The Story Continues
Then I went to the bottom
The
Foundation
is
Important.
Originally,
I
used
the
standard
mulit-layer
setup
under
the
brood
box
as
shown
in
the
above
photos.
There
was
a
landing
board,
a
solid
bottom
and
a
ventalated
bottom,
but
there
was
no
tray
to
count
mites
or
view
hive
droppings.
The
solid
bottom
was
impossible
to
access
and clean without removal from the hive.
First,
I
modifed
the
exiting
components.
I
modified
the
standard
pieces
and
added
a
groove
to
allow
a
sheet
pan
to
slide
in
between
the
solid
and
ventalated
bottoms.
This
“drawer”
was
difficult
to
add,
so
I
started
making
my
own
individual
base
components
which
included
the
pull
out
tray.
The
gap
between
the
landing
board
and
the
ventalated
bottom
became
a
water
entrance
point
to
the
observation
tray,
which
I
addressed
in
later
designs.
The
total
height
of
these
three pieces was nearly 6”.
What do you want in your back yard?
One
Piece--Four
Functions.
I
saw
a
one
piece
base
at
a
friend’s
apiary
which
used
a
plastic
mite
tray,
but
the
unit
as
a
whole
was
not
built
or
designed
well.
I
then
went
to
the
drawing
board
to
create
a
one
piece
base
which
served
the
function
of
the
four
conponents
I
had
originally
worked
with.
It
included
a
removable
solid
bottom,
a
removable
observation
tray,
and
had
the
landing
board
and
a
ventalated
bottom
built
in.
For
10
frame
boxes,
I
use
a
cookie sheet for the tray and the entire one piece base is only 3 ½” tall.