New varroa floors

[enrico]

Does anyone have any knowledge about the new floors in the th???s catalogue. It has rollers instead of mesh and has claims about varroa control that seem amazing?! They are about £45 a go but if the do work then the saving on treatment would make them worth it. Sorry if this has been discussed already but couldn't find it in a search.
E

 

[REDWOOD]

The rollers are just tubes and the mites just fall around the tubes between the gaps OlO

 

[enrico]

Why are they meant to be better than mesh? I would think the bees find it hard to walk on them!

 

[REDWOOD]

They have less air flowing through them than OMF !!!

 

[user 6228]

They have less air flowing through them than OMF !!!

which is probably a good thing if you a bee trying to fan air into the entrance

 

[Silly Bee]

Lets us know if they are any good, £45 is a bit hefty for me.

 

[user 6228]

Why are they meant to be better than mesh? I would think the bees find it hard to walk on them!

yes i thought that then i watched the bees walking on the underside of a sheet of clear plastic...

the theory is warmer yet more likely for mites to fall out without recontacting a bee. There are other debris floor designs out there... omf is just one them.
OMF is not that good at shedding mites as you might think... its all because the hole area that guarantees a mite ejectionis smaller than the physical hole.
perhaps as small as half the physical hole area.

 

[Finman]

.
That tube bottom is at least 10 years old. It has patent. Is it called "happy beekeepers bottom"?
According researches it does not help with varroa.
Humbug.

 

[Into the lions den]

.
According researches it does not help with varroa.
Humbug.

Have to second Finman on that. Other than the manufacturers own 'tests' it has been shown to be little more than expensive 'snake oil'.

Nice sounding yet ineffective ideas are a great way of parting beekeepers from their money, no matter how sincere, well meaning, and convincing (even to themselves) the originator might be.

 

[drstitson]

as well as the patented happy bottom there is also the john Harding design.

i can understand the idea but would imagine that bigger bits of debris would just end up gravitating towards the bottoms of the "gutters" created by the tubes/rods where they would be harder for the bees to clear. mesh floors may be suboptimal for various reasons but at least the bees can easily drag debris across towards the entrance.

propolised areas in the floors would also act as wax moth egg/larvae hidey holes

 

[Finman]

.
It is said that a mesh floor protects bees agaist varroa but mesh floor owners must however treat their hives with some stuff.

Snake oil or snake grease (vibora) was a great hit in Soviet Union medicine world but when system collapsed, Vibora vanished too.

 

[user 6228]

What is the John Harding design? I've seen it mentioned a lot but not described.

 

[drstitson]

you'll need to buy his book.

basically a tube/rod directly below each frame.

 

[Bob Bee]

Does anyone have any knowledge about the new floors in the th???s catalogue. It has rollers instead of mesh and has claims about varroa control that seem amazing?! They are about £45 a go but if the do work then the saving on treatment would make them worth it. Sorry if this has been discussed already but couldn't find it in a search.
E

On Saturday I had to change the floor from a disaster hive that I rescued in the autumn (another thread ), it turned out to be a happy keeper floor. The tubes didn't reach the sides of the floor which had allowed robbing and insect ingress. This was just bad workmanship. The tubes were set apart by a "former" which guaranteed the correct spacing between the tubes but three of the gaps were full of debris and had effectively been sealed. There were dead varoa and other droppings on these sealed gaps. The tubes were flimsy and the whole thing seemed a waste of time with the possibility of causing more problems that it solved. I shant be using them.

 

[user 6228]

yes i thought that then i watched the bees walking on the underside of a sheet of clear plastic...

the theory is warmer yet more likely for mites to fall out without recontacting a bee. There are other debris floor designs out there... omf is just one them.
OMF is not that good at shedding mites as you might think... its all because the hole area that guarantees a mite ejectionis smaller than the physical hole.
perhaps as small as half the physical hole area.

The only "non treatment" non larvae culling anti-varroa tactic I 've seen positive peer reviewed evidence for, is that of keeping the bees warm (warm bees groom more mites off). But since the happykeeper floor is intended for a conventional wooden hive, it couldnt achieve any significant warming effect.

 

[Ely]

As far as I can see it. The only good thing about mesh floors in terms of varroa is monitoring the drop after treatment. I find the whole 'cant climb back after dropping off' theory a little silly as I id hate to think how low the percentage of mites fall off a bee in the first place with their super evolved hooks. There is a possibility I could be talking nonsense though Good for ventilation though.

 

[BeeJayBee]

The only "non treatment" non larvae culling anti-varroa tactic I've seen positive peer reviewed evidence for, is that of keeping the bees warm (warm bees groom more mites off).

That's interesting. Do you know if there's been a direct comparison of varroa levels in commercially produced polystyrene and/or wooden hives?

 

[user 6228]

That's interesting. Do you know if there's been a direct comparison of varroa levels in commercially produced polystyrene and/or wooden hives?

No I havent, in fact I havent seen any studies of changes in bee behaviours in insulated environments, they are usually all done with respect to temperature.

 

[Polyanwood]

Buying mesh to put mesh floors on my nucs

Some of my overwintered nucs were too damp inside when I opened them up. I want to replace the solid floors with mesh floors. Where can I buy some cut to size. I'd like 3mm guage.

I thought I bought it from someone like JL Wire last time?

Thanks,

Karin