Fascinating lecture at NHS

[Newbeeneil]

A fascinating lecture on thermodynamics in the hive delivered by Derek Mitchell today. Well worth watching when it comes on line.

 

[Erichalfbee]

A fascinating lecture on thermodynamics in the hive delivered by Derek Mitchell today. Well worth watching when it comes on line.

Yay!!!!
Derek is a frequent poster here

 

[Newbeeneil]

I know he posts regularly but I have only even picked up on bits and pieces of his talents. The lecture was entertaining as well as informative.

 

[MuswellMetro]

i was surprise West Sussex sponsored Derick's Lecture when Roger Patterson who is their President is so supportive of the keep Them cold and ventilated brigade

 

[domino]

It was very enjoyable, I was pondering the poly hives in the hall afterwards. Makes me wonder if mesh floors do more harm than good?

 

[user 6228]

many thxs

 

[B+.]

Makes me wonder if mesh floors do more harm than good?

Possibly: if you think a little heat loss is more dangerous to the colony than varroa and the viruses they transmit.

 

[Newbeeneil]

It was very enjoyable, I was pondering the poly hives in the hall afterwards. Makes me wonder if mesh floors do more harm than good?

I think Derek's explanation of maintaining still air below the OMF convinced me that I can retain them and still enhance the insulation of the hive.

 

[TooBee...]

Anyone uploaded it yet?
Has anyone else done a search for "Derek Mitchel l" on YouTube, guessing that's not him!

Maybe Derek might want to publish his power point / bullet notes?

 

[Newbeeneil]

Anyone uploaded it yet?
Has anyone else done a search for "Derek Mitchel l" on YouTube, guessing that's not him!

Maybe Derek might want to publish his power point / bullet notes?

It normally takes the NHS a few weeks to upload the lectures..... I know Tom Seeley's from last year took an age!

 

[domino]

Possibly: if you think a little heat loss is more dangerous to the colony than varroa and the viruses they transmit.

I monitor my varroa with alcohol washes, hopefully, I'd have a handle on them.

What is the actual impact on varroa numbers of a mesh floor?

 

[Finman]

What is the actual impact on varroa numbers of a mesh floor?

Varroa kills a colony as well as on solid floor. Mesh floor seems to work as well in our climate as solid floor.

 

[B+.]

I monitor my varroa with alcohol washes, hopefully, I'd have a handle on them.

What is the actual impact on varroa numbers of a mesh floor?

I don't think varroa has any impact at all on the mesh floor. However, the mesh floor allows phoretic mites to fall out of the hive whereby they can't climb back. protonymphs emerge from the cell when the adult bee leaves but can't survive in the colony. These too fall through the mesh.

 

[thedozzer]

We are going to the NHS tomorrow, but as new Beeks we wondered if it was worth going to the the beginners lectures? was hoping to make the 09:00 Roger Patterson: Dead Bees Don't Buzz - surviving the Winter. what are the trade stands like?

 

[TooBee...]

I don't think varroa has any impact at all on the mesh floor. However, the mesh floor allows phoretic mites to fall out of the hive whereby they can't climb back. protonymphs emerge from the cell when the adult bee leaves but can't survive in the colony. These too fall through the mesh.

Some time back I remember reading a Study which found that the majority of mites that fell were from worker cells, they were not fully developed yet, that extra day in the drone cell made all the difference. From memory the vast majority of the 'worker cell mites' could not return to the brood area in a solid floor hive, however some (percentages were vague) of the more fully developed 'drone cell mites' were able to return.

One thought I had, was that if we could reduce the number of drone cells, ... but I think we've been down that debate before..

 

[B+.]

One thought I had, was that if we could reduce the number of drone cells, ... but I think we've been down that debate before..

When you consider that the drone takes 24 days compared to the workers 21 (on average) to develop, you can see that drones offer a longer reproduction period to the varroa mite (which lays an egg about every 30 hours). The first egg is male then subsequent eggs are female. So, this allows at least another 2 female eggs to be laid (and 72 hours longer for their sisters to mature). Clearly, drone cells allow more mature mites to emerge than worker cells.
This old Jeff Harris video is still the best explanation I have seen of the varroa life cycle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2vg59Snt6c).

 

[TooBee...]

Hi
my understanding was that because the Drone cell is capped for one day longer than the Worker cell, it meant that in practice the mite only had one extra day to lay extra eggs, which makes a big difference.

There are also other theories kicking around that the Drone is more nutritious for the mite, that the mite prefers cooler parts of the hive, etc. as other factors why they like Drones, but I think that extra day makes all the difference.

Thanks for the link, I appreciate that kind of stuff.

PS: sent you a funny PM ;-)

 

[domino]

One thought I had, was that if we could reduce the number of drone cells, ... but I think we've been down that debate before..

I read a paper, I could probably find it if needed, that showed that varroa overwhelming preferred drone comb, but would happily hop in worker cell if no drone comb was free.

The excellent talk today about how and why bees build drone comb made me think that cutting out comb before June(ish) would just encourage the workers to build even more drone comb.

 

[Vortex]

We are going to the NHS tomorrow, but as new Beeks we wondered if it was worth going to the the beginners lectures? was hoping to make the 09:00 Roger Patterson: Dead Bees Don't Buzz - surviving the Winter. what are the trade stands like?

Not that great.. but it does depend on what you're after..
BBwear and Sherif both there, as are Thornes and Maisemore, BS Honeybees, Park Beekeeping, and NBS.
Koenig are also there..
Shame Abelo and Honeypaw are not..
If you're after books then Northern Bee books are there.

 

[Curly green fingers]

I found that very interesting B+ it's made me understand the life cycle of varroa even more .
Cheers mark.