# Sticky Boards really necessary with SBBs?



## Bryanaw40 (Jun 11, 2006)

If one does not put the sticky stuff on the tray under a Screened Bottom Board assembly, will varroa be able to climb the 2-3 inches up the sides to get back on my bees? I dust with powdered sugar occasionally and it appears that the varroa end up dying in the sugar on the bottom board to me. My counts seem very low but it occurred to me that maybe they are traveling back into the hive.

The thought of carrying shortening to my two bee yards and applying it to my SBB trays does not appeal much to me.

thanks,
bryan
Ortonville, MI


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Mine are open from the time it warms up until it gets frosty at night. I do not use a tray at all except in the winter and I don't put anything sticky on it.

The real question is how much difference with a SBB make on varroa anyway. Either way it's a wonderful tool for good ventilation.


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

Bryanaw40 . . .

You could put a "ring" of Vaseline around the edges of your sticky board to see how many mites are crawling away (ring should be "full" of mites).


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Oh yeah, the little suckers can climb.

Some vaseline, spread with a cheap wide plastic wallboard joint
compound blade, will catch and hold the falling mites, but this
would be a little labor-intensive for anything but doing actual
mite-drop counts. The "open bottom" works just as well, as
mites fall through, land on the ground, and (one hopes) are 
soon eaten by some tiny predator or another.

When SBBs first came out, it was said that mites would not
climb back into the hive, so the usual SBB was made to sit
atop a (reversed front-to-back) solid bottom board. This
distance was found to be too small, proven when mites 
collected alive were found to be crawling out of tupperware
containers left on lab benches.

Not surprisingly, we are still learning about varroa. Most bee
researchers are self-taught about mites.


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## Moonshae (Jun 7, 2007)

Jim Fischer said:


> Oh yeah, the little suckers can climb.
> 
> When SBBs first came out, it was said that mites would not
> climb back into the hive, so the usual SBB was made to sit
> ...


This is what I had been doing. I guess I will be removing the solid bottom boards from beneath the screened ones (or at least making sure there's something sticky in place underneath the screen). Good to know.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

Some time ago, it was suggested to use "PAM" cooking spray. That lasts about an hour.

I tried plain liquid cooking oil and it's still a little too light to catch mites.

So I tried melting 1/2 vegetable shortening (like Crisco) and pouring in 1/2 liquid canola oil. When cool, this spreads like margarine. I use a squeegee designed to wash windows to spread it around.

The downside? Possums and skunks LOVE to pull out the sticky board from the back of the hive (I used reversed solid bottom boards below my SBB). They lick all the shortening off. I tried putting Vick's Vapor Rub on the leading edge, but that doesn't seem to deter them very long.

I'm still looking for a better way.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## amymcg (Jan 13, 2005)

I don't use anything under mine. In fact, i don't put the board in during winter either. They seemed to do fine and build up early. *shrug*


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## Bryanaw40 (Jun 11, 2006)

Thanks for the informative replies as always. I pulled all the trays from my SSB assemblies. I will grease them up when taking my next varroa count. 

thanks again,
bryan


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## bbbbeeman (Jan 13, 2007)

*sbb;*

I have used a closed sbb on my hives (50) , they have an oil try under the screen ,with veg oil in it , i change the oil about 4 times a year. it is give to me afer used for cooking fryes, my only cost was the screen and i cut the 3/4 strips to rais the screen up over the try ,and put a removeable strip at the back to change the oil. i have no cost for chem and i kill shb,mites ants and anything that falls in the oil. oh yes they are killed year round so you dont have a build up .no rubber gloves , no timeing treatments or resistance build up in the mites. I DONT LIKE CHEM IN MY HIVES OR HONEY we have enought in our food as it is . good luck ROCK.


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## bbbbeeman (Jan 13, 2007)

*sbb;*

I have used a closed sbb on my hives (50) , they have an oil try under the screen ,with veg oil in it , i change the oil about 4 times a year. it is give to me afer used for cooking fryes, my only cost was the screen and i cut the 3/4 strips to rais the screen up over the try ,and put a removeable strip at the back to change the oil. i have no cost for chem and i kill shb,mites ants and anything that falls in the oil. oh yes they are killed year round so you dont have a build up .no rubber gloves , no timeing treatments or resistance build up in the mites. I DONT LIKE CHEM IN MY HIVES OR HONEY we have enought in our food as it is . good luck ROCK.


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