Plastic bottom board ventilated NICOT® for Dadant Blatt and Langstroth hives

🌿 Full mesh ventilation, sanitary floor

The open mesh lets varroa mites that fall after grooming or treatment drop straight through the floor and out of the bees' reach — you cut parasite pressure without extra work. The same mesh keeps the brood box dry in winter and dissipates heat in summer: especially useful in warm climates or damp apiaries. The mesh spacing matches that of pollen traps, so you can also use the base as a bottom pollen collector if you want.

📐 Fits both plastic and wooden hive bodies

Mates directly with NICOT plastic hive bodies and with traditional wooden Dadant Blatt hives (25 mm wall thickness), and also accepts Langstroth and Dadant US bodies. If the body overhangs the base by a couple of millimetres, even better: that overhang acts as a rain shield and protects the interior. Plastic base below, wooden body above — a hybrid setup with the best of each material: no floor rot, plus thermal insulation up top.

🔧 Build details

10 mm landing board reinforced with a central rib that prevents warping in the entrance area. Side grooves to slide in a sanitary tray or pollen basket. Side holes for screws or NICOT clips. 16 mm notch ready for the standard entrance disc. Smooth, non-porous surfaces: wash with a brush or pressure water, no propolis or treatment residue stuck behind. The landing board can be trimmed every 10 mm to customise the opening.

⚠️ Important — what else you need for the hive to work

The base is sold on its own. To make it operational you need at least one entrance disc; a sanitary tray is optional but strongly recommended. All sold separately in the Accessories section:

Entrance disc (mandatory — choose one):

• PORTEPED10/8.5 — Standard white disc with 8.5 mm opening. The basic option for general use.
• PORTEPED10/5.5 — Green anti-hornet disc, opening reduced to 5.5 mm to block Vespa velutina entry. Recommended in areas under Asian hornet pressure (France, northern Spain, Portugal, increasingly central Europe).
• PORTEPED10/EVO — Adjustable evolutive disc. Lets you change opening size with the season without swapping the part.

Sanitary tray (optional, strongly recommended):

• TIRRECOLTD10 — Slides under the mesh. Used to monitor varroa drop after treatment, collect debris, and close ventilation in winter by sliding it against the mesh.