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  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #5366  by MickBBKA
 28 Dec 2019, 03:29
thewoodgatherer wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 17:18
Last year I had one I vaped about 7 times and still was getting drops days later.
You don't give time of year or size of colonies, but strong colonies still rearing brood which can deal with varroa can show regular mite drops for extended periods, where weak colonies that have limited brood will show low drops fooling you into thinking they are doing better. Its very important to consider what may be happening inside rather than relying on mite boards. I find it amazing that so many folks who take their bees to the heather complain that they come back busting with varroa that they think have come from other colonies. IMHO the varroa is a direct result of an extended and often increased brood production due to the late pollen and nectar from the heather.

Cheers, Mick.
 #5373  by thewoodgatherer
 31 Dec 2019, 14:08
MickBBKA wrote:
thewoodgatherer wrote:
27 Dec 2019, 17:18
Last year I had one I vaped about 7 times and still was getting drops days later.
You don't give time of year or size of colonies, but strong colonies still rearing brood which can deal with varroa can show regular mite drops for extended periods, where weak colonies that have limited brood will show low drops fooling you into thinking they are doing better. Its very important to consider what may be happening inside rather than relying on mite boards. I find it amazing that so many folks who take their bees to the heather complain that they come back busting with varroa that they think have come from other colonies. IMHO the varroa is a direct result of an extended and often increased brood production due to the late pollen and nectar from the heather.

Cheers, Mick.
No didn't explain well- time of year was October and following limited success with thymol based treatments. Colony was large second gen local breed from hybrid queen. I am thinking that treating mites in the phonetic phase with OA vapor has very limited efficacy even when done to a strict multiple timed rescheme.
 #5374  by Patrick
 31 Dec 2019, 14:11
For non-bee related reasons not yet treated and did so today. Used a 50ml syringe but only charged to 40ml, anticipating 8 seams of bees at 5ml a seam - the percentage oxalic in the mix is supposed to be fairly critical but not so sure about the amount of solution but don't like over treating. If I have a full syringe likely to just use it.

7 degrees and little wind. They were clustered and non flying but still active. As on a brood and a half this year meant they were more disturbed when splitting than normally when I just overwinter on singles and lift the cover, so smoker and full protection were most definitely required. I had intended to move the filled super below the brood chamber in the Autumn but didn't get round to it. Surprised the cluster had not moved up more into the supers, although most supers were nearly cleared of stores. Most brood chambers hives still heavy tho.

Broke the habit of a lifetime and inspected a few central frames (could almost hear my Grandad muttering dark words in Welsh at me) - to my considerable surprise there was neither capped nor uncapped brood seen in the two hives I went through. Bees did not appreciate the disruption and I don't blame them in the least and wont make a habit of it. I have theorised on here that with our recent mild winters I thought they probably did not now have a broodless period at all and I am delighted to be proved comprehensively wrong - which means for one thing the oxalic trickling will be more effective and the bees will have a natural brood break and rest. Great. I am on uninsulated wood hives open mesh floor open all year and restricted entrances and closed off crown boards and this year brood and half or double brood overwintering. Other set ups may be totally different of course.
Horribly tempted to nosy into mates poly hive and see if he has brood present (Welsh deceased Grandad now red in face, grabbing me by lapels and slapping me around the face repeatedly).
 #5387  by MickBBKA
 04 Jan 2020, 23:08
Most of my colonies are still rearing brood here in the North East Adam. We have had about 3 frosts and bees flying most days. Having had a quick look while rearranging frames with food some are still on 5 frames with brood. This is very dangerous as a cold spell can cause isolation starvation as the cluster won't leave the brood to move to areas of capped stores. I lost quite a big colony last winter due to this.
No winter is a pain as it will most likely be followed by an extended freezing spring.
 #5390  by Patrick
 05 Jan 2020, 13:09
Well there you go Mick - on lazy simple geography alone I would have thought I would still be brooded and if anything, you wouldn’t. Maybe our strain of locals is differently adapted. We have only had two frosts to date and not hard ones at that.

My couple of quick dips into the cluster is hardly a rigorous trial but maybe worth thinking about next year slightly more proactively over a period.
 #5419  by Chrisbarlow
 09 Jan 2020, 14:06
Both. Got a gas vap thingy and trickle