Vasicek Screen Bottom Board

Design Considerations
1. Screen bottom board with maximum screen area.
2. Easy to cut out and assemble.  All cuts are straight-line saw cuts.  No dado, jointer, or router cuts are needed.� Assemble on any flat surface. No jigs needed. Held together with 10 sixteen-penny common galvanized nails, and glue.
3. Strong. I have had 80 in service for 3 years with no failures or problems.
4. Versatile. Can be used on the bottom or top of a hive. Can be used with other equipment to add functionality such as swarm control, swarm capture, ventilation, and mite surveys. If the board is turned upside down, it seals the hive and can be used to close the hive when the hive needs to be relocated or a swarm is captured. Used on the top of a hive provides a foundation for a two queen hive (see below).
5. Economical.  This design uses a minimum amount of wood.  You can make 2 bottom boards per 55 inches of 2x4 using scraps for the threshold and 3/4 inch cube inserts.  The screens can be cut from a 36-inch wide roll with no cutting loss.

 

Construction:

  1. Rip a 2x4 to make 2 pieces 1 7/16 by 1.5 inches in cross-section.
  2. Rip a 3/4 by 3/4 notch out of the cross-section. This removes a 5/8 inch square stick the length of the board that can be used for other purposes. Select the corner for the notch to remove the worst flaws from the wood.
  3. For each bottom board cut (avoid knots in the ends of the cut pieces as these will make the joinery more difficult)
    1. Two 22 inch long pieces of the stock 2x2 with a 3/4 notch removed,
    2. One 13 3/8 inch long piece of 2x2 stock with the 3/4 notch removed.
    3. One 13 3/8 inch piece of 1x4 for the hive threshold.
    4. Two 3/4 inch cubes for sealing the back of the hive. I cut a pile of cubes and select the ones that fit best in each board as I assemble them.
  4. Assemble the bottom board (Apply glue to all joined surfaces. Pre-drill all nail holes.)
    1. Lay two 22 inch long pieces parallel on a flat surface and about 13.375 inches apart with the short side down (on the surface).
    2. Place a 13 3/8 piece short side down between the two long pieces at one end.
    3. Place a 13 3/8 piece of 1x4 between the two long pieces at the other end.
    4. Glue and nail to make a rectangular wooden frame.
    5. Glue and nail the 3/4 inch blocks into the 3/4 void in the backside of the board using one 16 penny galvanized common nail in each.� If you do not predrill the hole, the block will split.
    6. Pieces of screen 18 inches by 14.5 inches can be cut from a 36-inch wide roll of wire mesh with no cutting loss.� And these pieces should fit into the wooden rectangular frame.� Staples or galvanized roofing nails can be used to hold it in place.�
    7. Paint all surfaces with two coats of exterior paint. Any nails or staples that are not galvanized must be covered with paint.��

Discussion

1.This bottom board fits under a standard Langstroth hive and allows mites to fall out through the screen. It can be left on the hive throughout the year in climates like Oklahoma�s.
2. Capture a swarm.
When this bottom board is used upside down it seals the hive.   Place a bottom board upside down on the ground.  Put a hive body on top of it.  Put the swarm in the hive.  Put a top on the hive body; Carry the swarm to where you want it to be.  Reverse the screen bottom board to release the bees.  
3.  Swarm Control
when swarm cells are detected, the hive can be split into two semi-communicating units using this bottom board.  
 a. Remove the hive from the hive stand
 b.  Place a screen bottom board on the hive stand
 c. Put a hive body containing the swarm cells on this bottom board with no queen.  
 d. Put a queen excluder on top
 e.  Put on half of the supers (or one more if there is an odd number total)
 f.  Put on a second screen bottom board rotated so that the entrance is in the back of the hive.
 g.  Put on a second hive body containing the queen and some brood.
 h.  Put on a second queen excluder (optional if you do not have one).
  i.  Put on the rest of the supers, inner cover, and outer cover.
Flying bees will return to the lower part of the hive depleting the upper part of the hive and decreasing swarm pressure in that unit.  The upper hive should not make more swarm cells.  The lower hive will continue to raise a queen(s) that can be used as a new queen(s) if you wish.  In any case they will behave as though they are superceding the original queen so you have many options such as

                                                               i.      Harvesting several mature queen cells

                                                             ii.      Killing the queen cells once they are capped and reuniting the two halves.

                                                            iii.      Allow the hive to make a second queen and use the hive as a two-queen hive with the two queens separated by the queen excluder and screen bottom board..

  1. Ventilation
    this screen bottom board vastly increases the area of the bottom of the hive through which air can flow.  If you wish to further increase the air flow through a hive (perhaps to cool it during the hot summer) you can put a screen on top of the hive forming a chimney.  The taller the hive, the bigger the chimney effect will be forcing air through the hive.  There are at least two variations:
     Use a 1/8-inch mesh screen attached to a frame to seal the top of the hive.   Make an open A-frame top to go over the screen.  This allows air to circulate up through the hive, through the screen top, and out the open A-frame ends.  Yet the A-frame shelters the hive from rain and keeps the sunlight out of the hive.�
      Use a screen bottom board to seal the top of the hive.  Place a telescoping outer cover on top of the bottom board.   You may block the outer cover up a bit to increase the ventilation.  This is a little clumsy.  But it does increase the ventilation much more than offsetting upper boxes.  
  2. Versatile
    see above for swarm control, catching swarms, and ventilation.  

    Used in conjunction with a normal sealed bottom board, you can make an enclosure for holding your oiled mite catching and counting sheets.  

    If you block up the hive a bit, you can see into the hive through the bottom board to monitor hive activity. I have two hives mounted on a concrete hive stand so that the bottom board is about eye level.� You can look into the hive from the bottom when you walk by the hive.�
      






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Daniel Vasicek

2120 Metzgar Road SW

Albuquerque, NM 87105

505-321-2028 (cell)

505-873-0575 (home)

DanielVasicek@Comcast.Net

 

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