Is an Intrance reducer necessary with a flow hive??
I always use entrance reducers, even on my Flow hive. You can make a simple one from stacked paint stir sticks, craft sticks or wood shims. I like to reduce the entrance to about 6" wide, based on Thomas Seeley’s research on bees’ preference for an entrance of 15 square centimeters. The flow entrance is about 1cm high. Six inches is 15cm, so that is why I do it that way. 
Entrance reducers help reduce robbing, make it harder for pests to enter the hive and probably improve the efficiency of fanning for ventilation.
3 Likes
Thank you for that info Dawn. I will do the same. By the way thank you for all ways responding. I’m starting to look to you as my bee mentor.
2 Likes
I am just starting to think about entrance reducer for winter. I am wondering how you attach your reducer to the flow hive? I bought a commercial
Entrance reducer but realized when I went to place it that the opening is not standard, so I lien the idea of the paint stir sticks but am wondering how to attach?
You don’t need to attach them. You just make a stack high enough that they wedge in with friction. You might suit up first and use a stack of unglued sticks stuffed into the entrance (gently) to estimate how many you need. It needs to be a pretty tight fit, or the bees will push it out! They can be very determined.
1 Like