Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => NATURAL & ORGANIC BEEKEEPING METHODS => Topic started by: Honeytree on March 12, 2012, 02:06:11 am

Title: What bottoms work best for a top entrance?
Post by: Honeytree on March 12, 2012, 02:06:11 am

I'm a little confused about this. I'm planning on making my own tops from plywood with shims for the entrances. But I'm not sure what that means for me in terms of ventilation and heat retention. Would one be better of with a screen bottom board or a solid bottom board with a top entrance? And I read on Michael Bush's website about using a slatted board plus hardware cloth; does this do something different from the screen bottom board?

Thanks for reading,

Teresa

Title: Re: What bottoms work best for a top entrance?
Post by: Michael Bush on March 12, 2012, 02:38:00 am

I have used Screened Bottom Boards with the entrances blocked.  Solid bottom boards converted to bottom feeders.  Solid bottoms with the entrance blocked. Slatted racks with #8 hardware cloth on the bottom.  They all work fine.  I've gone to the solid bottoms converted to feeders so I don't have to buy feeders for all the hives.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#BottomBoardFeeder (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#BottomBoardFeeder)

Any kind of bottom that adds at least 1/4" to the space under the bottom bars of the bottom box will do.

Title: Re: What bottoms work best for a top entrance?
Post by: alfred on March 12, 2012, 05:09:14 pm

Here is a thread from 2010 on this very subject. Lots of pics I posted. Check it out.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,29234.msg230414.html#msg230414 (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,29234.msg230414.html#msg230414)

Alfred

Title: Re: What bottoms work best for a top entrance?
Post by: Intheswamp on March 13, 2012, 12:41:43 am

Thanks for the link to your previous thread, alfred.  I really like your screened bottom board.  What is the width of the 1-bys that you used for it?  Good and stable foundation?  I like the idea of the top entrances but how is it when you're doing inspections and foragers are coming in?

Thanks again for sharing the info,
Ed

Title: Re: What bottoms work best for a top entrance?
Post by: podius on March 17, 2012, 08:18:56 pm

I put slatted racks plus screened bottom boards-reduced entrance on all my hives last year. They all made it through the winter for the first time in my 4 year beekeeping adventure. There was also no accumulation of dead bees filling up the bottom box nor mold. They kept the hive clean and clear.

Title: Re: What bottoms work best for a top entrance?
Post by: bwdenen on March 17, 2012, 11:22:37 pm

I'm planning to start 2 or 3 new hives this year with top entrances and I had the same questions bouncing around in my mind as you Honeytree.  Thanks for asking and thanks to you guys for the info.