Andrew Dubas wrote

>  Just a thought. wanted to see what you
> b-L'ers would have to say about bottom boards.

Whilst the thread on bottom boards has been about varroa which we do not have,  the following comments about Andrew's idea of no entrance on the bottom and a hole in the super move away from varroa to my experiences.

The first problem that I have seen is chalkbrood mummies.  Here in Australia we did not get chalkbrood until 1992.  Before this there were several beekeepers who had top entrances for various reasons.  One was so cane toads found it harder to get at the bees for a feed..  With the advent of chalkbrood, it was found that a lot of the hive debri incluing the mummies lay in the bottom of the hive and was a great place for wax moth to breed.

I had some queen mating nucs that were 4 in one box.  This was before chalkbrood.  I put the entrances half way up the box.  This was to allow for grass that may grow and block the entrance if it was lower.  I quickly found that any water that got in made a swimming pool in the bottom of the nuc as it was water tight at the base.   I am sure the bees did not appreciate going for a swim.

So these are two reason why I would not use a high entrance with a fixed piece of wood on the bottom with no lower entrance.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA