I was frustrated by my screened bottom board (SBB) last year because there was no easy way to put a sticky board underneath for a mite count. There was no slide-out tray and I had to cut poster board and slick it up with vaseline to do a mite count.
This year Dadant is carrying a new board designed to help with the Varroa mite problem. It's called the Country Rubes Screened Bottom Board. They have their own website where the board is well described. They also describe how to do a powdered sugar treatment, if you didn't know how (my pictures are just like theirs)
The board is built well and the wood is treated so that it doesn't need to be painted. Their description: "We weather proof our boards by boiling them in a solution of paraffin and tree rosin and highly recommend this procedure for protection against the elements. "
The board also has this little covered up hole that you can expose at the back of the board/hive that allows you to smoke the hive from the back.
In addition this screw eye has been bent to provide a "lock" to hold the cover of the tray in place until you want/need to slide it out.
My third hive is now painted a soft peach color and almost ready to go. It is waiting for the inner cover and telescoping cover to arrive this week. You can see the six empty frames in the deep at the bottom.
I am naming this hive Proteus so that it will be strong against disease.
Aristaios was the Greek god of beekeeping, honey, olive farming and cheese making. Aristaios had a terrible problem when all of his bees died. His mother, Cyrene, advised him to go to another god, Proteus, to get the problem solved. Proteus was persuaded under protest to help Aristaios. After Proteus agreed to help, Aristaios sacrificed 12 animals and left their bodies at the place of sacrifice. He returned three days later to find a swarm of bees in one of the carcasses. He never had disease in his beehives again. So in honor of this Greek tale, this hive will be Proteus and hopefully will gain strength (if the beekeeper does her job) against the Varroa mite.
This year Dadant is carrying a new board designed to help with the Varroa mite problem. It's called the Country Rubes Screened Bottom Board. They have their own website where the board is well described. They also describe how to do a powdered sugar treatment, if you didn't know how (my pictures are just like theirs)
The board is built well and the wood is treated so that it doesn't need to be painted. Their description: "We weather proof our boards by boiling them in a solution of paraffin and tree rosin and highly recommend this procedure for protection against the elements. "
The board also has this little covered up hole that you can expose at the back of the board/hive that allows you to smoke the hive from the back.
In addition this screw eye has been bent to provide a "lock" to hold the cover of the tray in place until you want/need to slide it out.
My third hive is now painted a soft peach color and almost ready to go. It is waiting for the inner cover and telescoping cover to arrive this week. You can see the six empty frames in the deep at the bottom.
I am naming this hive Proteus so that it will be strong against disease.
Aristaios was the Greek god of beekeeping, honey, olive farming and cheese making. Aristaios had a terrible problem when all of his bees died. His mother, Cyrene, advised him to go to another god, Proteus, to get the problem solved. Proteus was persuaded under protest to help Aristaios. After Proteus agreed to help, Aristaios sacrificed 12 animals and left their bodies at the place of sacrifice. He returned three days later to find a swarm of bees in one of the carcasses. He never had disease in his beehives again. So in honor of this Greek tale, this hive will be Proteus and hopefully will gain strength (if the beekeeper does her job) against the Varroa mite.
No comments:
Post a Comment