Bees getting under the roof

Has anyone else seen bees getting in under the sides of the flowhive roof from the outside? It seems that the roof doesn’t fit well enough to lose the gaps. Any suggestions?

Cover the hole in the inner cover with a tile or similar. Then the hive smell won’t get into the roof, and the temptation is gone. :blush:

Yes I can but it should be tight, right?

Not really essential. If you photograph the underside of the roof, I am sure some carpentry gurus here can tell you where the leak is. Once you know, you can plug it. :blush:

In all our flow hives the bees can’t get in and out of the roof- check everything to make sure it’s fully seated over the inner cover- and see what the issue is. In the hoop pine hives it’s a tight fit - on the cedar early version there is more wiggle room

Maybe your roof is on the wrong way?

Some of the early cedar roof tops had sloppy rests inside them (the part that sits on the inner cover). There are photos of that on this forum. The rests did not meet at the corners, leaving a gap big enough for bees to navigate, if they wanted. My roof often gets cockroaches and spiders in it. I guess I could fix the issue if I wanted to, but it doesn’t bother me enough. I just close the hole in the inner cover, then wax moths, wasps and bees do not have a sneaky top entrance. :blush:

It might not be a problem. I noticed a similar situation on both of my hives. I was finding bees hugging the underside of the flow hive roof in between the telescoping lid and the top of the attic lid. I thought I had a “leak” or opening they were getting in and out of. They weren’t.

I actually sat down and got under and looked up and watched them for a while. The bees there were not coming in or going out. They were simply hanging in the shade. Extra guards? I don’t know. But It turned out not to be an egress issue at all. The 1.5 cm gap around the telescoping edge seems to attract them but my lid is flush sealed all the way around.

So…at least for me, it turned out to be just bees hanging out. But I have seen what you are describing.

Arvada

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