- Joined
- Mar 17, 2014
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 23
- Location
- Lancashire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 15
As a norm, I only read posts and don't contribute my own views, but this reminds me of my experiences when I started 12 years back. It seemed to me that every colony I had suffered from nosema to some degree, some very severe and which I terminated, but most struggled through the spring and eventually recovered. Those that did were put through a Bailey comb change as soon as they were fit enough to get rid of remaining spores on the wax, and from then expanded quite well but never enough to get back to producing a full crop later on that year but enough to see them through the following winter. I will add that each incident was confirmed via microscopic examination. Furthermore, this was when Fumidil B could be added to the winter feed which sorted most problems, so when it was banned it seemed a blow even though it was the correct decision.
Alongside this I used to feed 1:1 sugar syrup in order to increase laying and was fed up with the mixture becoming contaminated with black mouldy scum, so looked into how this could be dealt with. That's how I came across thymol and by mixing in a very small amount into the syrup, this would stop the mould growth, which it did. I also started putting thymol into the 2:1 winter feed after reading Ron Brown's book "Beekeeping - A Seasonal Guide". My main crop is Himalayan balsam which is taken off in September which doesn't allow much time to sugar-up for winter so that the bees can bring the water content down sufficiently to prevent fermentation. Ron recommended the use of thymol to help prevent fermentation. He used thymol in sugar syrup mixtures after reading one of R.O.B. Manley's books who, with hundreds of colonies had no experience of nosema, and neither did Ron subsequently. Since using thymol, I have not seen any nosema in the last 9 years and I regularly test every year, not only for my own bees but for others. It seems reasonable to assume that thymol, which kills off fungus, will also have an adverse affect on nosema, itself a fungus. You can get details of the Manley thymol mixture from www.dave-cushman.net.
So don't think you are a bad beekeeper, or that it's not worth it, if you have had problems in your first year. I'm sure this happens to everyone starting off. Beekeeping is one of those activities that you really do learn from your mistakes. Those that don't make mistakes are those that don't recognise them as such. If you stick with it, you may end up helping others to start. I find running training sessions and courses to be very rewarding and I realise that I've still a lot to learn, even from new beekeepers. I now treat my "disasters" as training aids. In retrospect, they can appear quite amusing, even though they were far from that at the time, but each one contains a powerful message which others will remember.
Alongside this I used to feed 1:1 sugar syrup in order to increase laying and was fed up with the mixture becoming contaminated with black mouldy scum, so looked into how this could be dealt with. That's how I came across thymol and by mixing in a very small amount into the syrup, this would stop the mould growth, which it did. I also started putting thymol into the 2:1 winter feed after reading Ron Brown's book "Beekeeping - A Seasonal Guide". My main crop is Himalayan balsam which is taken off in September which doesn't allow much time to sugar-up for winter so that the bees can bring the water content down sufficiently to prevent fermentation. Ron recommended the use of thymol to help prevent fermentation. He used thymol in sugar syrup mixtures after reading one of R.O.B. Manley's books who, with hundreds of colonies had no experience of nosema, and neither did Ron subsequently. Since using thymol, I have not seen any nosema in the last 9 years and I regularly test every year, not only for my own bees but for others. It seems reasonable to assume that thymol, which kills off fungus, will also have an adverse affect on nosema, itself a fungus. You can get details of the Manley thymol mixture from www.dave-cushman.net.
So don't think you are a bad beekeeper, or that it's not worth it, if you have had problems in your first year. I'm sure this happens to everyone starting off. Beekeeping is one of those activities that you really do learn from your mistakes. Those that don't make mistakes are those that don't recognise them as such. If you stick with it, you may end up helping others to start. I find running training sessions and courses to be very rewarding and I realise that I've still a lot to learn, even from new beekeepers. I now treat my "disasters" as training aids. In retrospect, they can appear quite amusing, even though they were far from that at the time, but each one contains a powerful message which others will remember.
