The Beewise wooden bottom board assembled and wax dipped dipped with mesh varroa surveillance screen - perfect for beekeeping. Add a sticky board for a full varroa surveillance bottom board. Crafted from paraffin dipped wood, it is sturdy and durable, and is pre-assembled for quick and easy installation.
Mesh/vented bottom boards can reduce varroa loading and be utilised as part of a varroa management system.
The mechanism does not actively treat mites but takes advantage of natural mite fall.
It is estimated that 20% of phoretic mites fall off the bee in their first 72 hours.
With mesh or vented bottom boards, mites that fall off the bees fall out of the hive through the mesh (onto a sticky board) as opposed to solid floors where the mites can climb back up from the floor and reattach themselves to the bee.
This reduction may seem small, but it will decrease the varroa stress load on the hive.
This may be particularly beneficial when mite treatments cannot be applied. e.g. long summer honey flows.
Modeling has shown that through the period between two synthetic treatments mite drop through vented bottom boards can lead to a reduction of up to a third in phoretic mites.
Reduced mite loadings lead to healthier hives, colonies under less mite stress, reduced PMS and reduced hive losses.
Keep in mind that this is no substitute for high efficacy synthetic or organic treatments.
Research on vented boards reducing varroa mites can be viewed here.
