Trays for measuring mite drop

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steve_e

House Bee
Joined
Jan 19, 2010
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Location
East Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3
Probably a daft question, but what do people do to provide a nice white slide in floor when measuring mite drop?

The normal slide in tray supplied with my open mesh floor is plywood, so I've just been blu-tac-ing A4 sized bits of paper onto the tray and cutting them to size, but it's not ideal. I'm sure there must be a better solution...
 
try these ideas, wall paper lining paper comes in rolls 450 wide and 6 m long and its white ish as well, i have used an old serving tray painted white too.

the one thing i do , do which many dont seem to need to do is to cover it with a good smear of vasaline as this holds the mites in place whilst the bees can walk over it you could use any thing you want,

how about the side off a washing mashine as a new tray but with vasaline on it to hold the little mites in place
 
I use sticky paper for fly traps...mine is strapped in place under a WBC so I know no bees will be stuck...
 
Oh b******ks.

As your signature says. Thanks Hivemaker! :eek:
 
Thanks Pete and Queens59 as well. I'm not really very inventive I'm afraid!
 
Pack of 100 x A4 sticky labels. 2.5 of these cover a National floor and as it says on the tin, they're sticky, reasonably cheap and save a bit of aggro (but stick well to everything they touch when trying to apply with a following breeze)!

You need the element of stickiness, otherwise the critters just jump back up to hitch a lift again (and the SBI told me that a minimum of 50mm OMF base to floor is best).
 
The tray that came in my floor is a piece of UPVC soffit- about 10mm short but near enough. I smear it with cooking oil; then count, wipe off and re-oil.
 
You need the element of stickiness, otherwise the critters just jump back up to hitch a lift again (and the SBI told me that a minimum of 50mm OMF base to floor is best).

Smear of vaseline on white painted slide works well,leave slide out during summer then mites can have as far as you wish to fall,when slide is in and hive is being treated they don't jump back up, as they are dead. I agree with the 50mm drop....they would have to be pretty accurate to jump this high through a mesh opening.
 
use old and abanorned for sale signs from estate agents, cut to size , smwear vaseline around the egde. sorted :)
 
If you can't find 2nd hand estate agents signs, go to a sign writer and ask for a sheet of white Correx. Should be about £15.00 for an 8'x4' sheet. That should be
enough for up to 10 hives and is easily cut with a jigsaw or even a stanley knife.
Very durable, quite rigid and light. Better than plywood and you don't have to paint it.
 
I don't feel so bad now, nicking the busted up real estate signage from down the road! :biggrinjester:

And sticky-back plastic used for covering school books, stuck on with sticky tape.

Varroa boards, when collected for counting, make me feel very yucky! Ewwwww, don't varroa mites just feel ... well .... like a disease!?
 
Political signs in Correx, can be had for volunteering to take some down after elections. Of course you might have to wait a few years until the next one.

They make good material for roof coverings, dummy frames and all sorts of bee keeping oddments.
 
I found an oil cloth for covering outdoor tables which is white and marked with 50mm squares. I count the varroa on the squares diagonally corner to corner to give a pretty accurate average.

My OMFs are all home made with 60mm between mesh and board and 260mm when the board is out:sifone:
 
You need the element of stickiness, otherwise the critters just jump back up to hitch a lift again (and the SBI told me that a minimum of 50mm OMF base to floor is best).QUOTE]

Not if they are dead from Apiguard etc!!!!!
 
My OMFs from Wynne Jones came with varroa trays but I made others using 3 ply varnished and then painted white on one side. Just as good if one can cadge some suitable ply.
 

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