apiguard treatment...is it too late now?

[Tom Bick]

and heat rises to the top of the hive,which where the apigard tray is.

Ha ha. Not the case for all those (there are a lot of them) that leave top ventilation in the crownboard (see threads on this earlier in the year).

RAB

So does the top vents stop heat rising?

 

[oliver90owner]

So does the top vents stop heat rising?

No, it won't stop warm air convecting, but sure as 'eggs is eggs', it wont stay where you want it! The average temperature at the top of the hive will be lower as there will be more dilution air.

One might wonder why Vita have done trials on hundreds of hives and given an average efficacy of 93%(?), but none recorded as done in the UK (well, not that are shown in those statistics, anyway)?

Makes me wonder whether any UK test results (and others possibly) have been 'conveniently' omitted because they would drag down the overall average?

Anyone suggesting consistently over 90% for autumn apiguard treatment in the UK is being over-optimistic in my opinion, and certainly not corroborated by Vita on their website - well not that I have seen, or remembered seeing.

When I note a warning for half a dose on half a hive, but no warning of a full dose on a full hive (exactly the same ratio of dose to box size), I get more suspicious of marketing/advertising hype than usual.

 

[juliabusybee]

Hi thanks all for advice on using the apiguard...... I have put a tay in my hive on top of the brood frames / queen excluder and seeing as I don't have a proper eke, I used an empty super on top and then on top of this I put my super which is full of stores and on top of this I have an Ashford feeder, then the crown board. Really panicking now because the space between the brood frames and the bottom of the stores super is large ...won't they be too cold now and build comb in here??

Also can I keep feeding them or should I stop??
Any help would bee most appreciated.

thanks
Julia

 

[Flatters]

Julia
You must take the super of stores off ASAP otherwise they will be seriously tainted with the thymol.

 

[drstitson]

ekes

1.8m length of stripwood from local DIY barn or timber merchant. 4 cuts and a few screws/nails and you have yourself an eke to go between brood box and feeder. no space or extra super(s).

 

[juliabusybee]

hi I wasn't going to take off the hone its for the bees for the winter, so wasn't worrying about whether it was tainted or not..is this ok?

 

[juliabusybee]

ok I'll do this, I can see it would be much better. thx

 

[Moggs]

Hi Julia. You should try to keep the 'open space' to a minimum (having large voids is not good practice at any time). Thymol works best in conditions of maximum confinement (i.e. varroa floor inserted, entrance reduced, single box, closed top vents). You should aim to keep the vapours concentrated in a single brood chamber, so far as possible. You can feed at the same time (noting guidance above) but you may find that the bees may not take it so readily. You should certainly not be thinking of any honey harvest if contaminated with thymol. You will need to get a move on too, as temperatures are dropping!

Edit re last post - it's ok to feed this honey to the bees but the presence of a super will reduce the effect of treatment. However, the honey is best stored in the brood chamber for winter as they won't readily move to the super to take it. Better to encourage the bees to shift it down to the brood box by lightly scoring the cappings in the super.

 

[Beeline]

Good morning all

I know I've seen comment on this before but couldn't find the answer.

What do you do once your Apiguard has gone hard - only a small amount left? I tried on one hive last weekend to scrap it out and attempt to smear on the tops of the frames but it didn't adhere and was promptly collected and thrown out the front door

 

[tonybloke]

was this the 1st or 2nd tray?

 

[Beeline]

2nd tray

 

[tonybloke]

2nd tray

nothing to worry about, then

 

[gavin]

DrS

We are talking Inverness on this one. Gavin may well know whether mites are resistant that far up the Island, yet awhile.

RAB

Someone call?!

If you google 'varroa mapping scotland' you will see that Strathpeffer (which is on the east side of Scotland north of Inverness) is in a known Varroa-infested area although it is close to the N and NW limit. You might expect the first wave of Varroa to be of the early type, before Apistan resistance became common, but I suppose that to a large extent that depends on where you got your bees Julia. Apistan/Bayvarol resistant bees have been widespread in EC Scotland for years, so I only use these treatments in an emergency for an efficient knock-down of much, but not all, of a high mite population.

Don't worry about empty space while you treat but make sure that the hive is compact when you are done. Given the low mite drop I wouldn't have treated now but waited for the December oxalic acid treatment. If you have
a super of winter stores then make sure that you remove the queen excluder. You'll probably find next year that dealing with the brood and a half formation is a pain and that - assuming your bees are local types - a single National brood box (with stores!) is enough for wintering most colonies.

G.