> When someone invented the smoker it must have been looked upon as an advance
> in beekeeping. But now Liquid Smoke has been invented which I am informed is
> better still. Such is the case with Solid Floors and Open Mesh Floors.

Interesting.  I stopped at the Liquid Smoke booth at Apimondia and watched the
video running there. Now, it's no secret that I am not a Liquid Smoke advocate.
While it *may* have some uses, and may -- perhaps -- be better than just a plain
fine water spray, I was repelled by the blarney from its promoters, especially
their bald misrepresentation that that there could never be any residue in the
honey...

I wonder if anyone will figure out how to apply liquid smoke BEFORE opening the
hive, and this is the best way to use smoke on cranky bees -- before they are
alerted by the cracking of the hive lid seal.

Nonetheless, I was fascinated by the videos of their hives that ran at their
booth.  The beekeepers shown on the film were obviously not equipment snobs.  So
many of the videos are put out by bee equipment suppliers and portray outfits
with nothing but brand new boxes and floors.  Not so here.  The hive boxes
looked as if the hadn't seen paint for 25 years or more, and there was ample air
conditioning at the joints, BUT what I found most interesting was the fact that
hives were on what appeared to be grocery pallets and there were *no floors*
apparent.  The boxes were just sitting on pallets and it appeared to me that the
bees flew where they liked through the slits in the pallets, and there somehow
seemed to be a slit under the brood chambers at the front as well.

One might think that I would view this with disapproval, but I didn't.  I paint
my hives only to suit myself and my neighbours, and to impress my pollination
customers.  The bees don't care.  As for the condition of the boxes: new and
perfect ones make handling easier, but the bees don't care.  I'm sure the bees
don't miss the bottom board either and I admire the beekeeper who decided to go
without.  I had been considering the same idea for summer splits, and had not
gotten around to trying it.

This example was ahead of its time, in carrying the open bottom concept to an
extreme; there are big gaps between the boards in most pallets.  Many natural
hives I have seen are under the floor joists of granaries, etc and are wide open
on the bottom.  They seem to do just fine.  They even winter not too badly most
of the time.

Screen is useful to exclude mice and robbers, and to contain the bees for the
sake of the beekeeper, but frankly, in warm conditions with strong hives, at
least, it is not necessary.   If we remember that one way to stop robbing from
within a yard of bees is to remove all the lids, maybe removing all the bottoms
has the same effect.  Robbing from outside the yard might be a different matter,
though.

For those of us who move bees, the idea of having the bottom wide open with bees
coming out would, perhaps, be undesirable, both from a personal comfort point of
view, and because the forks lift from under the hive and would disturb and crush
bees unless they were smoked up before handling.  (How would one accomplish this
with liquid smoke, I wonder)?

All this talk of screened bottoms interests me quite a bit, but I am doubtful
whether nucs or weak hives would do well with no bottom in spring around here.
We've debated whether the bees heat their whole hive or not, and the answer is
'no'.  However, there are times when the combined heat of the bees and the
ambient conditions combine to allow the hive to become warmer than the
environment and thus allow the bees to break cluster and reach feed distant from
the cluster.  In a strongly ventilated hive this cannot occur as readily, thus
there may be a handicap under these conditions.

There are times when we find we must reduce hive volume to suit the bee cluster
or they will not do well.  With an open bottom, I should think this would not
work unless it were closed off.

The question of effect on brood area and build-up is still open too.  Less
varroa is one thing.  Prospering bees is another.  We want both.  Can
screened -- or open bottoms -- provide both?

All in all, we have some interesting questions under scrutiny these days.
Thanks to all for their contributions.

allen