I decided as a member of the local men’s shed that I would make my own bottom boards for my 8 frame hives but the height from the ‘floor’ to the bottom of the brood box will obviously be critical, can anyone help me out with that depth measurement?
About an inch will do. Mine are a little deeper to take a Sublimox. It’s not critical if you have a mesh floor but if it’s too deep the bees might make more comb under the bottom bars but in my experience they don’t as it’s too cold above the mesh.
Thanks for that info Dee. So I take it the bees fly from the bottom board onto the frames given the bees don’t have a step ladder LOL. The price of commercial made boards is reasonable but the freight is the shocker. The Men’s Shed are willing to do projects like that for a token cost and are sadly not utilized enough.
Regards
Peter
Hiya Peter, welcome to the forum.
From the base to the BB is around 10mm. This is the entrance height.
I’m thinking Dee’s 1" or as I like to call it, 25mm, 
is from the base to the bottom of the frames in the BB.
Yes it is.
My entrances are 8 mm
Hi Peter, I’m at Buderim. My bottom boards have risers of around 10-18 mils, depending on what I have at the time. That gives the bees a nice bee space under the frames.
I have some hives that were given to me where the entrance is cut out of the super. In those cases you use a flat board for a floor. The bees use that system alright. However I’m not a fan of it. I prefer that little bit of extra bee space under the frames.
If you have too much bee space under the frames, they’ll build burr comb, which gives the beetles hiding places.
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Thanks for the input, general consensus is about 12mm. for the riser. A lifetime ago I had up to 50 hives in the Hawkesbury and Mudgee areas but my memory banks are not what they were. So basically I am starting out from scratch again.
I came across the Flow Hive concept and it rekindled my interest again in bees as an interest and noticed I hadn’t seen a bee in about 5 years foraging. I hope to build up to 6 hives. Where I will site them is surrounded by natural coastal bushland so I am thinking with the climate the hives will be busy all year.
Thanks again for your advise, getting onto this forum is a bonus also.
Regards
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They’re a pretty good bunch on this forum Peter & usually constructive. Peter you mentioned that you’re going for 8 frame hive but what depth are you planning on using 
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Hi Tony, I have gone with the full depth boxes and figuring that in the spring to Autumn I will probably have two brood boxes and drop to one over winter as I have done in the past. My hives will be in one location so the weight of a full size box will not come into play, why eight frames and not 10, just a choice I had to make and to stick with so that every thing is interchangeable.
I have enjoyed the forum and much is coming back to me that I thought I had forgotten when I had hives in my younger life.
Regards