Beginners Who Vape Under The Mesh Floor

Millet · Dec 15, 2017

Anyone new to vaping do not forget to check that the open mesh floor is not clogged with dead bees or a build up of crystals from previous vaping sessions.
The reason i mention this is i vaped my chosen product two days ago and after pulling the tray out that the gasser sits on it was covered with product that should have been vaped up over and into the hives, probably 1+ grams worth on one hive.
After poking my head under the hive the mesh floor was blocked good style with what i used, a quick gentle poke about on the underside of the mesh with a stiff brush cleared the problem and i will try again in a couple of days, hopefully the varroa get a full blast next time.

linoleum bonypart · Dec 16, 2017

That's why I add extra apibioxal to take account for wastage

Millet · Dec 16, 2017

linoleum bonypart said:
That's why I add extra apibioxal to take account for wastage

Good for you .

Erichalfbee · Dec 16, 2017

The more I think about this (dangerous, I know) the more i am tending to go back to what we all did to start with. If you have bottom space there is little wrong with vaping through the entrance. I know millet has underfloor entrances so he has to do it under the omf. He’s right. After vaping brush the edges off. If you leave it it can set hard and plop in one piece right on top of your vaporiser next time.

Etton · Dec 16, 2017

I use a hand held mirror to view the underside of the omf. Sometimes useful to also do at night with a torch giving a better view

pargyle · Dec 16, 2017

Erichalfbee said:
The more I think about this (dangerous, I know) the more i am tending to go back to what we all did to start with. If you have bottom space there is little wrong with vaping through the entrance. I know millet has underfloor entrances so he has to do it under the omf. He’s right. After vaping brush the edges off. If you leave it it can set hard and plop in one piece right on top of your vaporiser next time.

After a cold snap this week there were a handful (between 10 and 20) bees on a couple of my landing boards. My hives are standard 14 x 12 Paynes polys on their Poly floors so last night I thought I would give them a hand clearing any dead ones on the floor. Wire coat hanger (getting hard to find this useful tool these days as dry cleaners are all converting to plastic !) straghten it out, bend a nice right angle in the end of it, poke through hive entrance and drag out the dead.

In my case ... all I got was three dead bees out of one hive and five out of the other .... clearly my undertaker bees doing a good job ! One bee came out to see what I was up to but the rest stayed home. I looked in through the clear crownboards - 5 degrees last night - and there were bees all over the top of the frames - no sign of a cluster. Snug as a bug in a rug.