Open Mesh Floors

[Finman]

More to do with mind set than Genetics......

How do you know? Native mind?

 

[Karsal]

Can we see photos of the interior and entrance , it would be interesting to see how free they were with propolis generally. Cant say ive ever had a colony put propolis on a mesh floor even at very exposed apiaries:.

Normal Paynes poly nuc round entrance hole close to half way and normal acetate crown board.

 

[Swarm]

I compared the two floor types for a couple of years before concluding that for my bees at that apiary, which at the time was quite exposed to wind, solid floors were better. They have moved to more sheltered places now.

However, with poly hives and solid floors I have found they get wet over winter so outside frames have some mould and floor quite disgusting. Could be that bees were not "cosy" enough (double BB). With wood hives and solid floors I did not get that.

Having seen ITLDs latest floors which are about one third mesh and two thirds solid I'm coming round to the view that he might be onto something.

I make my own floors, under hive entrance type with the mesh area much reduced compared with the usual design. I didn't see a good reason for the entire floor area to be open mesh.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Having seen ITLDs latest floors which are about one third mesh and two thirds solid I'm coming round to the view that he might be onto something.

Steve, I presume that the 30% mesh was at the back of the ITLD floor, after the entrance slot. Any photos?

I make my own floors, under hive entrance type with the mesh area much reduced compared with the usual design. I didn't see a good reason for the entire floor area to be open mesh. I agree with Swarm and aim to do similar. Will be interesting to hear the results of Derek Mitchell's research into floors: he hinted that OMFs weren't coming out of it well.

 

[mbc]

Steve, I presume that the 30% mesh was at the back of the ITLD floor, after the entrance slot. Any photos?

l.

Twatter, calluna4u picks there

 

[blackcloud]

I make my own floors, under hive entrance type with the mesh area much reduced compared with the usual design. I didn't see a good reason for the entire floor area to be open mesh.

Steve ,I have to make a floor soon -could you elaborate .
Why less mesh area?

 

[foghornleghorn]

Do floors with only partial mesh stay clean by themselves or must they be treated like solid?

 

[Beefriendly]

Do floors with only partial mesh stay clean by themselves or must they be treated like solid?

Depends on the bees. Some are great cleaners of solid floors others are messy devils that need cleaning up after.

 

[Swarm]

Steve ,I have to make a floor soon -could you elaborate .
Why less mesh area?

I'm not convinced a gaping hole just below the brood combs is a good idea. The front third of the floor is taken up by the porch, the rear four inches is solid and the sides are nearly two inches thick.

 

[Walrus]

Steve, I presume that the 30% mesh was at the back of the ITLD floor, after the entrance slot. Any photos?

I make my own floors, under hive entrance type with the mesh area much reduced compared with the usual design. I didn't see a good reason for the entire floor area to be open mesh. I agree with Swarm and aim to do similar. Will be interesting to hear the results of Derek Mitchell's research into floors: he hinted that OMFs weren't coming out of it well.

Just in case you aren't on twitter:

 

[For want of a better word]

Just in case you aren't on twitter:

Looks like the underfloor entrance ones I have been making for mu own use for the past 5 years... and I got that idea from a hive loaned to me five years before that... but it had a slider to completely close the entrance....... plus I could get 2 floors out of one sheet of Mesh Company cut to size stainless!!

I was always told that once the mite had fallen off the bee it fell through the floor and could not climb back up into the colony!

Chons da

 

[Finman]

I was always told that once the mite had fallen off the bee it fell through the floor and could not climb back up into the colony!

Chons da

But your brain says that mesh does not save the colony from mites!!!

Only rotten rhubard leave saves. Victoria variety may be the best.

 

[enrico]

I have to admit confusion. I too understood that the reason for mesh floors for the entire floor area was for mites to fall through. How can half a mesh floor be as good? If that is NOT the reason then why do we have mesh floors?. It is for mites only. Or am I wrong?
E

 

[Finman]

I have to admit confusion. I too understood that the reason for mesh floors for the entire floor area was for mites to fall through. How can half a mesh floor be as good? If that is NOT the reason then why do we have mesh floors?. It is for mites only. Or am I wrong?
E

Mesh floors existed before mite. It is strange if somebody believes that mesh floor kill mites.
Dead mites can be counted under the mesh.

 

[Walrus]

I have to admit confusion. I too understood that the reason for mesh floors for the entire floor area was for mites to fall through. How can half a mesh floor be as good? If that is NOT the reason then why do we have mesh floors?. It is for mites only. Or am I wrong?
E

There's been mesh floors around since way before varroa. Recently I was at Dromoland Castle in Ireland and Dorothy the gardener showed me a very old hive which had a partial mesh floor. She reckoned it was from the early 1900s. I think the original idea was to provide ventilation.

Dave Cushman waxes lyrical about OMF on his website and he was no fool, so maybe we just have to find out for ourselves what works best for us.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I have been using masi solid floors that I buy in the sales for three years now, I buy forty at a time and should have all hives on these his winter, including the poly hives.
Winter losses have dropped dramatically, usually about 1 to 2 %

 

[For want of a better word]

But your brain says that mesh does not save the colony from mites!!!

Only rotten rhubard leave saves. Victoria variety may be the best.

Provided that the rotten rhubarb leaves do not clog up the mesh.. no problem with that scenario as yet!!

I prefer the Old Native Cornish variety "Kelliwick splendour"........

Yeghes da

 

[ericbeaumont]

Post 15, 28 March 2019:
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=44004&page=2

These floors are open mesh, or in this case open wire. They have been touted as ‘varroa floors’ since the idea that varroa just fall out of the hive was conceived.

Undoubtedly some (live) varroa might fall out, but that was not what the open mesh floors were used for. It was bottom ventilation, to avoid the stupid practices of leaving gaping holes in crownboards (or propping them open with matchsticks), particularly over the winter period.

Observant beekeepers had likely noticed that some feral colonies set up home without a solid floor beneath the nest and got along just nicely, so they added a non-solid floor to their colonies/hives. The mesh simply kept pests, like wasps, out. Only when varroa arrived, did some bright marketing spark star to call them ‘varroa floors’. Before that, they were simply open mesh floors.

Funny, how a lot of unknowing beeks got caught out by the marketing hype. And still are, apparently!

 

[Hivemaker.]

I have to admit confusion. I too understood that the reason for mesh floors for the entire floor area was for mites to fall through. How can half a mesh floor be as good? If that is NOT the reason then why do we have mesh floors?. It is for mites only. Or am I wrong?
E

Damp...mesh floors have been around for a long time, Brother Adam trialed open mesh floors back in the 1930s, he didn't like them them at all.

 

[Beefriendly]

Funny, how a lot of unknowing beeks got caught out by the marketing hype. And still are, apparently!
[/I]

Starter for ten...name any modern poly hive manufacturer making solid floors?
Nearest I came was Lyson dadant hives with inserts you can fill in. Bit like the Abelo crown board, but in reverse