HokkaidoHachi · Hokkaido, JP · Gear · Sep 16, 2026

Screened bottom board going into winter — slide the tray in or leave the mesh open? Give me your regional answer

Fourth year in Hokkaido, five hives. Our winters are serious: minus 15 to minus 20°C, a metre of snow by January, hives buried to the roof most of February. I switched all five to screened bottom boards with removable trays this spring, mainly for mite drop monitoring, and now I'm facing the first winter with them. Every UK book and forum I read says leave the mesh open all winter, the bees are fine, and the damp matters more than the cold. Every local beekeeper I ask says close everything and insulate. I've got 5 cm of foam over the crown board and a small upper entrance that I keep clear of snow. I suspect the honest answer is "depends where you are", so I'd rather hear it that way: what do you do with the tray, in what climate, and why?

#screened-bottom-board#winter-prep#insulation#ventilation

▲ 10 votes 💬 3 replies

3 replies

SkaneBees · Sep 16, 2026

Skåne: tray in from November to March, and I insulate the top well. The logic is about where condensation forms — on the coldest surface. With a warm insulated crown board the coldest surface is the floor and lower walls, which is exactly where you want water to end up, running out the entrance rather than dripping on the cluster. A wide-open mesh floor in wind just makes the bees burn stores to replace heat. Damp floors are a problem when the TOP is cold, not when the floor is closed.

PerthshireBees · Sep 16, 2026

Perthshire: open mesh all winter for seven years, with a thick insulated roof, and no losses I can pin on it. But my winters are +5 to -5 with the odd -10, wet rather than cold, and the open floor keeps the floor from turning into the slimy mess I used to scrape off solid boards. Yours is a different planet. I wouldn't argue with the Hokkaido locals about Hokkaido.

AlpineCarnica · Sep 16, 2026

Tyrol, -20 in the valley and worse at the alpine sites: tray in, and I think of it as a wind question more than a temperature one. An open mesh floor on an exposed stand works like a chimney draught up through the cluster. On a sheltered stand it matters far less. With snow burying the hive you actually have good insulation on all sides, so keep that upper entrance clear like you are doing and don't fuss. HokkaidoHachi, mesh floor plus tray plus top insulation is close to what most of us here run now.

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