# Screened bottom board or solid bottom board with cold temps. and first time bees?



## juzzerbee (Apr 17, 2012)

Any info./opinions would be helpful. Here in southern Wisconsin it has been really cold lately(30's overnight and mid 50's during the day.) I installed two hives(my first time) about 1 week ago. Both hives have a screened varroa mite bottom board on right now. I also slid a corrugated plastic sheet under the mesh, for mite counting and somewhat of an insulator for the hive. I used these screened bottom boards from the start because I thought that it would give better ventilation for the hive than a solid bottom board and that they would need to be placed under the hive later in summer anyway. I have been told by a fellow local bee club member that I should have started with the solid board instead. Should I be worried about too much cold getting into the hive overnight by having the screened bottom board on? Should I switch the hives to a solid bottom board? One bucket feeder was almost all gone while the other was almost completely full. Also, I noticed that I am seeing quite a few dead bees around the hive. Some of them even had pollen on their legs, which seemed strange that they were dying right in the middle of work. Thanks. juzzerbee


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

You ought to talk with someone who keeps bees locally to find out about screened bottom boards and their usefulness in Wisconsin. I have given up on them here in Maine as there is just too much moisture as I am close to the coast.

It is usual for different hives to take syrup at different rates - the bees in each hive will take what they need and no more. But a complete lack of syrup taking may be a symptom that something is wrong with the hive. I'd keep an eye on it for now and if the situation remains unchanged in two-three weeks then look closer. As for "quite a few dead bees" - can you provide a number? 50 is significantly different from 5 yet to a new beekeeper, 5 may be "quite a few."

Welcome to beekeeping.


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## Ricky Bee (Apr 16, 2011)

In my opinion the solid bottom board is not necessary. I, and many others, have overwintered hives with screened bottom boards. The bees cluster to keep themselves warm. They do not need to heat the entire hive.

I do find it worrisome that one of the hives is not taking syrup. I would not wait weeks to investigate the problem, especially if it's too cold for them to forage. If you are using the bucket feeders, make sure the holes are not plugged with crystallized syrup. If you use 2:1 syrup (sugar:water by weight), it is super-saturated and WILL crystallize at room temperature or below. That gave me a similar "not taking syrup" issue when I started my two packages last year. I switched to 5:3 and the hole plugging went away. Use 5 lbs of sugar to 3 quarts of water.


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## Katharina (May 2, 2011)

The screened bottom board should be fine. I live in a cold climate and have them too. We have beekeepers here that do not close their screened board in winter either, mainly because they don't feel like doing the work. I simply slide a piece of plywood underneath during the 6 winter months. Mine still have it underneath it. I will keep it underneath for a month when I split them this week. I do the same with new packages. This helps them along in the first month, after that the cluster is large enough to deal with colds. Keeping the corrugated board in is more then sufficient.


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## jadell (Jun 19, 2011)

The syrup might be to cold. They won't take syrup if it's below 50.


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## marcuscarr (Feb 19, 2009)

Screen bottom boards work great for me. North Idaho. Winter temps go below freezing regularly.


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## Luv2beekeep (Dec 11, 2011)

Screened bottom boards work well for me here in south east Idaho. I do the same by placing a piece of corragated plastic in during cold months. A commercial beek I know here has just switched several of his solid boards to screened bottoms. The temps here get down to zero and below during the winter. Good luck with your bees.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It's just too windy and cold here not to have something blocking the wind. If the hive is close to the ground and there is grass or other things blocking the wind, then I might leave the tray out, otherwise I would put it in.


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## the kid (Nov 26, 2006)

I'm 35 miles north of MPLS ,, I have all ways used sbb and do not have a solid board to put in ,, I never close the bottom .. in the spring you should feed 1 to 1 so they think there is a flow on and build comb and the queen will lay .. as for the dead bees with pollen ,, are there fields around you or more in a town setting ?? if field setting did they spray them ( fields ) ,,, if town ,, some one sprayed there flowers for bugs 
so keep a eye on what is going on around you ..... now the feeder , yes check the holes ,, they may be plugged ,, and when it gets real cool at night .. in the morn,, after it gets in the high 40s ,, if I'm home and think of it i put the feeder in the mic and warm it up ,so the syrup ( not the pail ) feels warm to the touch ,, also from now on when I do a package I'm going to start putting a small patty in ...


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## juzzerbee (Apr 17, 2012)

Thanks all. I replaced my plastic peanut containers with 1 gallon plastic buckets. There are 7 holes in the lid so this might make a difference. I talked with my local bee supplier yesterday and he said it might also be that one hive is really using the 1:1 syrup more than the other. My mixed amount I use is 5 pounds of sugar to 2 1/4 quarts of water, with 4 teaspoons of honey-B-healthy. I boil the water, turn of heat and then add all the suger, once mixture has cooled I add the honey-B-healthy. My local supplier thought that this mixture might be a bit, "rich" and I should maybe dilute it a bit with water.

As for the screened bottom board, I think that I will keep it in place with he corrugated sheet in as well.

The dead bees in front I think might be the cycle of a bee life. After about 1 day I counted about 15-20 dead bees on the ground in front of the 2 hives. Again, according to my local supplier's thought, it is common to have that many dead bees and that I should start to worry when I see piles of them. FYI, I placed black landscape cloth under and around my hives prior to placing the hives there. I was hoping to reduce excessive grass/weed growth in front of the hive. Having basically bare ground in front of the hive (versus some plant growth) makes dead bees much more visible to me, causing me worry. The location of the hives are just on the edge of town, so they can fly to the fields or to flower beds.

One last opinion question to all who read this. I noticed that there is a "pop up" advertisement on this site very often for tru green chem lawn. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that an enemy to honey bee keeping? Companies that spray with pesticides is not a good promoter to have on a bee keeping site.:no:


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## geebob (Apr 4, 2011)

I hive my bees with the mite boards in, but pull them after a week. The problem I had was bees "setting up shop" under the SBB after I installed my packages.

Mine have been pretty slow taking syrup as well, mainly due to the cold nights we've been having. I think it is just taking too long for the syrup to warm up during the day. It seems like my hive top feeders are doing the best right now. Perhaps they are getting some warming from the cluster below.

I tend to think we just see more dead bees at this time of the year because the scavengers aren't as active in cleaning them away. Just my theory.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

I realize my post is a bit out of left-field because the design and such, but I was debating on whether or not to use smaller-gauge screen material (such as on windows/patios) or do I use a bit larger gauge hardware cloth? 

My concern with hardware cloth is that pests could more easily get in. I'm not sure if that's an issue or not - that's why I'm coming here to ask the brain-trust.

I'm building a top bar hive using a 55-gal barrel half. Zany? Sure it is, but apparently they work just fine from others I've seen.

Anyhow, I need to place a screen of some sort over this vent in the bottom. What do you all suggest?

Keep in mind, I live in central Florida, so it may get below freezing just a couple of times a year.











Here are some other photos:



















Here's an entire thread about this type of hive:

*Just saw these top bar hives using barrel halves on youtube*

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