Plastic Standard bottom board ANEL®

01 · COMPATIBILITY

Measure your brood box before you order

It is made for Langstroth and Dadant brood boxes, and it makes no odds whether the box is timber or plastic — it beds down the same on both. If your kit is another pattern, measure the outside of your brood box first: a floor that sits proud at the sides leaves gaps the bees cannot defend, and one that falls short will not seat properly. Outside the Langstroth-Dadant pair we do not vouch for the fit.

02 · HIVE HEALTH

This is a solid floor, not an open mesh floor

Worth saying early, because it is the question that comes up most: there is no mesh in this floor. The tray is continuous, with drainage holes so rainwater and condensation do not sit inside. That means you cannot monitor the natural mite drop through the floor, and you cannot leave the bottom open for summer ventilation. If that is what you are after — counting without opening the hive, and permanent ventilation — the part you want is an open mesh anti-varroa floor, which is a separate item. This is the traditional floor, and for plenty of set-ups it is exactly the right one.

03 · MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING

The entrance blocks lock themselves shut for loading

The two entrance blocks are included and carry a clip at the back: seated one way they hold the transport position, and turned round they shut mice and wasps out without smothering the colony. Underneath, the four non-slip feet are screwed to the floor and hold the hive on the trailer as steadily as on its stand. To strap the brood box to the floor there are fixing points front and back for fasteners or folding catches; for a permanent unit, it screws down round the perimeter.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

You get the floor with its four feet fitted and the two entrance blocks. The fasteners that strap it to the brood box are not in the box.