# to drill or not to drill a hole



## kbee (Mar 6, 2005)

I have holes in all my deep hive bodies. I don't use bottom entrances. I have never had a problem with robbing, the bees can defend the hole entrances easily. I would advise not putting holes in your supers, that could more likely lead to robbing.


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## smgchandler (Apr 20, 2008)

so you put the holes in the hive body and not the supers on top with the honey in them ? -makes sense but with the holes not being at the top of the hive does it do just as good ventilating on the 1st or 2nd hive body box ? - the purpose of ventilation is to let the moisture out that the bees produce cooling the comb and keeping the brood and themselves warm ? - is it the moisture that you want out and the heat in the summer ? and the holes also aid in an extra entrance for when there is flow to keep the bees from having to crawl over all the nurse bees on the brood from teh bottom entrance ? -- i have a butterfly bit in the drill as i type but i just wanted to see how many beekeepers drill the holes - i think i have more important stuff to worry about with the bees but i guess im a little nervous about doing all i can for them for the winter


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

smgchandler said:


> - but i would like to know how many folks drill the 3/4 inch hole just under the grip on their top box -


Do your inner covers have a notch in the rim on the short side? With the rim down, and notch facing the front of the hive, you have an upper entrance/ventilation port already made for you. If no notch, make one 3/8x2


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## kbee (Mar 6, 2005)

My inner covers have a notch like Mike mentioned.


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## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

I believe in providing additional ventilation for my bees, but I don't like the idea of drilling holes in my boxes.

Which is why I use Imirie shims! Sometimes also known as Medication Shims, it's a "rim" made of wood, the same dimensions as a super, but only 1 1/2" inches tall. In this, I drill a 3/4" inch hole. This allows me to add (or remove) ventilation or an entrance where ever (and whenever) I choose. 

In the fall, if one chooses to medicate, a quick piece of duct tape over the hole and you have a spacer used to place meds on top of the brood chamber. 

The only downsides I can find are: 1) It's one (small) extra piece of equipment you need to store when not in use, and 2) If you leave the Imirie shim on too long, the bees will fill the extra space with burr comb, usually on the bottom of the frames directly above the shim, which is easily cleaned off.

For more details and uses, Google "Imirie shim" and read up on George Imirie's other uses and ideas.

Good luck,
DS


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I have drilled holes and I have regretted it. So I no longer do. Now I use either a Imirie shim or a notched inner cover or shims to prop up the inner cover or lid.


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## Mike the Rookie (Apr 11, 2008)

Michael Bush said:


> I have drilled holes and I have regretted it. So I no longer do. Now I use either a Imirie shim or a notched inner cover or shims to prop up the inner cover or lid.


Why do you regret it? Was there robbing? What happened?


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

I have drilled holes in the hive bodies. I think it gives me the option of having them open during hot weather and perhaps providing additional entrances. I guess this is the,.. 'old fashioned' way of doing it. It is easy to put corks in the holes as the honey season comes to the end. I have found that the bees don't often 'FIND' that entrance that is under the telescoping cover provided by a notch in the inner cover; especially during late winter-Feb.-March and get lost in the snow, so I keep the hole in the top box open.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

I use holes in my boxes. I usually have a hole in my second brood box and one in most of my supers. Some points.....

The bees will use both entrances. When placing supers, if I plug the brood box hole, they automatically move up to the super hole. This means that if i am using a queen excluder, they are from the first minute of use, going in above the excluder. Never had a problem with bees NOT going through an excluder.

I also like the additional holes for ventilation, having entrances to keep traffic down in the brood chamber, and the ease of plugging the entrances as was mentioned with cork or a wad of paper.

I do not like inner cover entrances. And I do not like shims. Too much burr comb and its extra equipment.

My hole in the second box is normally also only half way up the box. I want bees to have the dead air space that they normally and naturally have in nature. I think it helps with brood building in early spring.

Most moisture problems I have found with beehives had to do with feeding syrup late in the year. Some beekeepers feed all winter long. Many deadouts of other people's hives I looked at had frames of open sugar syrup. Moisture killed them, but only because the beekeeper put it there. To me, if you eliminate this by feeding other ways come late fall, you don't need to worry about upper entrances for moisture concerns.

