Adaptive Entrances and Hive Improvement.
Which portal and what configuration.
There are a number of different portals available and although they all share the same design philosophy each one also has its own USP!
The ‘Original’ Salbany.
If you are looking for the basic baffle that is installed on the inside of the hive box this is the one. With a correctly located entrance hole (25mm/1″) it provides a false entrance upwards that fools attackers while the ‘real’ entrance is downwards via an beeasily managed bee-space slot.
The Salbany Nuc.
The Salbany Nuc works along the same principals as the Original Salbany but has an island to further reduce the bee-space slot. Most suited to Nuc and Bait Boxes this portal will make it even easily for small colonies to defend their nest and survive.
The Fig 8
The Fig 8 is different to the Salbanys in that it is designed to be located on the outside of the hive providing protection against any prevailing elements and preventing wind or rain entering the hive. It doesn’t have the same false entrance upwards but does provide a 3D feature on the outside of the hive to help Bees identify their hive amongst others and thus preventing drift.
The Fig 8 Nuc
The Nuc version works along the same principals as the standard but like the Salbany Nuc has an island to further reduce the bee-slot making the entrance easier to defend.
The Salbany Mega
The Salbany Mega is a larger portal that is suited to both Supers and larger colonies. It is designed to be used with a larger entrance hole (32mm) which if suitably located provides a false upwards entrance.
Configurations
The Brood Area
The recommended arrangement for most colonies is an inverted triangle as shown below. It assumes no entrance in the floor and works well even if there is a half ‘Super’ brood above the main Brood box.
The concept behind the inverted triangle is that the two upper entrances sit on the interchange between brood and honey whilst the single low entrance ensure that returning foragers continue to pass by the Queen even if she is working in the lower area of the nest.
There are other arrangements that can work equally well.
Supers
