Plastic tray for NICOT bottom

01 · THE COUNTING TRAY

Mite drop, counted without opening the hive

This is its main use and the reason to keep one to hand. Fitted lightly smeared with petroleum jelly or oil, it holds what falls and lets you count the natural mite drop or check how well a treatment worked — with any active: amitraz, oxalic, formic, thymol — at 24-48 hours. That number tells you whether to reinforce or not, without touching a frame. A welcome trick: if the contrast is awkward, lay a smeared sheet of white paper on the tray — the mites show up far sooner and the paper goes in the bin afterwards.

02 · A TEN-SECOND DIAGNOSIS

What falls to the floor reports what is happening above

Pulling the tray out and looking at it is the cheapest inspection there is. Wax scales tell you they are drawing and uncapping; traces of fresh pollen, that something is coming in; and the appearance of chalkbrood mummies points to a damp problem in the nest. None of it replaces opening the hive when you must, but in deep winter or a cold build-up it gives you a reasonable read without chilling the brood nest — exactly when opening costs most.

03 · CLOSE THE FLOOR WHEN IT SUITS

Full ventilation or solid floor, by season

An open mesh floor is a fine thing most of the year, but not always. In the spring build-up, closing the base helps the colony hold the 35 °C the brood needs without giving heat away downwards, especially on cold or windy sites. And the other way round: when the heat comes on or you are moving hives, take it out and you have full ventilation again in one movement. That is the point of it being removable — you do not have to choose between open and closed floor, you decide month by month.

04 · IT FITS THE FLOOR, NOT THE HIVE

NICOT 10-frame floors

Compatibility is set by the floor, not by the type of hive: it fits NICOT ventilated floors for 10 frames, which in our catalogue are supplied for Dadant Blatt and Langstroth. Two warnings so you do not cross your order. First: it does not fit the NICOT 6-frame nucleus floor, which has its own size. Second: the NICOT system has another, different tray — the pollen trap one — the names are alike and they are not interchangeable, so check the reference before ordering.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It measures 475 × 380 × 14 mm and weighs barely 20 grams. The injected technical plastic stands up to treatment acids and has a smooth surface, so it cleans with a hive tool and water and nothing more. And a secondary use that for some is worth as much as the main one: it serves as a drip tray in NICOT palletising at harvest, catching honey spills so nothing is left to attract robbing in the store or in the lorry.