Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Beekeeping 101 => Topic started by: 40 Acre Bees on May 14, 2015, 07:49:01 pm
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We are redoing our hives as we are waiting for new bees and would like your opinions on screened bottom boards and if favourable what type. We are in Nova Scotia Canada and have quite harsh winters. We were thinking the screened bottom boards might help in mite control and counts. Thanks.. :-\
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I started out with them, but after the second year switched to solid bottoms. I saw no advantage to them. Not to mention that they are more expensive and harder to build than solid bottoms.
I had one screen bottom that the bees had almost propolized completely closed. That tells me that they didn't like the open bottom.
To each his own, but I just don't care for them.
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I am phasing out the screened bottom boards. Think they was a fad that got my money. I have seen no advantage to them
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I tried them 15 years ago. I have seen grass grow through them and through two deeps. I never saw any good from them.
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As mentioned above, plus the addition of the winds sweeping across the plains... err, fields.. 50 mph winds with no storm in sight are not uncommon, any time of the year.. I would OFTEN be rushing out to slide them shut, and back open... the greatest advantage to them here would be in late July and August when it can get to 108 degrees, the rest of the year they would only be a pain in my neck... Using OAV seems to take care of my mite problems so well that any other type of control has ( so far ) been unnecessary.
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Same here, started with screened and phasing them out.
One of the things I noticed is that the hives didn't wanna pull the comb all the way down the frames close to the open bottom board. they just seem to not wanna be down close that open bottom.
Solids for me now.
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Solid all the way...
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solid bottom boards for me, never used them, never wanted to........... ;D
might work for others. but just seemed like a new fangled thing to keep bees with, just my HO.
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I guess I'm the only one that is going to stand up for my screen bottom boards. It's how I do my mite counts and tells me when to do the oxalic treatment. I haven't a problem with them at all. However, this is the model my hubby built for me. It's a screen bottom board with a drawer underneath the screen. I staple a sticky board to the bottom of the drawer. The mites fall thru the screen and get stuck on the stick board. I pull the drawer out, clean the mites off and reinsert the drawer. So basically it's a solid bottom hive with vent holes. The drawer can also be turned upside down for the winter, so far I haven't used it that way.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs14.postimg.cc%2Fx42njmwal%2FDSCF2278.jpg&hash=255461b5efb8203598c1152112bae1cdc95bd909) (http://postimg.cc/image/x42njmwal/)
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I have a mix of solid and screened bottom boards. I have to admit, but screen bottom stays shut most of the time. When the night time temperatures begin staying warm and bearding is starting on the front , that's when I pull the closure out. Like Jen, I have used them to test for mite levels.
I have one rogue bottom board that I don't seem to have a closure that fits. I don't know what happened there. I have a beekeeping acquaintance whose quite successful and he never closes his screened bottom boards.
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I have used them in the past but am phasing them out now. Solids are too cheap and easy to make. I also found that screened bottoms create a haven for ants and even wax moth to hide out as the bees can't get down there to control them.
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Screen bottom boards for me. Easier to clean. They help my hives with more ventilation and help out with mite control. My only concern with them. Will the screen last over time with OAV treatment.
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Screen bottom boards for me. Easier to clean. They help my hives with more ventilation and help out with mite control. My only concern with them. Will the screen last over time with OAV treatment.
Good point Ray4852... I have never thought of that till now.. the pan gets HOT... does it heat the wire enough to cause it to rust in that spot?
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I slide in a piece of metal roof flashing over the screen bottom board to help protect it from high heat from the vaporizer.
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Perry- "I also found that screened bottoms create a haven for ants and even wax moth to hide out as the bees can't get down there to control them.
Our commercial beeks here have wax moth problems. Personally, I don't have a big problem with them, But I do get wax moth larvae and the moths stuck to my sticky boards, they are still alive and wiggling. I think in my case the wax moths get stuck there and can't make it up to the frames. In 5 years I have yet to see any evidense of wax moths inside my hives.
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In 5 years I have yet to see any evidense of wax moths inside my hives.
Jen, you won't in a good strong hive or comb that is properly stored. In a failing hive the wax moths take over.
