Apiary died over winter

[pargyle]

Bruco is £5.40 cheaper for the same product.

Yes ... I'd go for that .. both do the same job. If you can reduce the cost of keeping bees I'm all in favour of it ... as I have enough Dipel to see out the rest of my beekeeping days it may be a time before I need more ....

 

[F.F.Stung]

I caught a swarm in June,2014. Never treated. At the moment they are packing in the pollen every day that is warm enough to fly. Sorry if I upset some treatment pushers.

 

[gmonag]

Deleted
'cos I misread the post and wrote a load of rubbish..

 

[Boston Bees]

I caught a swarm in June,2014. Never treated. At the moment they are packing in the pollen every day that is warm enough to fly. Sorry if I upset some treatment pushers.

Interesting to hear. Do you let them swarm as many times as they wish to each year? Genuine question.

 

[madasafish]

I don't dispute treatment free is possible.

Treatment free and a reasonable honey crop? (reasonable = 50lbs/production colony in an average year.

When I ask that question, I usually get silence..
(Like the recent poster who claimed his bees were improving year by year but had no statistics so it was an "impression" )

 

[pargyle]

I don't dispute treatment free is possible.

Treatment free and a reasonable honey crop? (reasonable = 50lbs/production colony in an average year.

When I ask that question, I usually get silence..
(Like the recent poster who claimed his bees were improving year by year but had no statistics so it was an "impression" )

It all depends.. I look at the average crop that beekeepers around me who are treating their bees get ... if I am round about where they are in crop size I'm happy... last year they mostly had a dreadful year and I did much better than them... theres more to crop size than being treatment free. Local forage, weather conditions at the right time ... how hard you manipulate for crop size all have a bearing. I would agree that big, healthy colonies will generally produce the maximum yield given other conditions but being treatment free does not necessarily mean your bees are weedy, infested and incapable... I know a few beekeepers who over treat their colonies that manage to get them into a state where they have difficulty surviving the beekeepers actions let alone manage varroa. Difficult to generalise to be honest...

 

[Ian123]

I caught a swarm in June,2014. Never treated. At the moment they are packing in the pollen every day that is warm enough to fly. Sorry if I upset some treatment pushers.

So you’ve caught a swarm that’s survived well done. Do you think the queen may bee an import that’s commercial available and bred for VSH.

It all depends.. I look at the average crop that beekeepers around me who are treating their bees get ... if I am round about where they are in crop size I'm happy... last year they mostly had a dreadful year and I did much better than them... theres more to crop size than being treatment free. Local forage, weather conditions at the right time ... how hard you manipulate for crop size all have a bearing. I would agree that big, healthy colonies will generally produce the maximum yield given other conditions but being treatment free does not necessarily mean your bees are weedy, infested and incapable... I know a few beekeepers who over treat their colonies that manage to get them into a state where they have difficulty surviving the beekeepers actions let alone manage varroa. Difficult to generalise to be honest...

100% agree but then you’ve been around long enough, are proactive and can get yourself out of trouble when needed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

So you’ve caught a swarm that’s survived well done. Do you think the queen may bee an import that’s commercial available and bred for VSH.

She’s doing remarkably well considering she may be emerged in 2013. A grand age.

 

[pargyle]

She’s doing remarkably well considering she may be emerged in 2013. A grand age.

A very unlikely age ...coming up to her 9th year ? Triggers Broom I think...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

She’s doing remarkably well considering she may be emerged in 2013. A grand age.

almost reached Manley's record aged queen at nine

 

[celtimar]

How would signs of CBPV show during the winter , usually lots of dead and dying bees outside
as removed by healthy bees in summer , but in winter the bees are clustered and the virus would
spread easily due to close contact and the bees are not house keeping the same as in summer.
i assume you would end up with lots of dead bees on the floor under the cluster and as the cluster
size gets smaller the cold would finish them off . ? . Could also explain why it affected all the
hives due to spread of the virus between hives ? Just a thought

 

[Erichalfbee]

How would signs of CBPV show during the winter , usually lots of dead and dying bees outside
as removed by healthy bees in summer , but in winter the bees are clustered and the virus would
spread easily due to close contact and the bees are not house keeping the same as in summer.
i assume you would end up with lots of dead bees on the floor under the cluster and as the cluster
size gets smaller the cold would finish them off . ? . Could also explain why it affected all the
hives due to spread of the virus between hives ? Just a thought

Is that likely?
I have unfortunately had CBPV twice .........6 years apart
In each case out of a number of colonies only one was affected.
They were both headed by queens of similar lineage though

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is that likely?

Highly unlikely - if the bees are 'tightly clustered', how is it going to spread from hive to hive in any case?

 

[celtimar]

Was thinking more that the virus could transfer within the cluster as bees circulate throughout the cluster
for warmth and the movement over months of winter during warmer periods and movement to stores and brood rearing , cleansing flights. etc
Virus could be spread between colonies in summer /autumn due to robbing of smaller or weakened hives and drifting if colonies kept close within the apiary and cross contamination by movement of frames and even the hive tool during manipulation/ inspections and then spread within a weakened hive and perhaps Varoha would also play their part. Only the individual beekeeper will know what occurred during the season within their Apiary managment .
As i said it was just a thought as to what you could find in a dead hive in late winter early spring that was
affected by CBPV during winter as i assume some would be, what would inform a beekeeper to be aware that CBPV was a possible cause for the loss of their colony / colonies ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Was thinking more that the virus could transfer within the cluster as bees circulate throughout the cluster
for warmth and the movement over months of winter during warmer periods and movement to stores and brood rearing , cleansing flights. etc
Virus could be spread between colonies in summer /autumn due to robbing of smaller or weakened hives and drifting if colonies kept close within the apiary and cross contamination by movement of frames and even the hive tool during manipulation/ inspections and then spread within a weakened hive and perhaps Varoha would also play their part. Only the individual beekeeper will know what occurred during the season within their Apiary managment .
As i said it was just a thought as to what you could find in a dead hive in late winter early spring that was
affected by CBPV during winter as i assume some would be, what would inform a beekeeper to be aware that CBPV was a possible cause for the loss of their colony / colonies ?

Why don’t you ask prof Evans.
https://www.theapiarist.org/blog/He’s the expert.
ive only ever had it in summer. Some colonies do pull through summer infection and go on to survive the winter
I suppose you could look for black shiny bees though not all CBPV has those. Oh and K wing. That’s pretty standard.

 

[F.F.Stung]

Interesting to hear. Do you let them swarm as many times as they wish to each year? Genuine question.

No. I check for queen cells and break then down to two or three and do a Taranov.
This year I would like to split the Taranov and give the queenless split a swarm cell

 

[Boston Bees]

No. I check for queen cells and break then down to two or three and do a Taranov.
This year I would like to split the Taranov and give the queenless split a swarm cell

Thank you.

Taranov! I want to see one of those in real life one day. Looks dramatic.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thank you.

Taranov! I want to see one of those in real life one day. Looks dramatic.

Don’t do it in your back garden if you have neighbours.

 

[F.F.Stung]

She’s doing remarkably well considering she may be emerged in 2013. A grand age.

She is getting on a bit. I will check with her grand daughter how she is doing

 

[HughMann]

I caught a swarm in June,2014. Never treated. At the moment they are packing in the pollen every day that is warm enough to fly. Sorry if I upset some treatment pushers.

shhhhhh
Don't let on that bees can survive on their own in trees without treatment, then survive in your hive without treatment. If people realize the truth in that, there won't be any money for breeders and other snake oil sellers............
Repeat after me - bees need humans and lots of money