BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS

Mesh Size-Screened Bottom Boards

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lobstafari:
Hi All,
  I built a couple of the beesource.com bottom boards today, in hopes to learn more/combat the mighty varroa! My predicament is, the plan calls for 1/8" hardware cloth.  This isn't very common around these parts but have plenty of 1/4" in the basement.  It looks to me like 1/4" would be fine to use (small enough) but Im really new to all this, and dont quite understand beespace, so Im looking for opinions, advice, and options!! :lol: Thanks, Jeremy

Robo:
1/4" will allow the bees to pass thru it.  I have not tried it, but would venture a guess that the majority will still use the main entrance.  I would go ahead and give it a try,  you have nothing to loose.  Worse case,  you have to replace it.

I would put the filler board in place when you first install them.  This way the bees will get use to the screen, but will have to use the main entrance.  This might reduce their desire once yuo remove the filler board.
Just speculating.

mark:
they will use the bottom board for an entrance and go out every which way.  makes things inconvenient when working the hive.  double up on the 1/4" and offset it to make 1/8" openings if you can.

Beth Kirkley:
I'm making screened bottom boards today too. :) Pretty proud of the way they're coming out. I followed no plans on this, since my hives are hand made, and slightly off size. But the whole thing is a double hive stand with screened bottom boards. I'll show off and give pics when done.

Beth :)

lobstafari:
Thanks for the replies and good advice.

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