screened bottom boards

[Jen]

Jacobs.. Hm, interesting.

[brooksbeefarm]

I have both types of bottom boards, all the above makes sense as to not use screen bottom boards, but in there defense i will say that with the humidity and high temps in my area that by using them in the hot dry summer it frees up workers to make honey, that would otherwise be bearding and fanning to cool the hive. Many of my club members said the sbb's with trays of oil under them saved there hives from shb's. I'm thinking of putting screen bottom boards on in the summer on my strong honey producing hives and  putting solid bottom boards on in the winter.Jack

[Jen]

I like that idea Jack!

[LazyBkpr]

When I was considering making them to use that was going to be my plan..  Open them when it was really hot, but keep a sticky/grease board under them the rest of the time..
   Its days like today that make me glad I dont have them.. 18 earlier, about 9 right now and 30 mph gusts...   COLD out there!!

[Finally Home]

   Its days like today that make me glad I dont have them.. 18 earlier, about 9 right now and 30 mph gusts...   COLD out there!!

And heading my way 

[iddee]

Solid bottoms aren't bad. Screen bottoms aren't bad. Screen bottoms with solid panel under them are terrible.
Wax moth and SHB incubating area at it's finest.

[LazyBkpr]

Solid bottoms aren't bad. Screen bottoms aren't bad. Screen bottoms with solid panel under them are terrible.
Wax moth and SHB incubating area at it's finest.

  I just cant imagine this somehow?   Maybe if you never checked or cleaned those slide ins.. but isnt that the purpose of them?  Cleaning / checking them at each inspection?  I have never used them so honestly dont know!!!

[iddee]

If you check/clean them every 5 days, fine. In 7 days, the damage is done. I don't know any beeks that do it that often.

[Jen]

"I just cant imagine this somehow? Maybe if you never checked or cleaned those slide ins.. but isnt that the purpose of them?  Cleaning / checking them at each inspection?  I have never used them so honestly dont know!!!"

Confused, not sure what you guys are talking about, sbb or slide ins? what's a slide in? You mean like the plastic sign covered in crisco that I have under my sbb?

And for some reason I not able to use the tool bar up above? is there a setting I should check for?

[iddee]

You should check your slide in board every day, clean it, and put it back. After 3days, remove it completely. Average the mite count for the 3 days, and make your treatment decisions from that average.

If you can't use the tool bar, sign out, close your browser, open it again and sign back in. When signing in, check the "keep me signed in" box. Then tell me if it worked.

Also, what browser are you using? If IE, switch to another one. My preference is firefox.

[LazyBkpr]

If you check/clean them every 5 days, fine. In 7 days, the damage is done. I don't know any beeks that do it that often.

   Ahh.. OK.. the problem is in my failure to realize how fast the problems can develop. In my limited imagination I couldnt picture bad problems with an inspection cleaning every couple of weeks..

  Yeah Jay.. the screened bottom board with the slide in board in place.  some have a hardboard, some use the corrugated plastic sign, and I've seen a couple that have a piece of metal from an old road sign, just have never used them and apparently have some misconceptions to fix!

[iddee]

Let me add that I am referring to warm weather. Leaving it in when the weather is too cold for the pests to multiply should be all right. It may even help keep the cold out.

[Jen]

"You should check your slide in board every day, clean it, and put it back. After 3days, remove it completely. Average the mite count for the 3 days, and make your treatment decisions from that average."

To clarify: why take the slide in board out completely after three days? I just leave mine in, check it once a week, clean it, put it back in. I can tell a lot of what's going on inside my hive by the dropping on the oily slide in board...

[G3farms]

Here a little further south than you, if the board is forgotten because we got busy or something, wax moth will set up shop pretty quick.

I put old rubber roofing under my hive to keep the weeds down, and a big plus is being able to see what is being thrown out the front of the hive or dropped through the screened bottom board. Even better is the fact that it is free.

[Jen]

Practicing pic posting

This is how my hive is set up.

[Perry]

Looks good! 

[G3farms]

Looks good!

Are you a scuba diver?

[G3farms]

well now wait a minute.......are you running a screened bottom board?
If so how do you pull the slide out board out with a fence behind the hive??

Kind of defeats the purpose of a SBB with it sitting on a piece of plywood too.

The screened piece on the front of the hive is a "robber screen".

[LazyBkpr]

Noticed the dive weights too!

   That doesnt look like a screened bottom board.. at least not the type you can put a sliding board in.. Maybe someone has cut the plywood out and stapled screen into it...
   I'd take the robber screen off the front until its needed...  You only have one hive right???   So chances are you wont have much of a robbing problem anytime soon, unless you have another nearby Beek or feral hives.  It wont hurt anything but it does slow them down coming and going.

  I'd also send you an inner cover and Tele cover if you want them Jay.

[crazy8days]

Boy!  After reading all this I'm thinking about starting 2014 with solid bottoms.  I've got SBB ready but, can be changed pretty easily.