# Bees getting past follower board?



## Bkwoodsbees (Feb 8, 2014)

Leave a small opening on far end of entrance so they can get out easier. If it's only a few bees , I wouldn't worry much. Nature will weed out the stubborn ones that make bad decisions.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Will, it's good to hear your remaining hive is doing well. Since you're not housing two colonies in one hive, there's no reason to keep the bees out. I think I mentioned to you before that I cut my followers short in order to allow the bees to patrol behind the follower board. I can add the bottom piece back on if I need to seal the follower. If you really don't want the bees getting back there, try weather stripping the board's edges. I used it one year for a similar reason and it kept the bees out. No chewing of the f the bees ignored it. 
BTW, did you get your traps set up? Small hive beetles will continue to be problem if not. I'm not using screened lids anymore. I found that I can make perfectly sized slots using a sharp chisel. It's a lot easier, too. Just to make sure, whenever I experiment with a new lid design, I first place it on a jar with honey as bait for the bees but no funnel or mineral oil. If the bees can get in, I make adjustments. That way no bees die when I add the real trap. If you have a chisel, check to make sure it's no thicker than 1/8".


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

Thanks, I'll leave as is for now. The handful of dead bees looks like they used it as a dumping ground. I've got a SHB trap set up and it appears to be working well, I used #8 plastic canvas. How often do you dump the traps?

Thanks


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## Steve56Ace (Sep 5, 2014)

will52100 said:


> Noticed a hand full of dead bees in the closed off portion of the hive and 3-4 live ones. Got to looking and noticed a couple small gaps. The follower board was tight when I built the hive, guess the wood warped a bit. Anyway I used some shims to close off the gaps and next day the bees had pushed them out of the way. Should I take the follower board out and trim it to fit better?
> 
> Put some tape on it.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Dying bees will often look for out of the way places to die, too. Worker bees won't bother to remove dead bees behind the follower.
#8 is working? I'm surprised. I would expect the holes to be too small, especially for the female SHB and the wax moth larvae, which get quite large and plump. If you get a chance, I'd like you try the chisel lids just to get your impression. They're so simple to make I wish I'd thought of it back when I first came up with this system. It would have saved me a lot of time. Yesterday I made four of them in just a couple of minutes. Today I deleted all the photos in my album showing how to make the screened lids.
I dump the traps only when it looks like it's needed. Some traps don't get much of anything while others get a ton. I'll sometimes switch traps in that situation rather than dump the full one. When a trap gets filled with pests, the mineral oil will become very thick, or even paste-like, and if debris gets into it, which happens especially in the spring when the bees begin cleaning up comb for brood, it will thicken enough that it's no longer effective. I'll change it out before it reaches that point. I will pour the contents into a white plastic container, like half of a milk jug, and examine it. Besides lots of SHB and their larvae, I find wax moths, both larvae and adult moths, varroa mites, and sometime ants, small roaches, and other insects.


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

I called it #8, but now I'm not sure. It was a 20 year old sheet that my mother had, it's got 1/8" squares. I'll make a couple of lids and see how it works, I've got a good bit of 1/8" and 3/32" stock around, easy enough to make a chisel for that.

I'm thinking since I'm not using the back two feeder/traps I'll put another SHB trap in the back, unused portion of the hive since it looks like there trying to come in or are being pursued to the back section.

I figured the bees would chew the tape out of the way, especially after they drug the shims out of the way.


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## Steve56Ace (Sep 5, 2014)

I figured the bees would chew the tape out of the way, especially after they drug the shims out of the way.[/QUOTE]

Foil tape. They don't chew that and it's very malleable to make an edge with. We use blue tape for caged queens. Poke a hole in the end and let them chew thru that to release her. Cheap, affective and lot less messy than sugar plugs.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

will52100 said:


> I called it #8, but now I'm not sure. It was a 20 year old sheet that my mother had, it's got 1/8" squares. I'll make a couple of lids and see how it works, I've got a good bit of 1/8" and 3/32" stock around, easy enough to make a chisel for that.
> 
> I'm thinking since I'm not using the back two feeder/traps I'll put another SHB trap in the back, unused portion of the hive since it looks like there trying to come in or are being pursued to the back section.


If you count the number of holes per linear inch, you'll get the mesh #. If it's 8 holes, then you're correct, but I haven't heard of that size. It's either #5 or 7. 7 is most common. I looked for 5 to test it and couldn't find any in the hobby or art stores, only online. If what you have is catching beetles and larvae, then it's good no matter what size it is. If you make the chisel lids, test them on a feeder jar first rather than a trap so you don't kill bees.

I keep traps all year around when I'm not feeding. The ones in the back don't always catch much when all the action is toward the front, but sometimes they do.


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

I knocked some slots in a couple of lids, I'll test them tomorrow on the feeder, then if that works I'll try them out on traps. I used 1/8" flat bar and made a single bevel chisel and it works well, but the slots look huge, even though I miked them at .125

The plastic canvas is over 20 years old and I have no idea if it's still even made anymore, or where it came from.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

will52100 said:


> I knocked some slots in a couple of lids, I'll test them tomorrow on the feeder, then if that works I'll try them out on traps. I used 1/8" flat bar and made a single bevel chisel and it works well, but the slots look huge, even though I miked them at .125.


Good idea. If the bees can't get into the feeder, they won't get into a trap. If the slots end up too big and the bees get in, you should be able to bend the "flap" that you get on the underside of the lid and narrow the gap. But I think they'll be okay. I thought mine looked too big, too, when I first made them.


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