Deformed Wing Syndrome questions

oliver90owner · Jun 23, 2011

Can't tell. As 85% of the mites could have been in cells, and estimates of colony strength are somewhat variable, you could have got half of them or possibly a lot less.

Apiguard, don't recommend the treatment period for no good reason. Temperatures and the distribution of the gel among the inhabitants are two things which will alter the mite mortality rate.

The DEFRA threshold for a full colony is 1000 mites; your colony is nowhere near that size yet.

RAB

nickyjay · Jun 23, 2011

Ok, thanks O90O. The daily drop is still high, 20/30 a day. Will post an update next week.
Nick

MuswellMetro · Jun 23, 2011

weather in London could be hot (30c) on Sunday/ Monday if the met office have got the forecast right, so expect 100s of them to beard on the outside of the Nuc as the thymol vapour will be strong in the Nuc

colinlee · Jun 23, 2011

deformed wing virus

gentlemen,

early part of the season i had a bad case of DWV in a powerful colony .this set up had a solid floor.so i changed the solid for an OMF,which I'm not in favour of.the only tratment i used was 3 courses of ground cane sugar sprinkled of frames.within 4 weeks all cases of DWV was gone,yes i do believe varroa had a major part in the problem,but hey it worked for me :sifone:

nickyjay · Jun 23, 2011

colinlee said:
gentlemen,

early part of the season i had a bad case of DWV in a powerful colony .this set up had a solid floor.so i changed the solid for an OMF,which I'm not in favour of.the only tratment i used was 3 courses of ground cane sugar sprinkled of frames.within 4 weeks all cases of DWV was gone,yes i do believe varroa had a major part in the problem,but hey it worked for me

Are you saying the sugar got rid of the varroa or the DWV? Your post is slightly confusing. If the former, how many mites dropped through the OMF after treatment?

MM, thanks for the weather report. Some hot weather much welcome! The current tray has almost been emptied now so hopefully the vapour will not be too strong if it does get that hot. Having said that the next tray is due in next week.

The Bees in general seem happy, I inspected on Tuesday and they were very gentle. Lots of furry new bees which was nice to see and they have started to draw out more frames. Saw lots of larvae but no eggs, although I do find them hard to see. So not sure whether the queen went off lay or not. Will find out next week.

N

colinlee · Jun 23, 2011

deformed wing virus

The ground sugar works by the cleaning action of the bees on one another so the varroa mite is cleaned off each bee slowly also the mite has lost its grip on the bee caused by the powderd sugar,then they fall through the mesh. i didnt believe it would work at first !!! .but it did and now colony up and running :sifone: