Switching back to solid Bottom boards Screened bottom boards are not worth it

[Intheswamp]

I agree with the "beekeeping is local" statements. Here in the hot and humid south I think the sbb is good for the bees. As for taking too much control away from the bees in regards to evaporating nectar down to honey...Thursday I helped my mentor pull honey off of two of his hives...120# off of one hive and 80# off of another one...both hives were double deeps and we left one super on each that wasn't quiet capped off as well as he wanted it to be. We've had a very nice, moist (for a change) spring this year...not an overly dry period of time that might have helped with evaporation. The sbb did not seem to hamper the bees. And, the honey we extracted seemed to have a good moisture %...


My mentor has no problem with mites. His only treatment is powdered sugar dusting.

Just a newbee's comments here...carry on.
Ed

[Ross]

I use them and build them, but I think top venting is more important here year around. My strongest hives have the crappiest tops, rotted holes, etc. They winter the best too. I'm pretty sure it helps with moisture in the winter. The bottom board doesn't seem to matter as much.

[Ross]

One place screens can be really beneficial here is moving hives in the heat.

[psisk]

Another thing down here with a solid bottom is that the SHB will thrive on a solid bottom amid the debris if you dont have very hygenic bees.

psisk

[stevedc]

psisk, Michael Bush was talking in another thread about doing a test hive with different debris in the bottom like a tree hive would have. His thinking is that the SHB would live in that rather than going up into the comb.

[xcugat]

Let me tell you about debris! if you leave the cloroplast slide in tray in and wax debris falls through the screen but stops at the tray, it creates the perfect place for wax moths to live as the bees cant get in there to defend the area, and I would assume shb would love it also, though I cant say that I have seen them myself in my area

[johns bees]

I have both half of my hives are on solidbb and the other half are SBB. Here in washington where it is cold and wet I am finding that the hives with the solidbb are further along than the ones with SBB. Just my two cents.
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[Michael Bush]

I have moved more towards solid bottoms in recent years, but that's because I'm cheap and I can convert the solid bottoms to feeders.

All the feral removals I've done in old hollow trees had a pile of debris at the bottom that was full of wax moth larvae and the bees seemed totally uninterested in them. They were also uninterested in the ants, roaches and beetles that were there as well. I see no issue with the wax moths living below the SBB as it's just like the debris in a natural hive and seems to do no harm.

[broodhead]

Well, looks like you finally figured it out!!! SBB=HYPE!!!!
Look at the brood patterns of your frames between the SBB and the Solid BB, you definately will see a difference. As far as mite counts go there is little difference, not worth it. Develop a protocol for treatment and keep it simple. I do have a few SBB nuc boxes, not fully screened, but partial and also have a vent hole in the upper nuc body. I only do this because I am in South Florida and I have better results starting splits in high temp months.

[The Honey Girl's Boy]

I have SBB with sliding boards under the screen on all my hives. Warres, Top Bars, and Langs. I leave the sliding boards in all the time year around except for mite inspection and pulling them out a couple of inches for ventilation on hot days. Here in the Pacific Northwest it only gets hot enough for that a few days a year. The statement, “I don’t see SBB in the feral colonies in nature, so they can’t be all that great” isn’t really a very strong argument against them. Pretty much nothing we keep bees in or do to them exists in nature. The last hive I lost to mites was 3 years ago and it was a solid bottom board. Nearly all my hives have Varroa mite populations in them. I don’t treat any of them unless I see the population getting out of control. Then I treat with powdered sugar and that has only happened twice in the 3 years since I switched over to SBBs. My personal philosophy is that all healthy colonies can have a small mite population and that I will do far more damage to the health of the hive by treating with chemicals trying to get it to zero mites. I am actually a keeper that researches and reads scientific studies on bee keeping. I have studies indicating that the rate of natural mite drop can reach more then 25% population. There are formulas for counting the mite drop on the sticky paper from a 24 hour drop and multiplying for the population level in the hive. No brainer for me- if I can kill ¼ of the mites in my colonies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week year around for free, without lifting a finger, I’m there.

