Any one using the Happykeeper varroa floor

[MuswellMetro]

Nice looking hive! I'm still not convinced by the floor, but I'm sure I could find a spot for a hive like that!

yep ,nice hive, he's a better joiner than i am though

floors: i had no problem with wax and debri, that fell off or was cleaned off, until they got propolised

i had a carnieXitalain strain in the hive and they heavily propilised the frames as well and then the plastic pipes, starting at the wall first, after about two months, it was like a waste dump on the tubes

think they did not like the plastic pipes moving so they tried to fix them to the wall

i also got wax moth pupa in the tubes, so gave up, might try again with another bee colony

 

[Dishmop]

think they did not like the plastic pipes moving so they tried to fix them to the wall

H & S issue...

 

[drstitson]

happy floor

i know the principle behind it but can anyone explain why the pipe spacing must be exactly the same as that of the frames above?

 

[tonybloke]

i know the principle behind it but can anyone explain why the pipe spacing must be exactly the same as that of the frames above?

so any debris (cappings, mites, whatever) falls through a gap, not onto top of a pipe.
rgds, Tony

 

[MuswellMetro]

the spacing only works for hoffman spacing but as the frames are over the centresit also means that you can only use the Th**nes happy floor "cold way" frames, if you look at my picture in post in 7 that was an attempt to modify the concept of the happy eater floor to "warm way"

the 36.5 mm tubes rest on dowels spaced 38mm apart to give 3mm gap between tubes and at wall ends tubes , and is just about ok for either 38mm metal spacers or 37mm plastic spacers but i now use 14x12 hoffmans, so its redundant

 

[Skyhook]

the spacing only works for hoffman spacing but as the frames are over the centresit also means that you can only use the Th**nes happy floor "cold way" frames, if you look at my picture in post in 7 that was an attempt to modify the concept of the happy eater floor to "warm way"

the 36.5 mm tubes rest on dowels spaced 38mm apart to give 3mm gap between tubes and at wall ends tubes , and is just about ok for either 38mm metal spacers or 37mm plastic spacers but i now use 14x12 hoffmans, so its redundant

I may have misunderstood the construction, but if you have 36.5mm tubes on support centres at 38mm, does that not give 1.5mm gap rather than 3mm? In which case could that explain the debris getting trapped?

 

[Hombre]

I don't suppose that 1.5mm each side and shared counts as 3mm? <rhetorical of course>, on with the debate.

 

[MuswellMetro]

I may have misunderstood the construction, but if you have 36.5mm tubes on support centres at 38mm, does that not give 1.5mm gap rather than 3mm? In which case could that explain the debris getting trapped?

sorry should be 35.5mm, it was 35mm "nominal" hot wash food pipe,

424 mm wide box, the actual spacing had to be about 38.3mm to be equally spaced assuming 3mm gap at each side, so the mean gaps was 38.3-35.5 but you try drilling that acurate with a hand held wood drill, so the gaps range from about 2.5m to 3.5mm ( i could force 3mm ply between the 11+1 side gap with little movement of the tubes when removed)

also must have been hungry it not happy eater

see http://www.beekeeping.org/happykeeper/index_us.htm

 

[drstitson]

"so any debris (cappings, mites, whatever) falls through a gap, not onto top of a pipe."

i realise that but you might as well have a series of 3mm slots on a wooden floor !!!! or perhaps a mesh floor - wonder why no-one has thought of that before?

 

[Rosti]

I am open to be persuaded on this but still confused as to any genuine benefits from this system but I am guessing the argument is that the smooth nature of the pipes and the rounded surface guides debris to the slots where it falls out. Slots in a flat wood floor would not do this.

I still think that a bit of propolis or adhering wax debris on these polished smooth pipes and bridging and build up starts and the whole 'theory' falls over though? R

 

[drstitson]

solution

perhaps one could adapt the turning mechanism for an egg hatching incubator?

that way the rollers could rotate slowly every few hours and hence prevent propolising/debris build up.

you could make it so each pair turned towards each other on one cycle and away on the next so that each "valley" was properly emptied.

on second thoughts might act as a mangle to squeeze drops out of nectar out of bees!!!!

 

[Gardenbees]

Nice looking hive! I'm still not convinced by the floor, but I'm sure I could find a spot for a hive like that!

Why thank you! It's a handy hive for me, and very versatile.... Although I'm sorry to say that my colleagues pointed out that the long hive looks like a coffin!!

It's hard to say whether the bees really do better with the tube floor or not. It's probably less draughty, and convenient for me as I can gently roll out any of the sort of bits that are too big to go through a mesh floor, saving it from build-up, especially in winter. It was cheap too (*unlike* the commercially-available version). The only other advantage is possibly that the steep edges on the tubes make it very hard for any mites or moths to climb around on the bottom of the hive without falling through, unlike mesh which is quite fine and easier for unwanted crawlies to walk about on.

 

[stormpsy]

was bout to ask this question till i found it already posted. it was last talked about in 2010 i just wondered in 2013 if any views have changed, im tempted to get one but no idea if it is any advantage over my open mesh floor. can a varroa board be used aswell?

 

[Bob Bee]

was bout to ask this question till i found it already posted. it was last talked about in 2010 i just wondered in 2013 if any views have changed, im tempted to get one but no idea if it is any advantage over my open mesh floor. can a varroa board be used aswell?

I don't use them, however I have rescued two colonies that had them.Both had very angry bees, probably because the tubes no longer quite fitted the frame and wasps were able to get in and rob in quite large numbers. Whether this was because it was badly made (they were t horns floors) or whether the frame had warped or stretched, I don't know.
When moving them bees were able to escape through gaps and there was unpleasant build up of gunk in the 'supposed' spaces between rollers. I binned them.

 

[oliver90owner]

Read the thread. It is all there and nothing has changed.

 

[Norton]

It doesn't work!