For my fist blog I thought we would start with a controversial subject. Over the last few years open mesh floors have become very popular in the fight against varroa and very useful they have been. I use them during the summer to measure daily drop and after the treatment with Apiguard.
However, I worry about their use in the winter and so last year I did an experiment. on my double hive stands I put two hives, one with an open mesh floor and the other with a solid floor. Without exception the hives on the solid floors did better and built up faster in the spring.
Now for me this is logical. Bees search out cavities with small openings. Every gap bigger than a bee space they fill up with propolis to cut down on drafts. Leaving them with an open floor in the winter (especially where they are exposed to windy conditions as they are in two out of my three apiaries) seems to be against all that we know and understand.
So the answer for me is simple, open mesh while treating and measuring for varroa and back to good old fashioned solid floors the rest of the time.
6 Comments
create extra dead space with hive stand and combine with slated floor .Tennis court mesh can be purchased for 30 euro a roll to enclose bee yard.All problems solved.
I have seen lots of anti-global warming videos (either by or supporting leading authorities in this area (even people high up in greenpeace dont support human-caused global warming)) and if you go back millions of years we are actually a lot colder than the earth has been, the temperature tends to go Warm, then Ice Age, than warm then ice age (note these changes happen over many years). Al Gore is just trying to get votes by pretending to care.
Blueberries ummmmmmmmmmm…..Hi! I’m hosting a blog hop today. Come add your blog when you get a chance if you haven’t already. If you’re ever interested in a blog makeover please let me know. Take a look at my portfolio and packages when you get a chance. Hope you are having a Sweet Week. AprilIf you feature Reviews and Giveaways come add your blog here!
By DarrenHaye September 25, 2012 – 5:04 am“the hordes of “I recovered from Penguin!”I would actually go opposite, I think when they roll out a new penguin update there will be barely any cases of recovery and a lot more new sites hit. But we shall see! and it will be very interesting either way I’m sure.
– thanks for that tut Jacques, it´s very interesting to see how others get their results, esp in Photomatix. So there isn´t just one way to do it…. Brilliant shot btw, like out of Aliens!!