A few month back there was an article in Bee Culture about entrance size, location and queen excluders.
Somebody took 18 hives and split them into three groups, all were 2 standard brood boxes and two supers. First group of six; Full bottom opening and queen excluder on top of the brood,
of the brood box.
Second group had a 3/4" dia hole opening at the top, queen excluder above the brood.
The third had a 3/4" round hole at the top, no queen excluder, no inner cover
All three sets were in the same general location. The first set produced about 35 lbs/hive, the second group produced about 45lb/hive and the third group produced close to 100lbs/hive.
Rev. Langstroth lived in a time when there was no such thing as central air. All the houses had porches, lots of windows and doors at porch level, an attic and a pitched roof. So when he designed his bee houses, he put in a porch with lots of entranceway (for ventilation) down at the porch level and an attic floor over the whole thing. About the only things he got right were movable frames and bee space. (Pretty important things too). But bees don't like porches with big entrances and queens don't need or want excluders. If you insist on having them in your boxes then you are going to pay a price in reduced honey production an probably reduced longevity. Regards
Joe