The “Guardian” is a patented technology that keeps small hive beetles from entering a beehive by masking the entrance. Guardian entrances work by making it difficult for small hive beetles to navigate the entrance and actually enter the colony. The physical edges of the entrance are difficult for the small hive beetles to traverse.
This particular entrance is designed to fit on the bottom board and be the entrance of the colony. It is necessary to attach this entrance to a reducer or another type of wooden stick.
The “Guardian” also uses red light technology that has been proven to detour the small hive beetle and disrupt their invasive efforts. Installation of the Guardian is simple and adapts to any beehive configuration from 10 and 8 frames, as well as 5-frame nucleus colonies. The Guardian gives your bees a fighting chance against the threat of small hive beetles.
From The Manufacturer:
Guardian Bee Hive Entrance Information and FAQ
We do not recommend leaving the Guardian in the hive at temperatures below 40 F – Hive beetles are not active below this temperature, and damage may occur to the Guardian.
The Guardian was not designed to be a mouse guard, and significant damage may result.
Guardians should be installed once temperatures are above 50 F or when doing a fresh package or nucleus hive install.
What is the learning curve for the bees to understand using the Guardian? It usually takes around 2 hours for traffic to move thru it smoothly.
The opening on the Guardian is almost twice as wide as a queen excluder – A standard queen excluder is 0.15625″ while the guardian is .29″ – Plenty of room for the drones to get out. A standard hive cell is approximately .2″ and a drone cell is .25″
Note: Screws are not included.
Learn more about When Do I Add or Remove an Entrance Reducer on our blog.
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