Joe - thanks for the comments.....
 
>I have Wintered my bees with mesh floors the last couple of years and
>they haven't objected.  Hereabouts damp is supposed to be more of a
>problem than cold.  I have heard the opinion expressed that open
>floors may slow Spring build-up due to reduced temperature.
 
What flavour of hives are you using? I'm on modified commercial.
My master plan is to build some nice floors that allow slide-in units to
help varroa detection and will let me swap between open mesh and solid
floors at will. Do you have any experience with anything like this.
 
Cheers,
--
Alyn W. Ashworth
Lancashire & North-West Bee-Keepers' Association. UK.
(but I don't speak on their bee-half)