Open mesh floor versus solid floors?

[fred scuttle]

I've been experimenting with putting the varroa board into my open mesh floors hives and noticed vast differences in terms of development from 3 seams of bees in a national brood box to 8 seams within a week. They all seem to be outperforming the hives with omf and this is working perfectly for building up colonies for the winter. I just wondered if anyone else could shed some light on this.. is it the added ambient heat in the brood nest with blocking the omf?

 

[Finman]

I've been experimenting with putting the varroa board into my open mesh floors hives and noticed vast differences in terms of development from 3 seams of bees in a national brood box to 8 seams within a week. They all seem to be outperforming the hives with omf and this is working perfectly for building ?

Only explanation is that brood has been ready to emerge and amount of bees have rised.
Brood cycle is 3 weeks and one more week is needed, that enough bees come out. At night bees go to cluster to keep brood warm and when day is warm, bees expand to the whole box.

I suppose that you have had too much space in the hive when it had only 4 frames of brood.

How many frames you have alltogether? Have you dummy board there? How much brood now?

 

[oliver90owner]

Yep, poppycock. Nothing to do with OMF or solid floor.

Emerging brood and internal hive temperature are the main factors. Eight days is not a sufficient time to make an assessment, especially by a beek who has posted without giving all the full details. IF this difference is noted between open OMF and similar colonies with closed OMF within about a week, the experiment is totally flawed. Poster is not actually convinced as the word ''seemed'' is not exactly indicative of solid proof.

It needs rather more than four colonies, over a one week period, to draw any sensible conclusion for any such experiment and conclusion.

It is a bit like the 20 degree Celsius temperature required for queen mating; people look at the met office details but many are clearly ignorant of the simple fact that these temperatures are recorded by thermometers placed ''in the shade''. These figures may not be the same as some sheltered but sunny situations. There are lots of other scenarios, within beekeeping, where the reasons for the particular situation are ill-considered or not considered at all.

 

[Finman]

.
3 seems of bees is not a hive or a nuc. I use those as mating nucs.
Then that gang of bees in a whole box....
Solid or mesh floor does not help in this situation. Such colony needs a 3 frame nuc box.

What ever, mesh floors and solid floors are as good, if you know how to use. Experienced beekeepers have used them vastly 25 years . Are they as good, no one has made comparisions in research level in North.

But I know very well that if bees need one unit fresh air, then they do not need 100 or 200 units.

And in summer, when hives have brood, there is no condensation problem in the hive... Or what ever that problem what mesh heels.

 

[For want of a better word]

Tracter man has hit the nail on the head yet again....
I have noticed a difference using OMF floors... colonies appear to be brighter and healthier!

However there are a cohort of keepers of bees who are advocating solid floors, with trays to retain all the droppings, earwigs, scorpoinids nematodes etc etc... also seem to be using top bar systems!

Each to their own... but to answer the OP, have noticed slightly better increase in brood with the OMF... BUT there are other factors at play !!

Accept the new but do not let go of the old...... My Plastimo compass "saved the day" when the chartplotter died yesterday..... so misty there was not a star to steer by.... could not see the light on the Western entrance to the Sound!!!

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

...... again....
colonies appear to be brighter and healthier!

However there are a cohort of keepers of bees who are advocating solid floors, with trays to retain all the ]

What diseases are missing in mesh floor what solid floor hives use to have

What means "brighter" bees. How native black be is bright. have they rubbed their hairs off when they have bright. Healthy bees are shiny because they have hair cover.

Then there are cohort of beeks, very small, which eate apples only from own valley. Not even from hills of valley. Then they drink only their own ground water, what ghey have polluted themselves with cow manure and own human pis.

Only minimum of beekeepers try go breed their own valley bee strains which have native genes from Ice Ace tundra.

Now we see the level of thinking from the real backbone of nation.
.

 

[Finman]

.
Like Rose Hive inventor says, bees in Rose Hive are healthier. So when you take excluder off and use same size of boxes, bees are healthier!

I have not met "excluder disease ED" or " solid floor disease SFD" in the list of diseases.

 

[For want of a better word]

Finny ... you needs a few weeks in the sun... a holiday in Aquaba?... methinks a bit of SADS is already kicking in... when does the 6 months of night start?

Yeghes da

 

[fred scuttle]

Poppycock maybe but it seems to be working for those hives... Sensible debate welcomed....

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Sensible debate welcomed....

Very well: I suggest "Bees and Honey". Any better ideas?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Very well: I suggest "Bees and Honey". Any better ideas?

Poppycock maybe but it seems to be working for those hives... Sensible debate welcomed....

Sensible debate? maybe sensible theory to start with? the bees that suddenly filled those extra seams were there long before you put in the inspection board - they just emerged within that week (and would have regardless of whether you had open floor or not.)
So yes, thus far there is no theory - just poppycock

 

[fred scuttle]

Ok, poppycock it seems to be in this case, but does anyone advocate solid floors at all nowadays as you would think that the warmer brood temperature helped development.... And does anyone close the mesh floors over winter months any more?

 

[For want of a better word]

Ok, poppycock it seems to be in this case, but does anyone advocate solid floors at all nowadays as you would think that the warmer brood temperature helped development.... And does anyone close the mesh floors over winter months any more?

There is a famed South Devon beekeeper, who has a son that is a forum member and occasionally posts... who runs everything on solid floors.

Choice is yours... I just like the idea of horrible varroa mites tumbling towards certain death through the open mesh as the bees flick off the icing sugar!

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

[

Tpla

 

[Finman]

Finny ... you needs a few weeks in the sun... a holiday in Aquaba?... methinks a bit of SADS is already kicking in... when does the 6 months of night start?

Yeghes da

We have just now 25C. Bright sunlight and shiny bees.

I was just swimming in a small lake. Water temp was perhaps 18C.

What i need, is to extract my yield and to give space for laying. Every place is full. You know solid floors and entrance reducers.

But thanks for your intelligent advice. I escaped sun because it is so hot.

 

[Finman]

.
I am feeding myself in a gas station of Utti. Utti use to be the hottest place in Finland.

It situates on the huge Salpausselkä ridge, which formed during last Ice Age.

2 such ridges go across the whole country. In this place there are 40 m deep sand which glacier has brought via rivers.

Better water than in Tamar Valley. Too dry for apple growing.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

up until this year all my nucs had solid floors, this year, new toys with OMF - the OMF floors did no worse than the solid nucs - in fact, some of them on OMF ran out of space in no time.
All my hives go through winter with open OMF floors

 

[Finman]

Ok, poppycock it seems to be in this case, but does anyone advocate solid floors at all nowadays as you would think that the warmer brood temperature helped development.... And does anyone close the mesh floors over winter months any more?

I have had 53 years solid floors. In spring I have heated hive floors 10 years with terrarium heating cables. With this system brood ball can be 3 times bigger than natural build up.

 

[For want of a better word]

[

Tpla

is that Finski for skoggi... or toupe in that strange Celtic tongue speeken across the Bristol Channel???

Yeghes da

 

[fred scuttle]

There is a famed South Devon beekeeper, who has a son that is a forum member and occasionally posts... who runs everything on solid floors.

Choice is yours... I just like the idea of horrible varroa mites tumbling towards certain death through the open mesh as the bees flick off the icing sugar!

Yeghes da

I know who you mean, his buckys seemed to be thriving with solid floors when I saw them last... I don't know of anyone else that has them though, or whether anyone would dare stick their head above the parapet and admit it!