Entrance disc for mating nucs 5cm

01 · THE FOUR POSITIONS

Closed, workers only, with queen, open

The disc turns on its central screw and lines up one of four openings with the entrance: closed, no passage; workers only, which lets the forager out but holds the queen and the drones inside; queen and workers, which opens the way for the queen while keeping drones out; and free passage, no restriction. Changing from one to another is a quarter turn, and the setting is visible from outside without opening the nucleus.

02 · THE ORDER YOU USE THEM IN

The sequence matters more than the positions

This is what turns four openings into a tool. A freshly populated nucleus travels closed. Once in place, you move to workers only: the colony begins to fly and orientate, but the queen stays in while she settles. When the time comes, you open to queen and workers — that is the setting that allows the mating flight. And once the nucleus stands on its own, free passage. In a bank of twenty or forty nuclei, that disc is also your notebook: one glance tells you what stage each one is at.

MIND WHEN YOU CHANGE IT

Choose the setting according to the state of the queen and your planned handling, and do not restrict the exit if the queen may be outside — she would return and be unable to get in. Bear in mind too what the disc does not do: it controls physical passage, but it does not guarantee mating, acceptance or the queen's return, and it does not by itself prevent drifting or robbing.

03 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is the small one of the family: 5 cm, the size for a mini nucleus. There are larger four-position discs — 70 mm, and one of 125 mm for a crown board — and also a galvanised version if you prefer metal to plastic. Choose by the space on your front panel, not by the name. It is sold by the unit; check first that the front is flat, that the opening is properly covered and that your screws suit the nucleus.