The Upstairs Downstairs Hive Intrance
Buy your Intrance kits here! 3 for 2 on add-on kits.
The Upstairs Downstairs System is a configuration for all single walled hives. Mirroring how a bee nest would naturally occur, providing entrances Bees are comfortable with and warding off unnecessary human intervention.
Bees are adept in maintaining their own environment, maintaining the conditions where they thrive, and the UD system is to facilitate rather than impede their behaviour!
The design of the Langstroth floor/entrance
- The entrance is indefensible.
- Too much ventilation! With vented floors and roofs the Bees will propolis over to stop cold air getting in, consuming honey to do so.
- It directs all bee movements through the congested brood box.
- Lacking in an easy method to gain access to the hive interior.
Read more about the UD system in a free virtual copy of the Upstairs Downstairs Booklet (2023).
The Upstairs Downstairs Spec
The UD configuration consists of a solid floor, an unvented roof, and an additional Super placed underneath the Brood Box to form the ‘Downstairs’. All to provide as much insulation as possible!
All entrances should be covered, and UD Intrances installed in their place. Resembling a natural entrance, entrance size is critical for colony health, defence and pest management.
Advantages
- Provides a 360-degree outer entrance to repel Wasps and the Asian Hornet
- The Intrance creates a 7mm Bee Space to prevent entry by rodents and reptiles.
- Decreased aggression/ defensive behaviour
- Containing a series of bungs and vents to control the passage of air into the hive. Important as our climate becomes increasingly more erratic with colder winters.
- Easier hive ventilation without having to open the hive.
- Prevents Hives from becoming Varroa breeding grounds by maintaining warm and humid conditions.
- Makes ‘Cold Way’ warm with all the benefits of storage and pollen collection.
- Increased hive volume without loss of foraging efficiency.
- Simple method to close hives for transportation and hive treatments.
- Easily adaptable to a two-queen colony.
Above all, the system is quick to install, easy to scale, and inexpensive.
