The Bee Portal

Our sustainable wooden BeeSpaceX Portals are sold with the personal agreement of inventor (and co-patent holder) Filipe Salbany. We are privileged to continue to work in partnership with Filipe on developing the portal for different hive types and scenarios.

10% from every sale is donated to Bees For Development to support their work.

Beekeepers have long known that by changing a hive’s entrance size, shape and location they can help and assist the bees in their work and defence of the colony. Much has been observed, written and forgotten about how Bees live in the wild and are affected by the choices we make as Bee Keepers. Over the last 150 years many inventors (Hough, Pratt, Nitsch and Meier, Schlegel, Musgrove, Kerkhof, to name just a few) have patented ideas that claim to improve traffic in/out of the hive, ventilation and defence.

Globally, the most common Bee Hive is the Langstroth. Invented in 1853 by Lorenzo Langstroth it has a single long slot entrance located at floor level. The slightly smaller National Beehive, popular in the UK, has a similar entrance 54 cm2 (8.4 in2) that can be reduced to 27cm2 (4.2 in2). Newer National floors such as Thornes National Open Mesh Floor offer a small opening of 7cm2 (1.0 in2).

My personal interest in Hive design, its relation to wild bee colonies and how it impacts our colonies and bee keeping decisions came from reading The Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D Seeley (Professor of Biology at Cornel University and author of a number of books on Bee behaviour) and a desire to build my own hives.

During the mid 70s, Seeley completed a study of Bee home preferences. He constructed 252 nest boxes and over the period of 1976 and 1977 he caught 124 swarms. He found that the Bees preferred an entrance size of just 12.5 cm2 (~2in2) compared to something six times larger at 75 cm2 (-12in2). Seeley also describes how having “rendered some boxes drafty by riddling their fronts and sides with 6 mm (1.4″) holes spaced 7.5cm apart” the bees would quickly block up the holes with tree resin.

In the 21st Century, Filipe Salbany of BeeSpaceX has been the most prolific and vocal advocate for alternative entrances. Through his work with wild bees Filipe has done much to break down the myths and confusion surrounding how entrances affect Bees and their hives. He is focused on sustainable and minimum treatment approaches to Beekeeping. Filipe is heavily involved in the Wild Bee project at Blenheim Palace and started drilling holes in hives aged six.

However, Filipe and Seeley are not alone in observing that Bees prefer small entrances. With the increasing pressure from pests and climate on Bee Populations there is a renewed interest in how as Bee Keepers we can help both domestic and wild colonies. The availability of low cost technologies allows for better recording and more measured or quantifiable results than ever before while social media allows Bee Keepers from all over the world to share ideas and compare experiences.

The outside hole is often not the real ‘door’ to the nest. Frequently the cavity is closed up with propolis to tiny channels. The portal mimics this. Instead of making a huge opening you open multiple small openings. This offers better control of nest atmosphere, better defence against predators and better ability for the bees to adapt their entrances to suit conditions

Joe Ibbertson via Twitter.

Why not a single BIG entrance?

There are a number of disadvantages with the traditional entrance including:

• They are hard to guard. The single long slot shape requires more guarding Bees than a multiple smaller round shapes of an equivalent area. In times of cold weather this can draw bees away from the cluster where they become isolated and die. It can mean that less bees are able to forage and undertake other tasks within the hive.
• A single entrance located at the bottom means congestion within the Brood Box. Foraging Bees have greater distance to travel and can disrupt the activity within the Brood Box as they pass through. Seeley noted that regardless of a preference for entrances in the bottom third they will also use higher entrances if available especially with increased regularity in the summer. Alternative entrances are placed on both the main brood box and supers.
• There is more work effort and guesswork required by the Bee Keeper to ensure the slot opening is kept at an appropriate size for the colony. The structure of the alternative entrances means that Bees can seal them with Propolis/Tree Resin and thus open, close and modify the openings as they feel fit.

The Portal Entrance.

The Salbany (or BeeSpaceX) portals are designed to mimic natural hives found in the wild. The channel dimensions are such that Bees can adapt the overall size and shape with Propolis.

Why the multiple smaller entrances

• Easier to guard – Circular entrances are easier to defend. A couple of guard bees can cover the area of the entrance and this is not practical with traditional slot entrances.
• Secure Atrium – Any invaders enter the front circular entrance and are met by a flat surface blocking their progress. Already meeting bees their instinct is to move into space where they are restricted so they head upwards into the false atrium. From here they can be evicted by the bees.
• 3D Hive Identification – The hole and/or portal pattern of multiple entrances creates an easily recognisable target for returning foragers. This reduces drift from identical looking hives.
• Forager Efficiency – With portals placed on all boxes during periods of heavy flow foragers will come and go with greater efficiency taking the direct route into the hive.
• Hive Climate Control – With portals placed on all boxes the bees are better able to control the internal climate in the hive. During honey season, Bees will often be observed fanning at the higher entrances drawing out warm wet air with greater efficiency with dryer air entering from the bottom. During the colder months they are able to close these entrances up.
• Hot or Cold Way Negated – Once portal entrances are fitted the effects of hot or cold way is pretty much negated. Cold air is deflected down and away from the brood nest so you can run with the efficiencies of cold way without the concern of chilling.

Development of the Portal

Filipe has been using variations on the portal theme for almost 40 years during and since his time on the citrus farms in Africa. From the pressed can lid to the plastic BeeSpaceX internal baffle. Filipe now focuses all his energy on sustainable portal solutions and since 2019 has been working in wood. Not all designs have survived but it shows Filipe’s constant desire to observe and evolve his understanding.

For a comparison of Portals see our Technical Page

Portal Arrangement

Filipe’s suggestion is three entrances in an inverted triangle on the Brood Box and one (maybe two) per standard National Super. The inverted triangle is designed such that the top pair are located a the brood/honey interchange. The lower one ensures that even when the queen is laying in the bottom of the brood box the pollen/nectar flows are high enough past her to that she maintains an optimum lay rate.

For information on how to arrange and install them on a hive read our Technical Page.

Making the Portals

All our portals are sustainably hand made in a small Devon workshop. We use either locally sourced timber or offcuts from a trusted local timber supplier. Typical woods include: Oak, Beech, Ash, Iroko and Sapele and, of course, Cedar.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Filipe for allowing us to make and sell his wooden portals, his help putting this page together, allowing the use of his ‘in the wild’ photos and most importantly continuing to share his knowledge and experience with us mere novices!

Bibliography

References can be found here.