0.75 X 14.75 ~ 11 sq in
0.375 x 14.75 ~ 5.5 sq in
How would they be so far off specs published back in 1976?
When I lived in So. Cal., the standard bottom board was 3/8" deep, nailed on. In NYS, the so-called reversible bottom board is the norm. You are supposed to use the 3/8 gap in winter and the 3/4 gap in summer. Most people simply use the 3/4 in summer and add an entrance reducer.
I read an article where the author claimed that with the smaller gap, mice couldn't get in. So I switched to using the 3/8" gap year round and no entrance reducers. I also have 3/4" holes bored in at least one or two boxes on every hive. CC Miller used a bottom board 2" deep, year round, but he wintered his bees in the cellar. He said:
> With such a bottom board there is a space two inches deep under the bottom-bars, a very nice thing in winter, and at any other time when there is no danger of bees building down, but quite too deep for harvest time. Formerly I made the bottom-board reversible, reversing it in summer so as to use the shallow side, but latterly I leave the deep side up, summer and winter.
With such a deep space, he went on to invent the slatted rack:
> I value this bottom-rack highly. It prevents building down, and at the same time gives the bees nearly the full benefit of the deep space, preventing overheating in hot weather, thus serving as no small factor in the prevention of swarming. It also saves the labor of lifting the hive off the bottom-hoard to reverse the bottom-board and then lifting the hive back again, spring and fall.
The bottom line is that feral bees probably choose a size that is most defensible, and not one which provides adequate ventilation. This "choosing" evolved over a million years and reflects a "one size fits all" compromise, and not the ideal, which is: we can adjust the openings according to the actual needs of the colony throughout the season, which depends largely on local conditions.
PLB
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