There is a lot of discussion on the pros and cons of solid bottom boards vs. screened bottom boards. I’m not convinced that bees need additional ventilation or that having a screened bottom will reduce mite counts. However, the screened bottom board that I have has a tray that can be used to examine what is getting dropped in the hive. I’m guessing that I can get an idea what is going on inside the hive by monitoring these ‘sticky’ boards without having to get into the hive so often.
We should be in the middle of the nectar flow, so in addition to adding the screened bottom board I added a medium super. I think the bees need to work on the foundation in the brood boxes, but now is when supers should be added. We’ll see if they needed the super shortly.