# question on tbh entrances?



## thatguy324 (Apr 1, 2013)

where should they be side or front? should there be more than one? does it matter are there any differences?

thanks in advance


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## TheGeneralsBees (Feb 17, 2013)

Oh, this is going to be a fun thread. I'll start. Front. There should be six.


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## DarkWolf (Feb 20, 2013)

I'll go next! 

Front.. There should be ONE at the bottom.



[EDIT: By front, I mean the small end, not the sides. Just to prevent confusion.]


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## crabbcatjohn (May 5, 2013)

I put all mine on the front side, opposite side from the observation window next to the end where i start the brood nest. I use 5- 7/8" holes. Wine cork size. All in one small spot. I personally feel that if they only have one spot to guard they can stop any robbing and also guard against pests easier.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I just set the first bar back 3/4 of an inch


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Mine are following _Harley Craig's_ teachings! (Coincidentally also following Michael Bush's TBH top entrance design) :lookout:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm


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## plcnut (Mar 8, 2013)

I put a little tab at each side on one end that holds the first bar 3/8" from the end (as per the previous 2 posters). 
It's simple, practical, and works great.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

center back, 3 holes lol


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## ositolud (Feb 24, 2013)

I have two hives with two different entrances. The first is three 1/2 in. holes drilled near the bottom at one end. the second is a slit roughly 6 in long and 3/8 in wide. I don't know about anyone else, but I think the three drilled holes are not enough. It seems there is a traffic jam on this hive front during busy days. The slit seems to do a better job of aiding traffic flow and a handful of bees can guard it easily.
As for side v. front, I can't say. I haven't tried side entrances, yet (I am on my first two hives in my first year of beekeeping).


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

Just remember with side entrances you must do a mid season shift you don't want honey at both ends going into winter. I have not experienced this first hand yet but EVERY book I have read has said this


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## thatguy324 (Apr 1, 2013)

i have skunks around where im at does that mean i have to have a top entrance?


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## Life is Good! (Feb 22, 2013)

We too have skunks and possums and coyotes and who knows what all else (rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, hawks, owls, field mice - yeah, we've got everybody!)
I put our entrances on the small end - 3 holes, 7/8" diameter. With the summertime heat, I'm sure I'll wish I had more holes (6 total, two rows of 3) - but for now, it works. 

Just put a landing board beneath whatever you choose...our bees use it regularly.


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## f4mnect (Apr 6, 2013)

Harley Craig said:


> Just remember with side entrances you must do a mid season shift you don't want honey at both ends going into winter. I have not experienced this first hand yet but EVERY book I have read has said this


thanks am planing on it, but here in so cal not much of a winter, still need to do the shift but my bee's here work all year around and don't need quite the winter stores of honey that other locations do.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Two hives have three holes in the center of the long side (one has them at the top and the other at the bottom), and a third has three holes bottom-center of long side AND three holes on one end. That third hive is utilizing the entire hive and packing in the honey. The side entrances were for winter, and then gradually closed up until only one is still open and the ends gradually opened for the honey flow until all three are open. The brood is in the center, and honeycomb is two-thirds in the front and one-third in the back. I'll be harvesting some today.


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## Montyb (May 27, 2013)

This is my entrance. 6" x 3/8". Still have a reducer in use. Hive the package on may 4 and they are doing great. Entrance is on the end. Not long side


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## mrobinson (Jan 20, 2012)

I'm sure that this answer is a religious one.  _(i.e._ it doesn't matter to the bees, but every human has his/her own opinion.)

I simply drilled three wine-cork-sized holes a few inches up from the bottom of a side board, spaced a few inches apart. The bees come and go, usually landing on the sloped side and walking down (taking their turn ...) to go inside. I have three hives, arranged in a semi-circle with all of the entrances facing outward, leaving me a nice work-area in the center.

Occasionally, if a top-bar isn't quite set down all the way, _(oops...)_, the bees will also avail themselves of this alternate entrance. The top (which is nothing more than a sheet of plywood, treated with Thompson's Water-Seal, as are the outsides _(only...)_ of all the hives) has a gap through which the bees are able to come and go, since the ends of the hive are slightly taller than the sides. And, well, they _do_ that, until I get around to brushing them gently aside and pushing the bar back down.

Bees ... live in trees. I've seen an astonishing number of bees come-and-go through a single coin-sized hole in a tree. (They have _good_ air-traffic controllers ...)

I happen to like the "cork-sized holes on the sloped side" because it provides an easily-corked, easily defended entrance that's _is_ on a surface that's "sloped the wrong way." (Plus, it's on the opposite side from where _I_ am, leaving me well away from the air-traffc pattern.) Still, some critters will find a way to get inside. It's quite entertaining to watch the guard-bees walk out with the occasional ant in tow, throwing them unceremoniously to the ground (where the ants walk away ... the bees don't bother to kill them).


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I like one (I've seen them get robbed when there were accidently two) at the end (so they have the brood at one end going into winter and don't eat their way from the middle to one end and then starve) and at the top (because of skunks and mice). I just leave a gap at the last bar. No holes to drill...


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## fivecats (May 26, 2013)

Please forgive the newbee follow-up questions:

I can understand the advantage of having a single area of entry: it's easier for the hive to defend against invaders. Does it really matter where that area is? Is there any significant advantage/disadvantage to having the opening at the long end of a TBH or at the end of a long side? 

Similarly, is there a serious advantage to having the openings along the top of the hive or at the bottom?

Is a landing bar a good thing for the bees? An indifferent thing?


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## crabbcatjohn (May 5, 2013)

Personally i like my holes on the side near the end. I use 5-7/8" holes stacked close to each other. I don't use landing boards.


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