Apiguard Application Advice

[Samurailord]

Hi all

We have just started bee keeping this year and against the odds still have a colony which we want to prepare for winter.

We currently have one super on top of the BB (no excluder) which was part filled the last time we looked inside.

We have decided not to take any honey this year to make sure that they have the best chance possible of surviving the winter, and also as we think there may have been some robbing going on from other colonies on the apiary so there may not be that much left to take anyway.

The instructions on the Apiguard say to place the tray on top of the brood frames, so would it be best to move the part-filled super to below the BB before treatment, or would it be Ok to treat on top of the super?

We are ultimately intending on moving the super to the bottom of the stack and leave it for winter - when would be the best time to this? Is it too early?

Thanks

Andy

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you are going to nadir the super anyway, do it before applying Apiguard (I've done it on all mine alrerady) no great difference whether you put the apiguard on top of the super frames or brood really. You say you don't have an excluder - is there any brood in the super?

 

[Samurailord]

You say you don't have an excluder - is there any brood in the super?

Yes, there is brood in the super - or there was.

We originally put the super on without an excluder at the advice of our mentor, and only put the excluder back when the cells were being filled with honey and after we had had a good check to make sure HM wasn't up there.

Of course we must have missed her as the next week the super was full of brood!

The excluder was removed sharpish and we left them, I suppose I would call it an extended brood and a half?

We haven't opened up the hive for a couple of weeks - the last couple of times we did they were very defensive so we didnt do more than a quick look-see.

Their mood was possibly due to the weather and possibly due to them being robbed via an entrance at the back of the hive caused by the mesh floor bowing down - now fixed back up again.

If nadir-ing the super now won't lead to more robbing then we may as well do it when applying the Apiguard rather than bother them twice.

Andy