What have you done today bee-related?

[huntsman.]

When there is brood present only about 15% of mites are on the house and worker bees, the rest are in the brood cells.

So doing a drop test now is only indicative, compare to this time in previous years.

Best to do this test again during the phoretic stage when the only mites are on the winter bees.

I keep Amm honeybees and these will certainly have a winter broodless period.

So what I'm doing now is just keeping an eye on matters and I will do a final test mid December and then make my decision to oxalic trickle treat or not.

Such a test is very simple and it alone (IMO) justifies open mesh floors, besides other benefits.

I think beginners read all post and it would be a shame if they were discouraged from trying this very simple and non-intrusive monitoring for themselves.

Meanwhile, for the experienced - each to their own.

[AdamD]

It's always good to know what's going on in a colony so checking for a varroa drop is worth doing especially for a beginner. If one wants to go treatment free or only treat in extremis that's fine. (Although I have known a number of new beekeepers who want to be 'au-naturel' with their bees and allow them to swarm freely and not treat them and then wonder why they have to buy more). For the rest, they will (or should) treat anyway irrespective of the varroa drop - although a high drop might indicate the need to treat early.

[Cable_Fairy]

Did an inspection in the WBC this afternoon, the queen has done a runner leaving a superceedure cell on one frame and three queen cells on another.

[NigelP]

Broke off the tabs on the cages of 2 quite expensive breeder queens, tore down the few queen cells they had made whilst queenless. Squeaky bum time.......

[Steve 1972]

I went to a six frame Nuc today accompanied with a full size brood box and all the trimmings ..five frames of drawn comb included..
From past experience with these bought in Queens lets me know they quickly run out of space to lay so need more space even at this time of the year..
Much to my disappointment on hitting the third frame i spotted a Queen cell..No brood on the first three frames just jam packed with stores..(sick is a understatement) ..i got to the fourth frame which was full of worker brood BUT with space for the Queen to lay..the 5th frame was full of sealed brood and three more capped Queen cells and one ready to be capped..the sixth frame was full of capped worker brood..

I may have done the wrong thing with what i did next but i can not be bothered waiting for Queen cells to emerge and get mated at this time of the year..so i knocked all the Queen cells down and put the nuc into the full hive i intended to in the first place..Marked clipped Queen still present..

Either way i think this Nuc is doomed no matter what i do with it but i will have to wait and see..

[Steve 1972]

Broke off the tabs on the cages of 2 quite expensive breeder queens, tore down the few queen cells they had made whilst queenless. Squeaky bum time.......

I know the pain with not so expensive Queens..fingers and toes crossed..

[AdamD]

I removed the last 4 supers yesterday, two from each hive. On one hive on Sunday, there was one super which was fairly full and another one which was empty, they were placed on a clearer board. Yesterday I walked up to the hive and saw a couple of bees at one corner of the lower-most super. A small gap due to warping of the wood meant that there was just a bee-space. The supers were empty.

[huntsman.]

After three days with the insert trays having had a light Vaseline smear, the drop is as follows.

Hive 1; 1 mite.
Hive 2; 0 mite.
Hive 3; 0 mite.
Hive 4; 1 mite.

Bees are on about nine frames in all hives.

I'm very pleased with this and will do a winter test when there will only be phoretic* mites. My decision to treat or not will be based on this later number.

*For beginners. No brood so no mites in the brood. Only on the winter bees.

[NigelP]

I removed the last 4 supers yesterday, two from each hive. On one hive on Sunday, there was one super which was fairly full and another one which was empty, they were placed on a clearer board. Yesterday I walked up to the hive and saw a couple of bees at one corner of the lower-most super. A small gap due to warping of the wood meant that there was just a bee-space. The supers were empty.

Oh No.....
They don't mess around when they can gain access.

[Chrisbarlow]

I removed the last 4 supers yesterday, two from each hive. On one hive on Sunday, there was one super which was fairly full and another one which was empty, they were placed on a clearer board. Yesterday I walked up to the hive and saw a couple of bees at one corner of the lower-most super. A small gap due to warping of the wood meant that there was just a bee-space. The pers were empty.

Ouch! It happens and I suspect it's happened to us all.