New (or at least I think so) idea for bottom board beetle trap

**Savethehoneybee** · 12-10-2012, 06:48 AM

Ok, I'm not a big message board guy... So much so that I can't even remember my old user name or the email I used with it... So this is my "first" post. I live in Geoegia and the SHB is a pain for me. I've tried all the traps and they all work but have drawbacks. I bought a few of the Freeman? plastic traps that you have to add a 3/4" spacer to your bottom board to use (more gaps). Great idea except having to pull it out from the front, having to make custom entrance reducers, and all the gaps around the edge of the trap between it and the bottom board. I've seen where others have built a custom bottom board with a slide out rear metal tray. Hard to build but much better idea overall. My other big problem is well... I like and need a vented bottom board so my bees don't spend the summer outside the hive, leaving the hive under protected.

What's my solution? A custom wood bottom board with a rear removable tray that incorporates an area for ventilation while still having full screened oil trap in the areas it matters most, the edges and back corners where those buggers get corralled. I also have an idea of integrating a lure possibly into the trap as well as a secondary oil trap beneath the vent area if my testing shows its needed or beneficial enough to use.

Any thoughts? My design is all wood, sized for 10, 8, and even 5 frame nucs (the reason for my design actually) and incorporates an angled landing board entrance. My idea is why not add every bell and whistle you can to make something better for the bees if it only takes a few minutes more to make and keeps you from buying more pieces such as a separate landing board. If there is interest and the experts on here think its a good idea, I'll be glad to make some up for people. I'm a carpenter/farmer so they would be quality built. I like my stuff to last! anyway, just excited about my idea and thought I would share and get some feedback.

BTW, my Nuc problem was that I built some with a built in screened bottom and it was a disaster... Beetles took over... the screen was built in my nuc because I also made up some nuc observation tops and extra ventilation was a requirement. With the new design, I can have an oil tray on the nuc when it's at home, remove it for a trip to a school demonstration, still have ventilation and not have to worry about kids sticking their hands under the nuc and getting stung through the mesh since it is inside the bottom board now.

**Rader Sidetrack** · 12-10-2012, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Savethehoneybee

Ok, I'm not a big message board guy... So much so that I can't even remember my old user name or the email I used with it... So this is my "first" post.

There can't be very many members from Good Hope.

Perhaps this is your other name?

Originally Posted by jamieei

Hi, I'm Jamie. I live on a 150 acre beef cattle farm. My grandfather kept bees and sold honey when i was young and so I've wanted to get into bees for a few years now. Our farm sits in the middle of several thousand acres of pines and hardwoods with no houses nearby. With a EQIP grant from the usda a few years ago, I interplanted several varities of clover in our 135 acres of fields so I thought bees would have a field day here. I installed my two packages May 1st and after losing a queen and also losing a lot of bees because of a poor hive top feeder float design (Thanks brushy mountain), I combined my two hives about a month ago and things are looking good so far. I'm amazed by this little rascals and am considering enrolling at uga to study them since i live close to Athens (North High Shoals). I'm looking for a club to join and hoping to find knowledgeable keepers around me. I would love to eventually develop this into a sideline business to my grass fed beef.

As far as your bottom board concept, perhaps you could make a couple and use them for a while to test the concept.

**Savethehoneybee** · 12-10-2012, 07:28 AM

yep, that's me! for some reason it wouldn't pull my email when I tried resetting my password. I have made a few and the basic design is similar to many in use today, but with tweaks for problems I encountered. There isn't a lot of beetle activity now since its cooler that I think would prove or disprove my idea. The tweaks like ventilation (more important in summer obviously) and the integrated landing board are obviously proven ideas that have been added to the already accepted bottom board beetle trap concepts. Rear access is also much more important than I originally thought. bees weren't happy at all when you pull out the plastic tray under them and you can't help but smash some when sliding it back in. I also like my design because its no thicker than a standard bottom board and you can use standard entrance reducers.