bottomless hive

[Pond Creek Farm]

I have read a few posts about bottomless hives with tope entrances.  I am curious, about the set up.  Is it simply a hive body on blocks?  Is there a SBB, slatted rack?  Do packages start on this type of set up?  How high off the ground would such a hive optimally be?  How and why is this a method to cut down on SHB and varroa? Are winter precautions necessary to preserve hive heat?

[Robo]

This doesn't answer all your questions, but here is an experiment I tried a few years back,  it basically turned into a bottomless hive.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,528.0.html

In it's simplest form, a bottomless hive would be to just set the bottom brood box on some blocks.   I think you want to get it high enough off the ground to prevent rodents from getting access to it.  Winter precautions depend on your weather.  I have since gone to all closed bottoms to retain heat and humidity, so I can't provide much more insight.

Rob...

[Brian D. Bray]

On my bottomless hives I use stands that put the hives about 10 inches off the ground.  I use slatted racks as a barrier (guard) on the underside of the hive and also to rise it a little further above the ground.  IMO, putting the hive body directly on the stand without some barrier is asking for trouble.  I make my stands so I can slide a 1/4 inch thick piece of plywood under it to close it up, regulate the size of the entrance, and monitor varroa mites (which I can't find any evidence of).

[Ross]

Around here they get robbed out.

[wisconsin_cur]

bump

I am going to experiment with this and just looking for any additional feedback any one might have.

[annette]

Seems like a SBB would be a better idea than to leave them open to anything that might want to come inside the hive.

[wisconsin_cur]

I think I will keep the sbb and after a day or two cover up the bottom entrance.  My thought is that in the future it is cheaper and easier to build a screened bottom w/o an entrance than with and it is easier/cheaper to build a top exit cover than a standard one.  Both of those I think I can do with lumber just laying around here minus (maybe) some hardwire cloth and plywood.  Then I am left just purchasing boxes and frames.

[NasalSponge]

In everything I have read they put 1/4 hardware on the bottom to keep the rodents out.

[Brian D. Bray]

In everything I have read they put 1/4 hardware on the bottom to keep the rodents out.

But those who use the hardware cloth are not using slatted racks.  A slatted rack puts over an inch of distance from the hive body and the stand, just like a SBB would.  It also puts bars on the window to keep skunks, etc, from getting into the hive from below.  I have not found any noticable downsides to bottomless hives the way I am currently doing them.