[BeeGhost]

I run all SBB and I love them. I enjoy making them as well. I just get scraps of plywood and cut them the same dimensions as a hive body plus a 2" landing board. Then I cut out a square in the bottom about the size of 6 frames (brood area) and staple on 3/4" pieces of wood for the hive body to rest on, staple the wire on and its light and works great!

[Charlie B]

If you staple another screen on the bottom you'll have a double screen bottom board that works great for splits, combining hives and placing weaker hives on top of stronger hives for heat.

[RobWok]

I used screened bottom boards and oil trays. The screen is 1/6 instead of the 1/8 which is normal and 1/4 is too big.

The benefit here is that both larva of wax moth and small hive beetle fall into the bottom. The hive beetle larva never make it out of my hive, and I catch a lot of adults in there too. I do see mites, but the hive beetle is what concerns me. I once was careless and moved a capped frame too close to a side of the box. The next time I came in and saw it, I pulled it out to check, fearing dead larva. Instead, it was a mass of beetle larva, so even the smallest mistake can create a lot of larva that could cause a problem.

I don't remove and clean the trays as often as I should but I do know they work fantastic when clean with liquid oil in them.

[gmcharlie]

FOr what its worth, there is another observation to consider, Queens don't seem to like to lay near the opening. they prefer darker areas. Queens on SBB seem to move up faster that queens on solids. Noted to me by a large beek in GA, and I am evalUATING his thoughts.

[julysun]

Well, the best this three hive owner, all new, with screened bottom boards can get from this thread is confusion. SBB can mean Screened or Solid, to add to my confusion. Was this just a fad? Many OTs (Old Timers) are switching, or at least not using more. I do wonder how much honey my girls are burning to stay warm, any studies of heat balance around bee hives? Of course here near Houston TX they are probably burning energy staying cool!

[honeyman46408]

Here are to ones I make with a pan for oil to catch SHBs and mites

[westernbeekeeper]

How in the world could you possibly accept such heresy as turning away from the Sacred Screened Bottom Boards?! I have been beekeeping for 3 years, have never run anything but screened BBs, and I have never had varroa mites.

[julysun]

Neat.

[The Honey Girl's Boy]

Screen bottom boards come in several different designs and applications. Minor changes to the several designs and applications being made by independent keepers and these variances being applied to regional conditions will produce, or in some cases, not produce a cornucopia of results. Basically SBBs come in 2 basic designs; a plain open screen floor with a frame around the edges holding the hive boxes or a screen floor with a sliding board under it, usually slid in and out from the back of the hive floor. As in all aspects of beekeeping, if it works for you and your style of keeping bees, it is a good idea. If you find no particular advantage to a method or accessory, then clearly, it is of no value to you personally. Identical SBBs being used exactly the same in Texas and in Maine will have clearly different effects on the hive colony. There isn’t an aspect of beekeeping that isn’t glorified or condemned depending on who you talk to. I have learned that advice from a keeper that will viciously malign some aspect or method of beekeeping is based personal opinion or misunderstanding. The greatest knowledge and insight I have received all my life in keeping bees came from keepers that warmly shared their experiences and insight with a level of care and respect for the diversity that is Beekeeping.

[beedeetee]

I bought them for several years, but I have started moving back to solid also. The nice things about them are that you can easily count mites and you don't have to be so worried about tilting your hive forward to drain water.

I hate painting them and the slides are all different, so if I take them out I have to experiment to figure out which slide fits which BB. I also kept the slides in after I noticed that the queen didn't lay as close to the bottom and that the solid bottom board hives seemed to have more brood, and started flying earlier in the day in the cool springs that we have.

I also noticed that if I used one on a cell builder with a Cloake Board that the forager bees can find their queen through the screen if the slide doesn't fit well (about half of mine).