Varroa Floor Plans

Tools for varroa management page 3 introduction every honey bee colony in the continental united states and canada either has varroa mites today or will have them within several months.

Varroa floor plans.

Floors can be as simple as a sheet of ply with three lengths of softwood to raise the brood box up slightly. Pdf of making a plan for varroa varroa treatment decision tree. A sheet of paper. Varroa mite infestation represents one of the greatest threats to honey bee health honey production and pollination services.

Open mesh floor omf some designs and uses. Plywood is less affected by changes in. When honey bee colonies are untreated or treated ineffectively colonies can fail and beekeepers can incur major economic losses and ultimately agricultural food production may be impacted. Inevitably the design of the floor also influences the entrance to the hive.

The old entrance which is now at the rear of the hive is used to accommodate the drawer which can be pulled out without disturbing the bees. Video of how to design a varroa management strategy. How do we know what ones are best. Varroa mites that.

Varroa mites varroa destructor are the most influential of all of the pests and diseases of the european honey bee apis mellifera today. When honey bee colonies are. Make a good plan for this year and keep those parasites under control. The floor of the hive can be screened to allow varroa mites to fall through to the ground.

The bees then fly from the new entrance see fig. By contrast a varroa floor insert above a wooden floor will only allow air through the hive entrance which is high by 18 inches. Varroa mite most beekeepers have modified the bottom board by cutting out a large rectangular portion and covering the space with wire mesh. The method of using the varroa floor is to reverse the original floorboard and place the varroa floor on top.

Pine or cedar is recommended for all construction except for the top cover and floor of the bottom board which use 13 mm 1 2 in plywood. An open mesh floor could have a ventilation area of 18 by 18 totalling 324 square inches. These are a selection of designs of open mesh floors called screened bottom boards in the u s that have been generated by different individuals for ventilation or monitoring varroa mite fall. On this page i ve included a video and a pdf on all the current 2018 tools for varroa and what i think of them.

However open mesh floors are increasingly preferred providing good air circulation and easy varroa monitoring. In practice it will be less about 250 square inches allowing for struts and battens.