OMF good or bad

[Keith]

Hi all
Was wondering what everyone,s opinions are on open mesh floors.
Are they anygood against varroa or are you better off with a solid floor.

Keith

[Trog]

I've bought one OMF for the first time, in order to monitor for the possible arrival of varroa sometime (not yet, thank goodness!). The one thing I've noticed is the vast amount of pollen that's being lost through the floor onto the yellow correx underneath. Huge great loads being wasted. A lot of braula falls through, though, which must be reducing the numbers of that not altogether harmful beastie. The other hives have solid floors or solid floors with a small ventilation mesh in the middle. No difference between them as far as I can see.

[Jimbo]

Hi Keith,

I have used a mixture of OMF and solid floors for a number of years and noticed that pollen is lost more on an OMF, however the hives with OMF tend to remain dryer over the winter as the bees suffer if the hive get damp with the solid floor. I keep the slide out over winter to increase the ventilation and noticed no effect. I do replace the slide in spring to help retain heat in the hive when the queen needs it to start producing brood. If the slide is left out the colony does not build up a well in the spring. Over the summer the OMF does help reduce the mite count. I have heard that it can reduce the mite load as much as 60% as the mites fall straight out of the hive,although I have never checked this claim. You still need to keep the floor clean like a solid floor and I clean and change the floors in spring.

Jimbo

[Adam]

I use OMF's. To avoid undue wind arond the base of the hive it's good to put a super underneath or have a deep stand under the floor of the hive. Trog, you must be a cheapskate like me with some bees on a budget hives !:) Actually they are fine except I find that the correx can blow about so I have replaced mine by plywood with a strip of timber at the back to seal better when using Apiguard as a Varroa treatment.

I believe there is less chalk brood with OMF's. I keep mine open all year except when doing a mite count or treating.

[HensandBees]

just as introduction, I am currently living in Lancashire but hope to move to Mull,,,,,,,, eventually ,,,.....(I wont bring my bees with me )
down here we use OMF all the time, provides good ventilation over winter. I keep the insert out at all times except when counting varroa, re chalk brood I could not confirm that OMF helps as I have had one colony with it and cannot shift it, next attempt is to requeen....

[Trog]

Hello, Hens and Bees, and welcome to the forum! So pleased you're not thinking of bringing your bees with you to Mull (if you bring hives with you, I'm sure you'll not bring comb and that you'll torch everything thoroughly!). We're doing all we can to keep pests and diseases (and non-acclimatised bees) out of the island. The association's just starting a breeding programme to try and provide local bees for folk wanting them.

I've just the one OMF floor, with the insert in, to help keep an eye out in case varroa arrives here. Certainly it seems to reduce the braula numbers as there are always lots of them crawling on the insert!

[HensandBees]

No everything will be spotless before I come up! would be interested in seeing a braula unfortunately down here they are a thing of the past . I think the varroa control has done them in ! Can you let me know when your meetings are as I would like to come along if I am up at the right time! and please could I be added to the folks wanting bees programme ....? Always willing to helpl........ after beekeeping down here for going on 10 years I definitely know what a varroa looks like if anyone wants to know . .. I even have an encapsulated on on a microscope slide . but dont ask me to make another it was not easy getting it nicely centered and no bubbles !

[Trog]

Meetings are a bit random as attempts to have an apiary meeting have been thwarted by weather so far! If you PM me to let me know when you're here, I'll let you know if anything's happening! Experienced beeks most welcome as we'll have a rota for checking the assoc apiary colonies when they get going!

[Troutnabout]

Six years ago I decided to get my dad re-started in bee keeping. I did some internet searches for hives, nuc's etc and came across open mesh floors. The upshot is that I bought a national hive and made an OMF - could not buy one at the time. We actually ended up getting a couple colonies from a keeper who was giving up due to ill health. By the time I heard about him selling off his bees all he had left was two colonies that were suffering from varroa. We were desperate to get started so he gave them to us FOC. As they were weak we combined them into one colony and sat it on an OMF. This would be about May/June. The hive prospered and we took 60lb of honey off it at the end of the season.

We only use OMF now, with boards underneath to regulate ventilation and see whats dropping out the hive.

[Beejud]

I have six colonies all on OMF's and think they work fine for me. I keep the correx boards in over winter and use them only for mite drop etc the rest of the year. Have lost a correx board in windy conditions once but you can put a piece of tape to secure it. I have been able to buy large sheets of correx in an art shop so they are easy to replace and keep clean. The offcuts from that larger sheet serve very well as dummy ends when tacked onto the top bar of a frame, so no waste.

[Calum]

Hi,
I use both OMFs and solid floors.
I think healthy bees survive on both.
OMF allows easy varroa infestation and treatment assessment which is good.
I open the front and back of mine in the winter to improve hive ventilation this really helps lower moisture and prevent mould in the hive which is positive.
I have also been told that keeping the bees colder over the winter is better as it decreases the brood size / keeps the colony out of brood for longer - which slows down the varroa buildup over the winter.
Dont like the amounts of pollen that gets lost in them - but my colonies always seem to have more than enough of that so I dont worry about that.

[Adam]

Is the falling pollen a real problem? Would pollen that has fallen onto a solid floor actually be carried out of the hive in any case? Bees seem to treat the floor differently than a roof - for example a mesh floor is not propolised to seal it up so maybe fallen pollen is trash in their tiny minds??