TBH Entrance Question

[Hethen57]

I notice some TBH plans call for an entrance on the end (more like a traditional hive), some go with holes on the end, and some have entrances in the middle of the side.  Are there any significant pros and cons of the different placement locations?, or reasons why one would be better than another in a particular type of climate (ie. cold and snowy winters like where I live)?  I know..I probably overthink these things, but I was just curious what the logic was on entrance placement before I try to build one and find out I followed the wrong plans.   Thanks!
-Mike

[trapperbob]

It's more of a personel preferance than anything else kind of like landing boards,the bees don't need them but they have no problem with them either. If you are going to make them with legs then one with entrance holes in the middle supposedly makes them mouse proof but I have seen mice jump a fair distance to get to some thing they want bad enough. the first one that I built has 3 1 inch holes in the middle. But the other two have 3/8 entrances in the front mostly because the langs that I have that have 3/8 entrances have never had mice in them and if I don't put reducers on the ones with larger entrances I find a mouse sooner or later over the winter. So put the entrance where you want but watch the size of your entrance this could be a slot or take a drill an punch a few holes big enough for the bees and remember you are trying to make a hole big enough for a drone to fit through and there much bigger than the workers or how about making it just long enough so when you put the bars in you have a gap large enough to let them pass. Mike Bush does that and I have seen that at his place during a beekeepers meeting and it works great. The bees could care less so long as they can go about there business. People on the other hand try to comlicate things.   

[Hethen57]

Thanks.  My own thought (without ever working with one) was that putting the entrance on the end would make it easier to manage the hive...because your hive would grow in one direction and you would generally know where brood was and where honey would be stored...plus it you could feed on the follower board on the opposite end if you needed to.  You can probably do the same with a mid-entrance, but there may be open space on both sides.   I guess ventilation would be another factor to consider, both in terms of size of the entry and placement.  Just curious what people have learned in practice...I'm sure it will work both ways...I just like to have a good reason for doing it a particular way.

I

[Michael Bush]

I have no holes and the entrance is just the first bar back 3/8" or so from the front.  Why drill holes in your equipment?

[luvin honey]

Michael, does this mean that you have no cover on your topbar hives, or that the cover is propped up a bit to allow them in? Thanks!

[Hethen57]

Seems like that would be good for ingress/egress and ventilation, but I would think it would fill up with water and get covered snow in my part of the country.

[Michael Bush]

>Michael, does this mean that you have no cover on your topbar hives, or that the cover is propped up a bit to allow them in? Thanks!

If the top bars are resting on the sides this makes the entrance horizontally and the gap at the front bar makes it vertically.  If the top bars are recessed (such as my TTBH is) then I prop the cover.  But with a typical top bar hive there is no need to prop the cover as the bars are doing that already.