Screened bottom boards and empty bottom box?

[tjc1]

Just saw an aside mention about this issue and had been wondering about it myself. I am a 5th year beek and have always had SSB's, and I have often noticed a tendency for the bottom-most brood box to never get fully utilized. I was wondering if either a) too much ventilation or b) too much light could cause the bees to avoid the bottom box and move up.

[BeeMaster2]

I run nothing but SBB's. Occasionally I will find almost no bees in the bottom box. Usually it is caused SHB and moths taking over that area after a the hive swarm. The bees just move up. This is one of the reasons for doing spring and fall inspections.
Ji

[mikecva]

I have used SBB for many years. the first few years I also had empty bottom boxes. I changed the base  my hives sat on so there was not a lot of wind blowing up thru the hive and the empty bottom box problem went away ( hives now sit on 2 X 12 boxes - sides and ends with screened air holes.) -Mike

[tjc1]

Hi Mike - thanks for the info. What do you mean by '2x12 boxes'? I'm probably just being dense, but I can't picture it...

[Rurification]

I switched away from screened bottoms to solid bottoms.   It made a big difference in how they build up in the spring [faster] and my likelihood of getting through the winters [used ventilated quilt boxes on top instead.]   

As I've been thinking about it, I suppose I could use screens for summer/fall and solids for winter/spring, but I don't have the strength to switch them out every hive every year.    I had tried the screens with the slidey bottoms to close them up but they were still too open for our winters.     

I'll stick with solids here.

[JackM]

This is a topic that is locale specific. 

As the bees fill up the boxes, they start bottom center frames, working upward and outward, honey and drone cells to the outside brood in the center(ish). 

So, a person can take the empty box out and lower the whole set of boxes and put the empty on the top and eventually the entire process will need to be done again.

But in my climate, which is very wet/humid, temps rarely get below freezing, summers rarely above 100.  On my hives, I use the setup 24/7/365.  Screened bottom board, Miller board with the slats 90 degrees to the frames, empty box with old comb in the frames.  Vivaldi top with vented cover.  This has reduced my winter losses by 50% and my build starts as early as January here.

The plans I have seen for Miller boards do not correctly disturb the air flow, thus the 90 degrees to the frames.