Hearing about losses shakes your confidence

[Tremyfro]

Not celebrating yet but feeling really pleased so far. After reading about colony losses this winter and with worse weather forecast I needed to check and add stores. This year I made sugar cartons ....sugar damped and pressed into takeaway cartons ....and dried over a radiator.
I sprayed the surface of each sugar block and added them to the colonies....totally thrilled to see bees in each hive. Hopefully they will continue to survive for the rest of the winter.
After the sad losses last year I feel lucky to have the girls. Nosema was the problem so I will be watching carefully for any signs of lethargy and dwindling colonies. Thanks to prompt action and excellent advice from the forum we saved an ailing colony.
It was great to see their little faces through the plastic....
How are you all doing so far?

 

[For want of a better word]

Flying and still heavyish with all that ivy they reaped!.... daren't look !

Yeghes da

 

[Tremyfro]

Flying and still heavyish with all that ivy they reaped!.... daren't look !

Yeghes da

Ha ha...you can always use it for your splits.
I think mine still have stores but hard to tell as Beehaus are difficult to heft.
I did feed them in the autumn but it's been a strange winter this time...very mild. My bees have been flying on sunny days even when it's been cold. Amazingly, my nuc is still surviving...and I felt sure it wouldn't as it took so long to get a queen sorted...what with a mating failure...then a matricide....it was only when I got cross with them that they decided to hitch their skirts up and provide themselves with a laying queen. Rather late in the season.

 

[Erichalfbee]

A week ago all mine were out in the sunshine collecting gorse pollen.
Three days ago I was looking forward to the forecast weather for today offering a repeat performance.
The morning dawned dull and progressed to rain and wind and quite rightly nobody popped a nose out.

Flying and still heavyish with all that ivy they reaped!.... daren't look !

Yeghes da

Are you not taking the BBKA advice to open up and have a look?

This is a corner of one of the boxes taken a few days ago from under the OMF

 

[Poly Hive]

In the 50's at Craibstone there was a research program into over wintering by I believe Dr Jeffries, and as part of that research the test colonies were opened every week, or may have been fortnightly to asses them. I was told that noe died that they knew of from the interference.

Make of it what you will but facts are facts.

PH

 

[dano41]

Poly hive,do you happen to know anymore details of the extent of the interference?Did they lift out frames,disturb the cluster?

 

[Poly Hive]

AFAIK they checked frames for brooding so yes serious disturbance.

The maddening thing is all the research got dumped by the college in their infinite wisdom.


PH

 

[For want of a better word]

Are you not taking the BBKA advice to open up and have a look?

Heck NO...I trust my own judgement... however mistaken that may be!

Yeghes da

 

[Brigsy]

Nervous times indeed. I think the dodgy time is early spring is it not? I have also tried some dried sugar blocks. They are going down a treat.

 

[Icing Sugar]

In the 50's at Craibstone there was a research program into over wintering by I believe Dr Jeffries, and as part of that research the test colonies were opened every week, or may have been fortnightly to asses them. I was told that none died that they knew of from the interference.

Make of it what you will but facts are facts.

PH

The relevant paper is:

• Jeffree, EP. Winter brood and pollen in honeybee colonies. Insectes Sociaux. 1956;3: 417-422.

Attached is a screen shot of the key results and it begs an obvious question that simply did not exist for UK beekeepers in 1956.... when is the best month to treat with oxalic acid??? (If going for a one-off treatment then the answer looks like October to me). It also shows quite clearly why March is the month in which most colonies starve (they are at the highest risk of running out of resources for a growing brood nest in this month).

 

[alldigging]

This is a corner of one of the boxes taken a few days ago from under the OMF

That picture is so pretty!

 

[dano41]

Icing Sugar,you don't by any chance have the rest of that paper?

 

[madasafish]

That picture is so pretty!

Ought to be at the price of the equipment...

(I am just jealous

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ought to be at the price of the equipment...

(I am just jealous

Not just toys for boys, you know

 

[Icing Sugar]

Icing Sugar,you don't by any chance have the rest of that paper?

Yes. PM me and I will send.
It is worth looking him up on Google scholar. He is responsible for a lot of interesting papers, all of which are worth a read if you can track them down... mostly straightforward observational studies plus or minus simple interventions, just as relevant today as when they were first done. (Even if you can't get the full papers, there is usually a link to the relevant abstract). We had loads of interesting honey bee academics in the UK back then.

For me, all of the really exciting cutting-edge research is now done in the US and it is genetic/genomic lab-based work. I suspect that honey bees serve as little more than a convenient research tool for studying the interaction between genes and the environment. In due course these studies will fundamentally alter our understanding of how we all interact with the world around us.

Sent from my LG-H340n using Tapatalk

 

[Tremyfro]

I remember reading about that study....and that they found the bees survived. Since then I haven't worried if there has been a reason to open a hive. However, for me there has to be a reason..not just curiosity.
I didnt see any info from BBKA about opening hives..what was that about?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I remember reading about that study....and that they found the bees survived. Since then I haven't worried if there has been a reason to open a hive. However, for me there has to be a reason..not just curiosity.
I didnt see any info from BBKA about opening hives..what was that about?

This months bbka news I think

 

[Tremyfro]

This months bbka news I think

No it wasn't there as I haven't read that...it was a while ago.
How are your bees...is it going to be a better winter for you this time?

 

[Erichalfbee]

No it wasn't there as I haven't read that...it was a while ago.
How are your bees...is it going to be a better winter for you this time?

All look good this year including the two LASI hives
I paid immense attention to monitoring varroa after treating to spot any infestation from robbing. I had to treat two hives a month after I did the others so something is going on.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Strangely the two LASI colonies had the biggest varroa drop post oxalic.
I did do them all again in December and got nearly no mites