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Something I haven't seen mentioned. I have used both and have had queens and bees get under the screened bottom boards. They get confused and cant find there way into the hive. I have had this happen when hiving nucs and queens returning on mating flights. I haven't seen it happen with a solid bottom board.
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You mean like this? :)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs27.postimg.cc%2Fabgly17pb%2F20130919_201149.jpg&hash=6682cc36658c6cf5cbe685b984b44f4dabbca212) (http://postimg.cc/image/abgly17pb/)
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Well ya gotta admit Yankee, that is some lovely white comb there ;)
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You'll like this.
We inspected this hive and found no brood, larva and frames full of honey. So we thought they were queenless. So we loaded the hive in back of truck to take to home yard. We to town to have dinner with this in truck. Didn't realize this was under the bottom until we went to split the deeps and add them to different hives.
We quickly grabbed the 2 deep and reassembled the hive.
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I've never used screened bottom boards. I wonder how the Oxalic ACID effects the wire , specially galvanized wire. The acid MAY breakdown the galvanized into ZINC.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002570.htm
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I don't use screen bottom boards. You would think that down in the south, it would make sense, but the bees seem to deal with the 100+ degree heat and humidity just fine. I think sometimes, there might be an advantage, but so far I've never used one.
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Thanks for all the replies and ideas... Solid it is, much cheaper & much simpler. Thanks again everyone. :yes:
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I don't use screen bottom boards. You would think that down in the south, it would make sense, but the bees seem to deal with the 100+ degree heat and humidity just fine. I think sometimes, there might be an advantage, but so far I've never used one.
my idea would be it is much easier for the bees to ventilate a hive with a solid board than with a screened bottom. Think about it when we ventilate our homes with an attic fan you open the window in the farthest room from the fan and close the rest to draw a breeze through the house. When bees fan at the entrance with a screened bottom board it is not doing much good if you apply the attic fan theory IMHO
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I don't use screen bottom boards. You would think that down in the south, it would make sense, but the bees seem to deal with the 100+ degree heat and humidity just fine. I think sometimes, there might be an advantage, but so far I've never used one.
my idea would be it is much easier for the bees to ventilate a hive with a solid board than with a screened bottom. Think about it when we ventilate our homes with an attic fan you open the window in the farthest room from the fan and close the rest to draw a breeze through the house. When bees fan at the entrance with a screened bottom board it is not doing much good if you apply the attic fan theory IMHO
On the other hand, with the open bottom and an inner cover with a hole and a notch, there would be a natural draft, where the warmer air rises and is replaced at the bottom with cooler air, that would help to cool the hive.
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I really don't think the bees appreciate our concern by providing ventilation for them. They seem to prefer to control that themselves.
I actually ran a little test before I switched to solid bottoms. I had two hives side by side. One with a solid bottom, one with a screen bottom. The solid outperformed the other in every way. More brood, more growth, more honey and no more health issues.
This was in no way a scientific experiment, just a opportunity to see how it shook out. I just don't see advantage to them, even in my climate.
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""On the other hand, with the open bottom and an inner cover with a hole and a notch, there would be a natural draft, where the warmer air rises and is replaced at the bottom with cooler air, that would help to cool the hive.""
If the bottom entrance on the solid bottom is as large or larger than the upper entrance, that statement doesn't hold water. It can still draw as much cool air as the upper entrance can dispel.
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I'm also planning to phase out my screen bottom boards. I've got one hive where they began congregating underneath and had to close it up to stop them from doing it. I have a couple others where the queens seems to avoid the bottom box almost completely. I even flipped the bottom boxes but eventually ended up in the same condition.
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""On the other hand, with the open bottom and an inner cover with a hole and a notch, there would be a natural draft, where the warmer air rises and is replaced at the bottom with cooler air, that would help to cool the hive.""
If the bottom entrance on the solid bottom is as large or larger than the upper entrance, that statement doesn't hold water. It can still draw as much cool air as the upper entrance can dispel.
That's a good point.
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I have found that using a screened bottom board the bees don't build the brood all the way to the bottom of the foundation.
In my solid bottom hives the brood frames are filled out completely.
I believe it is a light or temperature issue.
Also when I would check my bees for mites in August I would have to treat in September for the Varroa Mites.
So I've went to solid bottom boards.