Blind beehive entrance

01 · WHAT IT DOES AND DOES NOT

It closes fully, it does not regulate

It is a plain plate, with no slots and no opening of any kind, and that is the whole difference from the entrance blocks sold as reducers: those leave a calibrated gap that opens for the flow and narrows for winter; this leaves none. Its job is to block: closing a hive for transport, taking a box you have removed out of service, or sealing the entrance of stored equipment so nothing gets inside.

02 · HOW IT IS FIXED

Three points and a standard size

It has three holes — one at each end and one in the middle — to nail or screw it to the wood so it sits flat and leaves no gap at a corner. The 145 × 40 mm is a standard size, so it fits where the previous one was. The galvanised finish is what makes it last at a hive entrance, which is a permanently damp spot full of propolis.

03 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is sold singly, so count one for each hive you plan to close plus a spare or two: they are easy things to lose in an apiary. Check first that your entrance takes the 145 × 40 mm — if your opening is wider, the plate will not cover it and the closure is worthless. Nails or screws are separate. And if what you want is to regulate the entrance rather than cancel it, what you need is a reducer, not this.

VENTILATION IS NOT OPTIONAL

With a blind entrance fitted, the hive does not breathe through the front. Only close it if the colony has ventilation by another route — open mesh floor, screened crown board — and always for as short a time as possible. A closed hive in the sun, or inside a stationary vehicle, overheats and the colony dies within hours, and the stronger it is, the sooner. If you are transporting, close last thing with the colony gathered in, travel with ventilation and open as soon as you arrive.