# Oil trays



## NY14804 (Feb 8, 2016)

I like your latest thought!
I decided to build my own, rather than adapt something. It's a hive stand w/ landing board + removable screened bottom board + removable solid bottom board with an IPM oil tray... all in one piece of woodenware. The screened bottom can be replaced with a 3/4" thick piece of rigid foam insulation or plywood in the winter, if I wish. A picture of it:


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

NY14804, nice work! Good looking combo bottom board.


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

Ones with plastic oil trays, West beetle traps, are about $30 at Dadant's. About $10 more than regular screened bottom boards. You can also take the slotted plastic top on the tray out and use the corplas roadside signs cut to fit to check mite drops or block off the bottom


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

I have my hives on cinder blocks ,hole sides facing up and about 13 inches apart. I cut pieces of blue Styrofoam insulation board and wedged them between the bottom board and the ground both front and back and wide enough to be against the cinder blocks. I bought aluminum turkey pans from the dollar store put some mineral oil in the pans and slid them under the hives and put the blue insul board back. The pans just fit between the cinder blocks. Just put them in a few weeks ago. We will see how they work out. 
I saw some nice bottom boards with oil trays at the last State beekeeping meeting just did not want to pay $40 each.

Ny14804 nice job.


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

Be careful of having concrete blocks with the openings facing up. I found out that they make good areas for SHB to go to the ground in. After I got one slimed I turned them sideways.


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## Groundhwg (Jan 28, 2016)

Barhopper said:


> Be careful of having concrete blocks with the openings facing up. I found out that they make good areas for SHB to go to the ground in. After I got one slimed I turned them sideways.


Agree with Barhopper but for a different reason. Might not be a problem in NC but here in SE Alabama if we do not have the blocks turned sideways the "red" ants will build in them, quick, fast, and in a hurry.


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

The Betterbee kind is what I copy with the plastic lunch tray you can buy on Amazon. Like the picture except I close the back off with a screened wood door held on with magnets (to keep bees out of the tray).


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## whodew (Jul 21, 2015)

Have you considered the freeman bettle traps,regular or ventilated,no modification required. A little pricey , but they work for me. Check out heartwood in starr mississippi.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

Thanks for the heads up on the cinder blocks. I may put a little cement in the holes.


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## Bowfinger (Apr 17, 2015)

I use foil oven liners bent to fit. I don't put much oil in either. They are flimsy but cheap. I like the lunch tray idea if they are cheap and they fit. I got my plans from http://www.greenbeehives.com/abgrbe.html 

From Alabama.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

This is how I build mine I use a 1/2 sheet cake pan for the oil. I since changed so the pan goes in the back (less mad bees and bees in pan)


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## Norcalkyle (Apr 23, 2015)

I take a deep hive body and cut it down into 4 equal heights. Staple on a piece of 1/2" plywood to the bottom, cut the back so I can slide a tray in to the cavity, and put a hinged door on the opening. 

I don't have a SHB or Wax Moth problem like many people do... but I have found this oil tray to be very useful for seeing what is going on the hive, like wax cappings, varroa drop, and also being able to OAV without sticking anything in the hive itself.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Just a thought ..... what if you took a sheet of coroplast and cut a slot under a screened (#7) BB so that the coroplast just slides in under the screen. Then you coat the coroplast with some type ??? of poison such as a roach gel so that when the SHB fell thru and ate or absorbed it, they died. Would this not eliminate those big and bulky bottom boards that hold trays......
The poison is outside the hive, so that's not a problem..........

Thoughts?


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

Vapors rising from the poison?


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

I found that it is not good to leave a board in below the screen that the bees cannot get to. Wax moths really like it and the bees can't touch them.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Ski said:


> I found that it is not good to leave a board in below the screen that the bees cannot get to. Wax moths really like it and the bees can't touch them.


I've never had that problem... Not much there for the moths.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

IF you leave them in and not clean them off, like I have seen new beekeepers do, a layer of cappings new wax and crap builds up.


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## Chris Muncy (Apr 2, 2015)

honeyman46408 said:


> This is how I build mine I use a 1/2 sheet cake pan for the oil. I since changed so the pan goes in the back (less mad bees and bees in pan)


Do you have any more pics or dimensions on this?


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Chris Muncy said:


> Do you have any more pics or dimensions on this?


Maybe this will help:
www.rustysbees.com/ipm.html


Rusty


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## Swampsquash (Oct 25, 2014)

dynemd said:


> The Betterbee kind is what I copy with the plastic lunch tray you can buy on Amazon. Like the picture except I close the back off with a screened wood door held on with magnets (to keep bees out of the tray).


Do you have pics of how you the magnets for the back door?


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

First, I screw together the screened bottom board and the bottom board below it so the rear part is flat. I build a small frame out of 1" by 2"s 16-1/4" wide by around 3" tall to fit over the rear of the screened bottom and the bottom board, extending 2' out from the back. I drill 1/2" holes 1/4" deep ( 4 top and 3 bottom) into the front of the frame and the back of the bottom board/screened bottom with a forstner wood bit. CLICK HERE I then insert the 1/2" by 1/4" countersunk magnets CLICK HERE and hold then in with #4 sheet metal screws CLICK HERE I then staple on some fine stainless screen Click Here I use standard 18" by 14" cafeteria trays $25 per 12 HERE and place mineral oil in the trays HERE Take off back and remove tray for my oxalic acid vapor treatments.


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## Swampsquash (Oct 25, 2014)

Thanks for the info....How messy are those cafeteria trays? I looked at them before but wasn't sure the oil reservoir was large enough.


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## Richard P (Feb 12, 2016)

Check these out. I bought 18 of these and love em. You can convert them to 8 framers pretty easy too. I have both. They slide outnicely, and they work really well for me anyway.13.95 ea.
https://www.dadant.com/catalog/natural-pest-controls/m01540-small-hive-beetle-trap-10-frame


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

Swampsquash said:


> Thanks for the info....How messy are those cafeteria trays? I looked at them before but wasn't sure the oil reservoir was large enough.


Not messy at all. They are almost 1" deep. I put about 1/4" of mineral oil in them.


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## mrobinson (Jan 20, 2012)

I guess I just don't like to over-engineer, or over-think, beekeeping. If you put an oily tray down there, even with the best of intentions, plenty of critters other than bees can find a way to get to it and those critters can then play havoc with your bees. _Per contra,_ bees are pretty good at defending any area they can reach. . .


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

mrobinson said:


> I guess I just don't like to over-engineer, or over-think, beekeeping. If you put an oily tray down there, even with the best of intentions, plenty of critters other than bees can find a way to get to it and those critters can then play havoc with your bees. _Per contra,_ bees are pretty good at defending any area they can reach. . .


We're talking varroa mites here mrobinson. I try to do all I can to help my bees decrease their numbers and if I can help with a non-toxic, simple, long term solution I certainly will. Trays cost $2 and I filter the oil and reuse it so cost is minimal. Gives me a great access to put my oxalic acid vaporizer also. Kills a few hive beetle and their larvae as well as an occasional wax moth larvae. Granted I have a complicated back access door but not a single dead bee yet!


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