You can put an excluder on the bottom board and make sure there is no top entrance (notch in the inner cover etc.) available. That way you don’t have to cut down an excluder. But the lemongrass oil will work better. Better to keep them from WANTING to leave than to force the queen to stay. I’ve seen them leave the queen behind and move in with the colony next door…
Ouch! …
The quality of queens has sunk so low that I’ve seen it often… very dissappointing if you buy packages and one out of five moves next door…
Michael do you find this because you buy Queens in and perhaps badly mated?
Yes, I think it’s because the queens in the packages are badly mated. It may also be that they are inbred. I no longer buy packages or queens. It’s just not worth it.
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I have 2 brilliant Queens and will try to create more hives from them this year and any swarms I catch will hopefully have one of my Queens take the reins
There is a theory that varroa borne viruses are affecting drone fertility. Also DWV has been found in queens. Then there are nics.
Some stuff here too
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/rogerpatterson.html
That’s what I try to do but it depends on the quality of your neighbours’ drones.
I keep Buckfast and I am finding that I can only do that once. Granddaughters of my “pure” queens can produce naughty bees.
Which is why I want to breed my own Queens Dee - I have 2 good one’s an F1 and the other an F2 and they are great, so I’m going to try keep these girls and produce daughters from them
Originally their mother and Grandmother came from Paynes
I checked my Varroa boards and had a drop from my Vape at Christmas so I did another Vape today for added luck. Some of the girls came out to investigate what I was up to. All good!
I know.
But it still depends on your neighbouring drones. You cannot choose that.
Starting with good stock helps 
Pretty much Mongrels here
It’s great when it all goes to plan 
Are you going to graft or take swarm cell splits or just do queen-less splits?
See what comes about if I get a swarm will do a small split into a mating nuc - if that works well may do one a month and see how I get on.
If needs must, create a Queen with a Swarm if I don’t like the Queen, or if prolific swarm walk away split.
It depends what weather we are sent this year as well.
“The best laid plans of Mice and Men…”
Now that you are a keeper of bees you will be a weather watcher ad nauseam
Ohhhhh and an eternal optimist 
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Hi All
I have a new flow hive and live in Brisbane, Australia, a sub tropical region. This is a new experience for me. I was fortunate to be given a new brood so that my hive is well advanced already and I’m looking forward to seeing the bees establish themselves upstairs.
However, within my first week I’ve quickly learnt that the SHB also lives here and has moved in to my hive. I’m writing this to explain what I have done as I have some questions as I haven’t seen this issue addressed much yet in this forum.
I found that the corflute (bottom board) would catch the SHB but it didn’t kill them. In my investigations I’ve also found conflicting opinions as to whether the corflute should be in the top or second slot, or even there at all as it is mostly hot here.
This first photo shows the pedestal I built for my hive and how I’ve incorporated a SHB trap in which I put a 50/50 mixture of vegetable oil and white vinegar. It is located just behind the landing board.
Within 24 hours I’d caught my first beetles; unfortunately I also caught a couple of bees which must have entered from below as they couldn’t have come from above the screen. After installing the trap I reinserted the corflute but retracted it enough to leave the entrance to the trap exposed to the brood box.
So we shall see how it goes. I still wonder if the corflute should be in the upper or lower slot but that probably doesn’t make a difference to the SHB. I simply want them to find their way to the trap!
I’m interested to read what others’ experiences of managing the SHB have been.
@JeffH has extensive experience of SHB - it seems to me that he recommends squishing, combined with keeping strong hives.
I love your construction below the SBB (Corflute), but I would say that with that hole there under the left side of the hive (viewed from the front), if there is the smell of honey, wax etc coming out of it, bees will go in. So I would modify it by putting insect screen across any gap that a bee could get into.
Please forgive me if I have misunderstood your photos. Your construction is beautiful. My point is, you need to think like a bee - if it smells good and you can get to it, you will, even if it is lethal.
Please let us know what you think, and I am sure you will get more opinions from our Aussie friends here!
Dawn
Beautiful, you are way ahead of me! 
Michael_Bush First off Thank you for your comments. I know this topic is old, but it is new to me as a Newbie.
I have a screened bottom board myself. I installed a package in April. It’s now August with daytime temps average of 90F. I have removed the bottom strip from bottom board and placed it directly under the hive allowing plenty of air movement. I’ve also removed any entrance reducers to help with air flow.
For the top inner cover which has an oval cut into it, I have a double jar feeder directly over it and have been feeding them continuously since installing them. It was my understanding that they would let me know when to stop feeding them when they stopped eating the 1:1 sugar syrup. They have been eating it like crazy. The hive is flourishing as it has grown in size. They were slow to build out the foundation I supplied them with. Finally on my last inspection the hive was full of bees and they were building out the last two frames with comb. So I added another brood box. I also got stung on my finger during that inspection. I had been able to do all my inspections without smoke or any protective gear.
I think they may not have any food sources in this area of NW Arkansas. I have noticed there is not very many flowers in this area. That may be the reason I’m having to feed them with sugar syrup.
The reason for posting this in this topic heading, is What temperature should I reinsert the bottom cor board to close up the hive and what temperature should I reduce the entrance to the hive. I have two different size entrance reducers (one stick that can be turned). One size is 2-3 inches, the other is about 1/2 inch in size. What are your suggestions?
Thanks for considering,
The screened bottom board is not really for temperature control, it is to allow pests (varroa, small hive beetles and wax moth larvae) to fall out of the hive. In fact, counterintuitively, leaving the screen open actually makes hive ventilation less efficient. That is because bees use fanning to create a kind of laminar flow of air through the hive, and it works best if the entrance is not too big and the hive floor is solid.
Again, I don’t use temperature to decide on reducing the hive entrance. In fact mine stays at about 5 inches wide all year round. I chose this after reading some of Thomas Seeley’s research, where he found that given a choice, bees prefer a single entrance of about 15 sq centimeters. In fall, it is good to reduce the entrance height too, to stop small rodents from overwintering in your hive - 9mm or 3/8" should be about right. Unless your hive is very weak, I would use the bigger entrance on your stick.
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I have started leaving all my entrances reduced all the time. The bees do better, can cool the hive better and they don’t get robbed.
On my screened bottom boards, I leave the tray in all the time. Bees need to control the ventilation in the hive and a wide open bottom prevents this. It’s like trying to air condition your house with the door wide open. In really hot weather they need to COOL the hive. When it’s 104 F outside and the hive is in the sun they still need to keep it 93 F… Bees can’t cool the hive if there is too much ventilation. However with one small opening they can cool the entire hive. So I no longer buy screened bottoms and I put the tray in the ones I have or they are so close to the ground that the grass blocks all the draft.
It is very rare for bees to ever stop taking syrup. It is their nature to hoard sugar solutions and they will do that at the expense of even a place for the queen to lay eggs and the bees to rear brood. Usually this results in them swarming when they have very few bees to spare. If there is nectar coming in I do not feed. If there is no nectar coming in, I still don’t feed unless they are getting light on stores or unless it’s getting late in the year (like now) and then I may have to feed to get them up to winter weight. Feeding creates all sorts of problems including ants, robbing, swarming, drowned bees, bees out of synch with their environment etc.
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