PLB wrote:

"The one we have has a screened bottom on it. So, if a comb breaks (and 
they
usually do, because they're cross combed from bar to bar) the honey 
runs down
onto the ground attracting ants, robber bees, and other vermin."

Before I built my own, I saw one built by a chap at the far side of my 
county and it had a mesh floor.  We became friends, briefly, and I once 
supplied him with a spare queen.  'Briefly' because his other hobby was 
hang gliding, which killed him!

Back to the subject, if your combs are crossed from bar to bar you 
aren't looking at them often enough!  Certainly, given a chance,  they 
tend to build comb in curves but, if found soon enough, it can easily 
be persuaded back on line with a, gently applied, hive tool. Sometimes, 
it helps to turn a bar around so that it faces a comb that the 
beekeeper considers to be appropriately drawn.

I haven't yet tried mesh floors in TBHs. I have, so far, experienced 
little in the way of varroa related problems therein.  Generally I 
treat with thymol in the Autumn (Fall in the US) and a dose of oxalic 
acid solution around the shortest day.

Chris

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