I am new to this board and the first post.
I came across the of the Belleville
screened bottom board article and I like to comment on it.
Last year Dr Tom Sandford in his Apis letter
explained the research and construction of this type of aid to catch the varroa mite. According to this article A German beekeeper developed this board and tested it for 5 years and was adopted by British beekepers and others.
Before the Apimondia in Vancouver / BC , Canada I constructed such boards with extremely positive results [Early September 1999].All my Hives have this feature. However, My modification to this type is a removable tray beneath the screen to be able to count the normal drop off and the drop off during miticide treatment.This "tray" also serves as "sticky board" , sprayed with "PAM " or equivalent and adjustable ventilation.
During Apimondia a fellow Australian beekeeper and I discussed this feature and realised that an addition /further modification would be even more conducive , thus preventing a disturbance of the colony during inspection and cleaning of the bottom board.It is understood that the mites as well as debris falls through the screen very nicely but dead bees and larger debris requires the usual invasion of the colony..
The next modification then required to construct the board that the screen part is also removable for cleaning puposes.
One of those modified boards was build a couple of days ago by another member of our club and it appears that it would present the final convenience to this idea, barring using different materials or dimensions.
An original slightly differently constructed board is being manufatured by beekeepers of the About.com visitors as well as one of the latest cataloges features this item for sale.
The "Bee Culture" magazine also features letter to this effect in the former issues.
Happy beeing
Catfish
[This message has been edited by Juandefuca (edited 03-16-2000).]
I came across the of the Belleville
screened bottom board article and I like to comment on it.
Last year Dr Tom Sandford in his Apis letter
explained the research and construction of this type of aid to catch the varroa mite. According to this article A German beekeeper developed this board and tested it for 5 years and was adopted by British beekepers and others.
Before the Apimondia in Vancouver / BC , Canada I constructed such boards with extremely positive results [Early September 1999].All my Hives have this feature. However, My modification to this type is a removable tray beneath the screen to be able to count the normal drop off and the drop off during miticide treatment.This "tray" also serves as "sticky board" , sprayed with "PAM " or equivalent and adjustable ventilation.
During Apimondia a fellow Australian beekeeper and I discussed this feature and realised that an addition /further modification would be even more conducive , thus preventing a disturbance of the colony during inspection and cleaning of the bottom board.It is understood that the mites as well as debris falls through the screen very nicely but dead bees and larger debris requires the usual invasion of the colony..
The next modification then required to construct the board that the screen part is also removable for cleaning puposes.
One of those modified boards was build a couple of days ago by another member of our club and it appears that it would present the final convenience to this idea, barring using different materials or dimensions.
An original slightly differently constructed board is being manufatured by beekeepers of the About.com visitors as well as one of the latest cataloges features this item for sale.
The "Bee Culture" magazine also features letter to this effect in the former issues.
Happy beeing
Catfish
[This message has been edited by Juandefuca (edited 03-16-2000).]