) makes it harder to keep the brood nest open. It creates a honey barrier on both sides of the nest, and encourages swarming.
My question is about putting the entrance on the long side at one end or the short side at one end.
In one picture I have a short end entrance. There is bee space under the migratory top, so they can move air though easily. I like top entrances especially for long hives, because I question their ease of getting humidity out of the hive without the benefit of the stacked langstroth chimney effect.
The other picture is a long side entrance at one end of a hive I inherited from a friend. It is sideways to the frames which is good for air movement, but is a bottom entrance, which I do not like. However, the hive's top is a peaked roof, which draws air upwards. The second entrance he put at the other end I keep closed, to avoid the double entrance problem.
Since I plan to remove the queen in this hive two weeks before the honey flow, and pack it with capped brood for maximizing the work force, I will open the other entrance to give them access to both ends, but only until they make a new queen.

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