Home Made Floors.

[Millet]

I knocked half a dozen floors up last week from some floor joist of cuts..the mesh arrived several days ago and it is now in place with my tunnel entrances..all I need to do now is scrounge some material for the inspection boards and they will be ready to use..30 quid they have cost me and that was eight sheets of varroa mesh+ delivery..I will use no other type of entrance from now on.

 

[Anduril]

I knocked half a dozen floors up last week from some floor joist of cuts..the mesh arrived several days ago and it is now in place with my tunnel entrances..all I need to do now is scrounge some material for the inspection boards and they will be ready to use..30 quid they have cost me and that was eight sheets of varroa mesh+ delivery..I will use no other type of entrance from now on.

You should find plenty of the inspection boards now the election is over for the UK

 

[Millet]

Good idea but i do not watch the news or TV so i do not have a clue what is going on outside my bubble..i will be on the prowl tonight though while walking the pooch..

 

[Adam Bee]

(snip) ... with my tunnel entrances.. (snap) ..I will use no other type of entrance from now on.

Currently I have used something like this:
https://tinyurl.com/y6reqwez

It’s not a tunnel, per se, but a reducer.

I ended up removing it to ease congestion at the hive entrance.

What is the main reason for the tunnel? And don’t you find the foragers stuck in a grid lock of congestion?

Just curious about the reasoning.

 

[eltalia]

(edit
..I will use no other type of entrance from now on.

... one of the best efforts in enhancing mold explosions - along with
airpath refraction - I have come across "on the Net". Well done.

It took years in R&D to get there, yeah?

/tic/

Bill

 

[Millet]

Currently I have used something like this:
https://tinyurl.com/y6reqwez

It’s not a tunnel, per se, but a reducer.

I ended up removing it to ease congestion at the hive entrance.

What is the main reason for the tunnel? And don’t you find the foragers stuck in a grid lock of congestion?

Just curious about the reasoning.

The reason for the tunnel is it is virtually impossible for wasps or robber bees to get through unnoticed..it is on 24/7 and mice can also not get through the 9mm gap..
I did start of using the entrance blocks in your link but i found them to be rubbish and used them for kindling..wasps can easily gain access through them it is just a case of in and straight up with the standard blocks..with the tunnel it is always full of bees coming and going with no congestion even on double brood.

 

[Adam Bee]

Oh, ok. Cool. Good to know. Thanks.

 

[Millet]

... one of the best efforts in enhancing mold explosions - along with
airpath refraction - I have come across "on the Net". Well done.

It took years in R&D to get there, yeah?

/tic/

Bill

Thank's Bill..

 

[MartinL]

How do you reduce the entrance size?

 

[Millet]

I use little shims of wood that are kept in the bottom of my tool tray...they are not always needed but when i do use them wasps definitely have a hard time.

 

[eltalia]

Thank's Bill..

Yeah well, trying to help you think it through like.
/smiles/
Where wasps are a problem you've introduced other 'stuff'
not helpfull to the bees, like a step forward, two back.
We do not have hornet/wasp attacks on bees here(FNQ)
as such, with hornet attack being only seasonal elsewhere in
Aussie - so what is the specific wasp problem 24/7 barrier
is required?
Asking in the hope of expanding any 'solution'.

Bill

 

[maddydog]

... one of the best efforts in enhancing mold explosions - along with
airpath refraction - I have come across "on the Net". Well done.

It took years in R&D to get there, yeah?

/tic/

Bill

Why do you think this Bill? Looks to me like a full floor of mesh should provide all the ventilation you need (and more?)

 

[eltalia]

Why do you think this Bill? Looks to me like
a full floor of mesh should provide all the ventilation you need (and more?)

At the risk of revving up yet another SBB/OMF 'war' MD I'll just offer
there are a few narrow windows a meshed hole that size in a beehive is
advantageous when manipulated, for the remaining 99.95% of
circumstance their "set and forget" use is a strain on colony health
and production values - it is one bit of kit that should be removed from
suppliers catalogues.
Ventilation _must be_ under the control of the colony, not the "I reckon"
of Man.

Bill

 

[Finman]

Ventilation _must be_ under the control of the colony, not the "I reckon"
of Man.

Bill

That is main principle.

I look from amount of veltilating bees, how proper the size of entrances are.

Like Millet's mesh floor, mesh is huge!

 

[Finman]

Why do you think this Bill? Looks to me like a full floor of mesh should provide all the ventilation you need (and more?)

That I do not understand....all ventilation you need..... That mesh is 40 times more what bees need.

A colony size may be one langstroth box or 6 langstroth boxes, and the same ventilation. How it is possible?.

 

[maddydog]

That I do not understand....all ventilation you need..... That mesh is 40 times more what bees need.

A colony size may be one langstroth box or 6 langstroth boxes, and the same ventilation. How it is possible?.

Finnie, a case of crossed wires. I thought Bill was commenting on the tunnel entrance not the size of the mess floor.
Most of my floors have mesh area no bigger than a postcard. The state of the bottom of the brood frames told me everything about excess ventilation

 

[Finman]

Finnie, a case of crossed wires. I thought Bill was commenting on the tunnel entrance not the size of the mess floor.
Most of my floors have mess area no bigger than a postcard. The state of the bottom of the brood frames told me everything about excess ventilation

Bill is in Australia. Hot place.
There is winter now there and Sidney has 16-20C day temperatures.

 

[Finman]

Finnie, a case of crossed wires. I thought Bill was commenting on the tunnel entrance not the size of the mess floor.

I said about Millet's floors.

 

[maddydog]

I said about Millet's floors.

Yes I know, and I agree with you.

 

[eltalia]

Yes I know, and I agree with you.

Yep, all on the same page there. I'd remain interested in the wasp
problem as there has to be another answer over stuffing up air
flows around the box(s).

Bill