The New IPM Screened Bottom Board

On March 21st, I took the hive off the solid wood bottom board that had served as the hive bottom for the first year, and replaced it with a fancy "Country Rubes" screened IPM bottom board. IPM stands for Integrated Pest Management, and indicates that this is a natural way of helping control the mite population. The mites fall through the screen and have a hard time getting back into the hive.

Also, there is a plastic sheet that can be used to either close up the hive a bit or to count the mite population. To do a count, you make it a sticky board by putting some sticky substance on it, put it under the hive for a couple days and then count the number of mites per square inch that are adhered to the surface.

I haven't used it as a sticky board, but I did leave the plastic sheet in from March 21 to April 5. When I took it out, it was mostly covered with pollen.

There were also a few Varroa mites strolling around on the board amidst the pollen, my first face to face encounter with them. They are not much bigger than the period at the end of this sentence, little brown spots that can wreak havoc in a hive if their population gets too high.

I'm leaving the plastic sheet out for a while to improve air circulation, which should help with the general health of the hive.

One thing I enjoyed when I opened up the little slot to take the plastic sheet out of the bottom board...the wonderful smell of beeswax and honey that came out of the hive. MMmmm.