@Funkentelechy Lots of good info. Thanks. Regarding the entrance. A couple months ago I was reading some Bush stuff and ran across some Q and As. Here is a piece.
Question: Some people say a top entrance lets the heat out. How do you do your entrances?
Answer: In any hive (top bar or otherwise) I think a top entrance in the winter is always a good plan. It lets out the moisture and cuts down on condensation. Heat is seldom the problem, condensation is the problem in winter. A top entrance will let it out. Mine are all JUST top entrances. The reason I went with them was the skunks. My first TBH have a bottom entrance and the skunks were a serious problem. After going to the top entrances they have ceased being a problem. My entrances are simply the gap at the front of the hive between the first bar and the front wall. No holes to drill.
Question: Don't I need a landing board on the entrance?
Answer: No. Have you ever seen a bee tree with a landing board? Landing boards just give mice a place to jump on to get in the hive. It's not needed at all for the bees and is, in my opinion, counterproductive because of mice.
About the feeding. Dunno yet. Probably.
I've read so much stuff and have seen so many different ideas and styles. Thanks for your input for sure.
Yeah that sounds right to me in regards to moisture being a bigger issue than heat loss, I would definitely defer to Micheal Bush on that one.
I have stopped building landings on my hives as well, the bees don't seem to mind. I had some raccoon issues, I would come out and see a little worn out area in the dirt in front of the hive and a little pile of just the bees exoskeletons on the ground. When it's cold if you mess with bees they will slowly crawl out single-file in a little line. So the raccoons would go out at night and scratch at the landing until the bees would come crawling out, then they would scoop them up crush them in their mouths and essentially suck all the guts and juicy bits out of the bees, then spit the exoskeletons out.
Now I don't do landings and I've upped my electric fence game and I haven't had any issues with raccoons for a while now.
The last couple of top-bars we've built we have built with top entrances and that's when I've seen the slight issue that I mentioned with the bees building a hole through a few of the combs thereby slightly reducing the amount of comb area available. The bees don't like having to make a 90 degree turn after they enter the hive, they like a straight shot and will chew a hole in the comb to maintain a straight trajectory. I still haven't figured it out myself. A top entrance in the side of a top bar may be the ticket, the bees could enter between frames and have a straight shot into hive, no immediate 90 degree tuns.
Making a top entrance in a langstroth like Micheal Bush uses is different/easier, if you notice the bees would enter a space on top of the frames and then make their way through the gaps between frames(there are gaps between of every bar/frame on top in a langstroth), no 90 degree turn required:
You probably know this but Kenyan top-bar hives use entrances like you were thinking of using(essentially a gap before the first bar) so that could be a smart solution. I've been afraid to try it because, it is so much warmer in Kenya, but I'm probably over thinking it, and I do agree moisture is worse than cold, might be worth a try.
My most successful hive, the hive that survived the longest so far without needing re-queening was a top-bar with a bottom entrance(the hive with the feeder a few comments back), so go figure, it could be a "six of one, half dozen of the other" type of situation.