Bee Beard sports a great entrance hole, but the bees use the slot between the hat and the top of head most of the time.
I don’t understand it…I give them a beautiful 1.5 inch (3.81 cm) diameter entrance hole in my log hive, yet they insist on using the small slot between the hat and the top of head.
The entrance the bees are using is less than .25″ (about 6 mm) even though a beautiful round entrance hole was provided for them below.
A short video can be seen here showing the bees entering through narrow slot between hat and top of head, followed by a shot looking through the observation window to see the natural comb. This was shot 17 days after the transfer from bait box to log hive.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Bee Beard is looking GREAT!!!! We’re so happy the bees are using him for their home!!!
Brian & Zada
It’s so fun to watch them…it’s hard to pull myself away. They’re bringing in pollen and building comb like crazy. I’m hoping they’ll start using the designed entrance hole as the comb gets built further down. Also our fears of having a ‘hot hive’ are relieved. I can videotape inches away from the log. The dogs walk in front of the hive without any problems. I just wish I could follow the path of the bees when they leave the hive. I can’t tell where they’re going.
Pat
An arborist I know had a hive that he had not opened in 15 years. An old Langstroth with some split seams. The bees preferred the seams instead of the main entrance. We took off the lid and the hive was filled with solid wax with tunnels for the bees. We discarded the old lid and put a deep super on modified to use Corwin Bell’s top bars. That was a year ago. Time to see if they gave up their anarchistic ways and built some comb on the top bars………and maybe some brood so we can move the bars into a top bar.
They are still using the old split seams to get into the new super. I’ll bring a camera this time.
Terry
I would guess after 15 years of survival, that hive would qualify as a feral bee hive. Sounds like they’ve figured out how to survive without antibiotics, miticides, or pollen paddies. They ought to provide some good biodiversity for you. Get some photos.
Love the Bee Beard design! He’s gorgeous. They might struggle to defend such a long narrow entrance in late summer against other robber bees and wasps though.
If that becomes a problem, I’ll stuff some grass or tissue paper into some of it. Thanks for your thoughts.
Absolutely love this hive, have just purchased a national for my newly gathered swarm but want to experiment with different types and quite happy to have some hives where the bees remain with their honey, have seen some vid of log hives in France but this one is just fab, watched the VT of it being made ,wish i had the expertise to do something similar. Brilliant
Thanks for the comments. I’m thinking a about a bigger log for next year. I’ve got an ‘trade agreement’ with a mill that I print for…”printing services for a big log”. I’d like to get it carved, but I’m not sure how the wood carver can improve on what he’s done already and of course I can’t have the same one as bee beard. I’ll have until next swarm season to think about it.
I would love to see the next hive when you get it done, absolute genius, you should seriously consider selling your work.
I’ll pass that comment along to Brian Vorwaller, the chainsaw wood carver.. Who knows, there might be a market for carved log hives. They are unique, just check google for them, you won’t see that many. The whole project was so interesting to pull off, but I still have to see if they winter over. That’s the real test.