# Smallest Hole A Bee Can Get Through



## rkr (Oct 30, 2008)

Can bees get through a 3/16" hole?
I am making a bee vac and I am using a 11/64" bit to drill holes in plastic for the containment chamber.
I want the largest size possible to promote air circulation but yet small enough to keep bees in.

I'll do the math for those who might know the measurement in tenths of an inch:
1/8 = .125
5/32 =.1562
1/6 =.1667
11/64 =.1718
3/16 =.1875
1/5 =.20
13/64 =.2031
7/32 =.2188
15/64 =.2344
1/4 =.25

Thanks for any insight.

RKR


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

Personally, I'd drill about a million 1/8" holes. Why push the envelope. Have you ever seen fish gilled off in a net? Get the holes too big and your beevac will look just like that. I can picture your queen right now, head stuck through an 11/64" hole and that ol' vacuum just huffing away trying to strip her through that hole.


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## Bens-Bees (Sep 18, 2008)

1/8" is the largest I would go, and that's only if I had broken all my smaller drill bits.

As for the question on the smallest hole they can go through... I think workers can fit through #7 hardware cloth (which is 1/7th of an inch), if that helps you any.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

Pollen traps have #5 wire for the bees to go through and #7 for the pollen to fall through, just a little referance


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## rkr (Oct 30, 2008)

That was helpful Honeyman...

Here is some spec I found:
Specifications link
---------------Wire Dia. Inches-------Opening Inches
5 Mesh__________0.0230___________0.177 
6 Mesh(alum)_____0.0350___________0.131
8 Mesh__________0.0230___________0.102

I could not find specs for 7 mesh, but that tells me that my 11/64-.1718 holes are not going to work. 

Like fish_stix and Ben said, they will clog with bees and that is not a good thing at all!! 

I have some 1/8 inch hardware cloth to line it with and will go with 1/8 holes from now on. 

Thanks for the info folks!!!!


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## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

I gave up on little holes all together and cut 2 inch holes and added screen, much more air flow and the bees dont clog it as it gets full. I epoxyed the screen and then added duct tape around the edge


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