Entrance reducer notch up or notch down — and does the small opening go in the middle or the corner?
Minnesota first-year, two hives, and I have a truly small question that I've now seen argued three different ways online. My wooden entrance reducers have two notches, a big and a small, and I'm about to go down to the small one for fall.
Some people say notch DOWN so it's a normal walk-in doorway and the bees can drag dead bees out. Others say notch UP for winter so the opening doesn't get blocked by dead bees piling up on the bottom board when the colony can't clean. And then there's whether the opening should be in the middle of the front, near where the cluster is, or pushed into one corner. I've seen "corner, so a guard can hold it" and "middle, so the cluster is nearest the air" both stated like facts.
I'm going to mouse guard over the top of whatever I do. Is there an actual right answer, or is this one of those things where everybody's fine and nobody admits it?
Mostly the last one, but here's the practical version. Fall, while the bees still fly and clean: notch down, so they walk in at floor level and can haul out the dead. Once they're clustered for real winter: notch up, because a floor-level slot can get blocked by dead bees on the board and then nobody gets out for a cleansing flight. The bees don't care about the height, only the blocking. Position: I put it off-center away from the prevailing wind, and it makes no difference I can measure. Mouse guard is the part that actually matters — get that on before first frost.
DrentseBij · Sep 13, 2026
Same answer from Drenthe, the notch-up-for-winter logic being the only bit with real reasoning behind it. Position: our winter wind is from the southwest, so the opening goes in the corner away from it. And check the reducer is snug — a gap along the top edge of a wooden reducer is a mouse doorway no matter which way the notch faces.
HokkaidoHachi · Sep 14, 2026
In Hokkaido we use a top entrance through the winter as well, because a bottom slot at any height can be buried in snow for weeks. That may not apply to you, but the principle is the same as TexasBeeSam's: it's about the opening never being blocked, not about up or down. Any position is fine if the bees can always reach it.
mn_newbee · Sep 14, 2026
Okay, "the bees don't care about the height, only the blocking" is the sentence I needed. Notch down now, flip it up when they cluster, mouse guards going on this weekend before our first frost, which the forecast says is Tuesday. Thanks!