- Joined
- Mar 30, 2011
- Messages
- 37,420
- Reaction score
- 17,816
- Location
- Glanaman,Carmarthenshire,Wales
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- Too many - but not nearly enough
Years ago I was taken by an open mesh floor designed on the principle of the Dartington hive underfloor entrance, there were plenty of variants kicking around and after some research and modifying I settled on this pattern, now all my hives have these floors. You’ll have to excuse my switching between metric and imperial – my carpentry skills were taught by my father and there are aspects of both measuring systems I like.
Why underfloor entrances? There are many benefits:
Wasps hate them, a combination of having to creep up vertically through the slot and when they pop their heads up above the floor there are ranks of guard bees lined up on each side of the slot – I’ve seen wasps try, and tumble straight out subsequently avoiding the underfloor hives and trying their luck on stronger hives with conventional entrances.
Mice can’t get in through the narrow (between 8 and 10mm) overhead entrance so already you have saved on guards, the fiddle of installing them and the annual debate on when to put them on or remove.
No issues of pollen being knocked off by mouseguards or dead bees blocking the entrance. In midwinter when bees aren’t very active any bees that die and fall near the entrance just fall down or get pushed out onto the landing board below.
No need to reduce the entrance size during winter or when wasps are around – mine stay full width all year.
There is a three inch deep entrance ‘porch’ – bees have no problems landing in a sharp crosswind – even fully laden.
Erichalfbee has asked me to share the plans for my underfloor entrance on here, saves me sending them out each time I get a request, although I still don't mind doing that if asked - this may take more than one post to get all the stuff on.
Construction:
I haven’t specified the lengths of any of the timber as it depends on the type of hive you have. For a National, the side rails would be 18⅛” (460mm) I then set these rails – outer edges 18⅛”apart on my bench and mark all the other components accordingly
First decide on the depth of your floor (either 3 or 4 inches) I prefer 4 inches as it allows more space in the ‘entrance’ I now just use 50x100mm CLS profile timber for the sides which is ideal.
All the timber is off the shelf dimensions which gives you a slight extension to the floor of the entrance lobby, Having a table saw I cut the landing board a little narrower so you haven’t got the extra ½” or so overhang – this just makes it a bit easier to strap up and stack them in a trailer or vehicle when moving hives around.
1) On a flat surface fix your floor batten and rear batten to your two sides:
2) Fix your entrance back to your side rails – I use two 9mm twist drill bits to size the entrance gap, easier than trying to measure/mark fix
3) fix your landing board
4) Then fix two lengths of light timber (½” or ¾” square batten) to the inside of the side rails as runners for the varroa inspection tray.
a piece of correx is fine for an inspection tray – you can tack a wooden batten onto it to close off the whole of the back.
5) All you have left to do now is staple on your varroa mesh.
Why underfloor entrances? There are many benefits:
Wasps hate them, a combination of having to creep up vertically through the slot and when they pop their heads up above the floor there are ranks of guard bees lined up on each side of the slot – I’ve seen wasps try, and tumble straight out subsequently avoiding the underfloor hives and trying their luck on stronger hives with conventional entrances.
Mice can’t get in through the narrow (between 8 and 10mm) overhead entrance so already you have saved on guards, the fiddle of installing them and the annual debate on when to put them on or remove.
No issues of pollen being knocked off by mouseguards or dead bees blocking the entrance. In midwinter when bees aren’t very active any bees that die and fall near the entrance just fall down or get pushed out onto the landing board below.
No need to reduce the entrance size during winter or when wasps are around – mine stay full width all year.
There is a three inch deep entrance ‘porch’ – bees have no problems landing in a sharp crosswind – even fully laden.
Erichalfbee has asked me to share the plans for my underfloor entrance on here, saves me sending them out each time I get a request, although I still don't mind doing that if asked - this may take more than one post to get all the stuff on.
Construction:
I haven’t specified the lengths of any of the timber as it depends on the type of hive you have. For a National, the side rails would be 18⅛” (460mm) I then set these rails – outer edges 18⅛”apart on my bench and mark all the other components accordingly
First decide on the depth of your floor (either 3 or 4 inches) I prefer 4 inches as it allows more space in the ‘entrance’ I now just use 50x100mm CLS profile timber for the sides which is ideal.
All the timber is off the shelf dimensions which gives you a slight extension to the floor of the entrance lobby, Having a table saw I cut the landing board a little narrower so you haven’t got the extra ½” or so overhang – this just makes it a bit easier to strap up and stack them in a trailer or vehicle when moving hives around.
1) On a flat surface fix your floor batten and rear batten to your two sides:
2) Fix your entrance back to your side rails – I use two 9mm twist drill bits to size the entrance gap, easier than trying to measure/mark fix
3) fix your landing board
4) Then fix two lengths of light timber (½” or ¾” square batten) to the inside of the side rails as runners for the varroa inspection tray.
a piece of correx is fine for an inspection tray – you can tack a wooden batten onto it to close off the whole of the back.
5) All you have left to do now is staple on your varroa mesh.
I screw a rim around the finished floor to provide bee-space. I’ve settled on 20mm which has worked faultlessly so far.