Regardless of what you do...don't make drastic changes to your hives late in the year. Bees need time to propolize, seal, control, and make the needed changes to how they want the hive to ventilate.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Why do you regret it?

1. Forgetting to plug every hole when moving or closing up or putting a bee escape on is a disaster.

2. Putting your hand over the hole makes it very prone to getting stung.

3. I never have anything handy to close the hole when I want it closed.

4. I have had weak hives getting robbed because they forgot to guard the extra entrance.

5. You can always drill a hole. Undrilling it is more difficult.

6. A hole in a box makes it have a front and back so you have one more thing to keep track of.

7. If I'm using an empty box to cover a feeder it can set off robbing if I don't remember to plug the hole.

I can see the merit in Bjorn's method of having a hole in ALL the boxes in the same place with the same size hole and a standard cork to stop them all up. But the corks would be one more thing to keep track of and most of the above still discourages me from doing it.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

>>5. You can always drill a hole. Undrilling it is more difficult.

one of life's great lessons

Dave


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Michael Bush said:


> >Why do you regret it?
> 
> 1. Forgetting to plug every hole when moving or closing up or putting a bee escape on is a disaster.
> 
> ...


Refer to the appropriate number above...

1)And why would that be any different in the total number of holes to remember whether its a drilled hole or an inner cover notch or imrie shim?

2)Grabbed other people's top many times and was surprised of the inner cover hole guards.

3) I never leave the house withour toilet paper in the truck.

4)Never heard of bees forgetting to gaurd an entrance. But would this not aply to imrie shims and inner cover notches? 

5) Why would you want to undrill a hole? I put it there for a reason, and that reason stays the same year after year.

6)I ALWAYS put my boxes back on the same way as I took them off. My holes tell me which way is correct. Why would you not want to know this. The bees put things where they want, and its not all the same. Use the holes as guideposts! Put the boxes back the same way!

7) Well duh! Alot can happen if you forget things. A person never having bees will never have robbing either. But that's no rationale for this point, and neither is saying to not do something because you "might" forget.

MB.....We have had the pleasure of listing these points before. And slowly they get changed with time. But I feel your really trying to "stretch" this with this latest list.


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## B. Haning (Sep 14, 2007)

I use 1 1/8th inch holes in each body and close them with pop/beer bottle caps when not in use. My uncle used them in all his equipment. He had two queen colonies that were up to 15 medium depth supers high. He said bees were more productive flying directly to the super where they were storing their honey because they don't spend time crawling from the bottom of these "sky scraper" hives up to the top to deposit the nectar.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>4)Never heard of bees forgetting to gaurd an entrance.

I've only seen it in a hive that is weak or got weak because of queenlessness or swarming, but the robbing was not pretty and was going on while the local bees seemed oblivious.

>But would this not aply to imrie shims and inner cover notches?

Certainly which are easy to close without finding something to close them with. You just slide the cover back. But then mine are all top entrances all the time so I never close them unless I'm moving the hive and then I just duct tape the lid on anyway or flip it over.

>6)I ALWAYS put my boxes back on the same way as I took them off. My holes tell me which way is correct. Why would you not want to know this. The bees put things where they want, and its not all the same. Use the holes as guideposts! Put the boxes back the same way!

Again, I'm sure when all your boxes are drilled you have a habit to always look for the holes. Since only a few of mine are, I am not in the habit, so, of course, some get on backwards from time to time. Not a disaster but sometimes a surprise.

>MB.....We have had the pleasure of listing these points before. And slowly they get changed with time. But I feel your really trying to "stretch" this with this latest list. 

Just remembering off the top of my head my irritations. Sorry I didn't save the last list instead...


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## blaine (Aug 27, 2008)

drobbins said:


> >>5. You can always drill a hole. Undrilling it is more difficult.
> 
> one of life's great lessons
> 
> Dave


thats why most drills have a _reverse_ on them... DUH!


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

blaine said:


> thats why most drills have a _reverse_ on them... DUH!



Just change hands and turn around...


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## dug_6238 (May 9, 2007)

Sliding one of the supers back 3/4" has worked just fine for me. It's easier to close back up, and you don't have the issue with burr comb being built. The bees seem to be able to position themselves better for fanning on this type of opening too.

To each his own though, I'm sure you civilized gents will get it worked out.


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