hello, I have the panel slide in to keep bees from accessing the screen from the outside. when do I move it.?
Thanks, Steve
Hi there,
We would be happy to help but Im not sure I understand what you mean?
Can you take a photo and show us?
The flow hive set up came with a white corrugated panel that slides into the base from the back. Was told to have it in the top slot to keep bees from wanting to go there. so that said, do I keep it in that position or do I put it into the lower slot or remove all together ?
Thanks, Steve
sorry, I really didn’t do a good job in explaining my situation.
Depends on what you are using it for. If you have just installed a package, it should be in the upper position until they are nicely established. If you are harvesting from your Flow frames, it should be in the upper position, so that the bees can reach it with their “tongues” (proboscis) to lick up any honey spilled from the frames. If you want to put Vaseline or use Cedar’s tablecloth hive beetle trap, it should be in the lower position. If you want beetles and varroa to fall out of the hive, you can take it out, but counterintuitively, that may reduce the efficiency of bees ventilating the hive.
1 Like
just installed package 5 days ago
So you have it in exactly the right position. 
I would leave it there for now, unless you have a good reason to move it.
Thank you Dawn,
Ventilation ? As of right now the only significant air flow is through their entrance which I closed off about 80%. I’m planning on opening it slowly to full in about 6-8 weeks. Am I on the right track?. Weather here in Pa is at 40-75 right know.
Yes, you are on the right track, but I wouldn’t open it fully, just move it to the lower slot and use it to catch varroa and SHB if you have them.
The comment about ventilation was because you might think that opening the screen up by removing the plastic sheet would improve airflow in the hive. Actually it doesn’t. That is because bees use directed fanning of their wings to create almost laminar airflow through the hive. For that to work efficiently, they actually require fairly limited entrances, otherwise they have to try to move a lot more air (from the open screen), and they can’t get it flowing effectively. Hard to imagine until you understand how they do things. Various people have studied the best size for an entrance, and it come out to about 15 square centimeters - which is about half of the hive entrance width in Flow hives. You might want to start with a smaller entrance (as you have), but even for a full hive about half of the width is more than enough. This allows enough space for traffic and ventilation, with not too much space for them to defend from robbers, wasps, etc.
thanks for that @Dawn_SD! i learnt a few new things!
im travelling at the moment but im keen to put in an entrance reducer as soon as i get home.
1 Like
Thank you Dawn, you answered all my questions.
