Bottom board

[craneman54]

 I just built  4 sets of hives,still have to fill in nail wholes(re-purposed lumber) and a few dings and dents and also need to paint them.

I have the wood cut up for sbb's. I know some people use slide out oil pans under the screen. I read somewhere that putting a solid Bottom board, but coated it with Vaseline. This caused mites to get stuck and die.It also eliminates the spilling of the oil and works to seal the bottom of the hive during cold winters.

I have also read that alot of people are going back to solid bottom boards also.

I live in Louisiana so we don't get the freezing weather alot of you people get, but we do have humidity big time.

With that being said any suggestions and/or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

BTW I haven't got any bees yet. I am trying to get ready for next spring so I can have as much done ahead of time as possible.

[Culley]

Congratulations on building 4 sets of hives from re-purposed lumber. I'd love to see photos if you have any.

I'm in a different country to you, so my only advice is to meet some local beekeepers and get their advice. Go along to a beekeeping club if you can.  :)

[don2]

I would go with a screened bottom board fixed to use an oil pan if you choose to. If you put a space between the oil pan and the wire and not have the pan over flowing then you should have no problem. you would need a screen if you used a greased bottom board. I would also get a good bee book and read it more than 2 times. Another thing you will find out, things that work for some one else in another location may not work as well in your area. Try to find a near by bee keeper or a local bee club. You want to go with what works in your area. Hope this helps. d2 :)

[BlueBee]

I use screens in my full sized hives and a solid bottom board in the nucs.  I think I could do away with the screens since I’m in Michigan and don’t have small hive beetles to contend with; thank God.  However down south you can count on small hive beetles and from what I read on here, a good oil pan is one of the more effective controls for the SHB.  Hopefully somebody down your way will chime in. 

A screened bottom board makes it a little easier to monitor for pests (varroa, SHB, wax moths) in a hive but it’s not absolutely required to be successful either. 

[craneman54]

Congratulations on building 4 sets of hives from re-purposed lumber. I'd love to see photos if you have any.

I'm in a different country to you, so my only advice is to meet some local beekeepers and get their advice. Go along to a beekeeping club if you can.  :)

Wish I had a camera to take some pictures to show. I have been talking to a local bee keeper, he told me he would call me next time he goes to work his hives.

I just wanted other opinions. More info I get the better the decision I can make. :-D At least I hope!!
 

I would go with a screened bottom board fixed to use an oil pan if you choose to. If you put a space between the oil pan and the wire and not have the pan over flowing then you should have no problem. you would need a screen if you used a greased bottom board. I would also get a good bee book and read it more than 2 times. Another thing you will find out, things that work for some one else in another location may not work as well in your area. Try to find a near by bee keeper or a local bee club. You want to go with what works in your area. Hope this helps. d2 :)

I have some 1/8" hardware cloth I got when I went to the local lumber yard. The guy that owns the place also keeps bees so I do ask him questions if he has time and not dealing with other customers.

The closest Bee club is about an hour and 15 minutes away from me.I wish I could join a bee club but, I can't stay gone from the wife for long enough to go to a meeting and stay for awhile. She has dementia and can only be left unsupervised for a very limited time.

BlueBee  Well I had decided to do the sbb with an oil pan but I have been reading alot on this forum and it seems people are shying away from sbb and going back to solid bottom boards.  Well I guess it will be using oil pans then.

Thanks for the help guys.

OH and I WILL be asking other questions so study up so you all can help this old fart out. :roll: :-D

[BlueBee]

I've got to re-side an old house one of these days and have been trying to come up with a re-use for the old clapboards.  I'm sure at one point in time they had lead paint on them so technically the EPA probably considers them hazardous waste at this point.... 

[BeeMaster2]

Crane,
I run SBB on all of my hives, I have also added them to my nucs this year. In the south, SBB's can bee really bad. I have found over 400 in the dry oil tray of one large hive, I suspect it had swarmed. As I have said before, when I started out, I was killing SBB's by the thousands in all of my hives. Every month I would clean out the oil trays, they would bee solid black with SBBs. After a couple of years of me and my neighboring beeks doing that, the beetle numbers dropped so low that we stopped using oil and ran them dry.
One of the great things about oil trays is they not only kill the beetles, they also kill the larvae when the craw out of the hive to pupate. They drop into the oil and die. This stops the breeding cycle of the beetles.
When you get to the point that you can run them dry, bee sure to clean them out once a week during the warm months. The larvae that get removed by the bees can grow in the dry tray by eating the dropped pollen.
Btw, the larvae can survive in the tray if it just has water. You need to use oil to kill them.
Jim

[craneman54]

I am going to run to the dollar store this morning and see if they have some backing pans.
 
Thanks for the help folks.

[jayj200]

Craneman
got some videos for you to watch
our bee club posts our meetings on line for free one can view them here  http://www.palmbeachbeekeepers.com/

on this site there is a libary with many good be books http://bees.library.cornell.edu.bees/browse
jpthebeeman on utube
and thefatbeeman

[craneman54]

Thanks I didn't know about the site with the books, I will be doing some reading for sure.

Yep I do know about the you tube videos. I have spent hours watching them. I like JP's vids and also TFBM. Whenever I am in the house and nothing on TV to watch ( pretty dang often) I watch bee keeping videos. I use to live close to JP. I just hadn't started to learn about bee keeping back then. He makes good vids but he needs to listen to better music. :roll: :shock: :-D

I also will watch the meeting vids from your club. This old hard head of mine learns better from doing and watching rather than reading. :roll:

[thewhiterhino]

Crane,
I run SBB on all of my hives, I have also added them to my nucs this year. In the south, SBB's can bee really bad. I have found over 400 in the dry oil tray of one large hive, I suspect it had swarmed. As I have said before, when I started out, I was killing SBB's by the thousands in all of my hives. Every month I would clean out the oil trays, they would bee solid black with SBBs. After a couple of years of me and my neighboring beeks doing that, the beetle numbers dropped so low that we stopped using oil and ran them dry.
One of the great things about oil trays is they not only kill the beetles, they also kill the larvae when the craw out of the hive to pupate. They drop into the oil and die. This stops the breeding cycle of the beetles.
When you get to the point that you can run them dry, bee sure to clean them out once a week during the warm months. The larvae that get removed by the bees can grow in the dry tray by eating the dropped pollen.
Btw, the larvae can survive in the tray if it just has water. You need to use oil to kill them.
Jim

Should these two references be SHBs? I'm not sure I'm following this.

Ross

[craneman54]

Crane,
I run SBB on all of my hives, I have also added them to my nucs this year. In the south, SBB's can bee really bad. I have found over 400 in the dry oil tray of one large hive, I suspect it had swarmed. As I have said before, when I started out, I was killing SBB's by the thousands in all of my hives. Every month I would clean out the oil trays, they would bee solid black with SBBs. After a couple of years of me and my neighboring beeks doing that, the beetle numbers dropped so low that we stopped using oil and ran them dry.
One of the great things about oil trays is they not only kill the beetles, they also kill the larvae when the craw out of the hive to pupate. They drop into the oil and die. This stops the breeding cycle of the beetles.
When you get to the point that you can run them dry, bee sure to clean them out once a week during the warm months. The larvae that get removed by the bees can grow in the dry tray by eating the dropped pollen.
Btw, the larvae can survive in the tray if it just has water. You need to use oil to kill them.
Jim

Should these two references be SHBs? I'm not sure I'm following this.
 
Ross

Thats OK I knew what he meant. :laugh:

[Michael Bush]

>still have to fill in nail wholes

The bees will fill any holes too small for bees to get through.  No need to fill them.

[craneman54]

Thanks  :-D