Entrance Reducer
Lexikon
The entrance reducer is a simple wood or plastic aid used to narrow the opening of the hive entrance without closing it completely.
The entrance reducer is a simple wood or plastic aid used to narrow the opening of the hive entrance without closing it completely. It is pushed in from outside, in front of or into the hive entrance, and narrows the passage for the bees to a slim gap.
The entrance reducer is used above all for small colonies, freshly formed nucleus colonies, and in winter, when a large entrance can hardly be defended by few bees. A narrowed entrance is easier for the guard bees to control, which makes it harder for foreign, robbing bees and wasps to get in. The reducer is also used as protection against mice, which like to seek winter quarters in the warm hive in autumn.
A typical mistake is only reducing the entrance once robbing is already being observed in the apiary. It makes more sense to narrow the entrance as a precaution toward the end of the last nectar flow in late summer, while the colonies are still strong enough to defend the smaller opening well. In strong colonies in summer, on the other hand, the entrance should not be narrowed too much, as this would otherwise obstruct flight traffic and ventilation of the hive.