Propolis Entrance Reducer
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Bees built a propolis wall along the front entrance of this hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Propolis Entrance Reducer
When I first started beekeeping in 2010, more experienced beekeepers advised to remove as much of the sticky, glue-like propolis as possible because it got in the way of the beekeeper. I didn’t take that advice. I figured if the bees were collecting and making it, they had a good reason.
Since then, research has confirmed propolis has a protective role in a colony; it helps keep them healthy.
In nature, or bee trees, bees line the tree cavity with propolis. Propolis is a resin-like material collected from the buds of poplar and cone-bearing trees. If you’re a beekeeper, you will know it as a caramel-colored glue-like substance found in between hive bodies, keeping frames secured to boxes and filling up open spaces.
In this example, I found the bees had used propolis to reduce the front of the hive, or as I called it, built themselves an entrance reducer. You bet I left it there, looks like they figured out how to get that part of the hive protecting the arriving and departing bees.
Because current wooden bee hives are built with smooth walls, it is harder for bees to add propolis on the walls to create a protective envelope around the colony. Research at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab is focusing on how to rough up the inside of a hive so bees can line it with propolis.
In the meantime, we as beekeepers just need to learn to work around the bee glue and keep our hive tools off of scraping that stuff off the hives.
