I want to tidy up my brood box

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Probably the same people who go around saying that bees are in danger of dying out

 

[itma]

... Find an experienced (or at least competent) beekeeper and persuade them to help yu give them an oxalic treatment mid winter

…
As for my bees surviving the winter. My bees have got varrowa mite and I have got some Formic Acid …

VERY significant difference there.
I'm with JBM.

And a midwinter treatment isn't going to help them survive the winter. Its too late for that. What it is doing is laying the ground for next season - a 'clean' start.

... Sometimes you have got to go with your instinct rather than by the book. …

As you will discover after reading a few books, taking a beginners course, and attending some Association meetings - bees can be extremely counter-intuitive in their responses and reactions to different beekeeper actions.
Instinct - as to what a human might do - is a useless guide to be behaviour.


/// It is often said that "bees don't read the books" but what this really means is that they won't ALWAYS do what the books led you to believe they would in that situation. And the cause is often that the beekeeper has misread what the situation actually is …

 

[shedman]

I noticed it is a tight squeeze for the bees to get threw the queen excluder and was wondering if it was knocking some mites off. I put a better examination board in my hive 4 months ago and have counted the mites every day. I get an average of 22 a day. I did some one off experiments and got 50 one day and 30 another. My bees can squeeze threw the verrowa mesh. It is a very tight squeeze for them. At first I thought there was a hole somewhere but then I saw one squeeze threw. I put a small escape hole so the bees didn’t have to struggle getting back into the hive. Some bees started using the escape hole as an entrance. This was no good because when they came back with pollen they lost it when they got back threw the mesh but more bees where squeezing threw cleaning up the pollen. The verrowa count went up. I decided as a one off I would encourage the bees to squeeze threw by covering the board in a thin layer of icing sugar. The verrow count went to 50 on that day. I have plenty of experiments I want to try next year. There must be a natural remedy. How do mites travel from hive to hive. Do they lye in ambush on flowers like foxglove. There are natural poisons out there Apple seeds do contain a small amount of cyanide so something made from them might work. If nobody has tried it how do you know

 

[VEG]

You will be lucky to have any bees at all next year, with that type of mite count

 

[shedman]

I can still treat them next month I have got the acid

 

[REDWOOD]

Shedman
There have been people trying for years, Thyme is about the best for knocking down varroa especially when in the concentrated form like apiguard

 

[MuswellMetro]

Can someone give me the titles of all these book that say 12 frames in a national as i would like to read them

 

[REDWOOD]

11 frames and a dummy board every time for me although I do use 12 new frames and foundations in my supers until they are drawn out

 

[Fatbee]

Sherman - with varroa counts like those why haven't you treated? Experimenting is not the solution. I would read the info on vorroa that the national bee unit produce. It's a start.

You also need to take out that queen excluder if you have supers on.

 

[itma]

I can still treat them next month I have got the acid

No.
You don't understand that the "winter bees" have already been born, and damaged by varroa, with virus injected into them. ALREADY.
That means the colony's chance of winter survival is compromised. ALREADY.

Midwinter treatment is about getting healthy, varroa-free, new brood in the Spring.
Not about curing already-sick bees.

And as I tried to explain, Formic acid is much less appropriate to midwinter treatment.
For example, MAQS strips are needing temperatures above 10C. For the week. Unlikely in midwinter Lancashire.
And other than MAQS, I dread to think of how you might be planning to use Formic.



I've been trying to explain politely that you do badly need help to straighten out your "instinctive" ideas.
Really.
We are trying to help. Really. But you seem reluctant to take on board the majority of what you've been advised.
You don't know what you are doing.
You need help, please get and take it. For your bees sake.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've got a funny deeling that this thread is just a p!ss take - has he of the uneven gait got yet another alter ego?

 

[shedman]

I am taking on board what you are saying. Just my timing is a bit out and I understand that but there is not a lot I can do about it this year apart for treating the bees as soon as possible.
If the human race hadn’t experimented and taken risks we would still be rubbing two sticks together to make fire. There will be a easy solution out there and people will say why didn’t I think of that when it is found.

 

[alldigging]

. My bees can squeeze threw the verrowa mesh. It is a very tight squeeze for them. At first I thought there was a hole somewhere but then I saw one squeeze threw. I put a small escape hole so the bees didn’t have to struggle getting back into the hive. Some bees started using the escape hole as an entrance. This was no good because when they came back with pollen they lost it when they got back threw the mesh but more bees where squeezing threw cleaning up the pollen.

Which varroa mesh are they squeezing through?
Where have you made a hole?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Which varroa mesh are they squeezing through?
Where have you made a hole?

more to the point - why?

 

[BrianO]

Hi

A bit of advice from someone who has received good advice here,

Forget your experiments for now

Listen to the advice, heed it, and implement it, oh and did I say listen, heed and implement

When you have the hives successfully up and running, at end of next season, after a year of structured beekeeping, then during next winter formulate and propose your ideas ( which may well be good !!! )

That us it , and best regards

Brian

 

[shedman]

The mesh came with the hive. It is a stainless steel mesh and I haven’t been able to find anything like it anywhere. I was going to make a winter queen excluder but cut some bigger hols in places so the queen could get to the top of the hive but most of the workers would squeeze threw the small hols. I might make one out of copper if I get chance because copper has antibacterial properties
This country is lagging behind other counters by miles with the fight against varrowa. In America and other countries they have already got honey bees resistant to varrowa threw selected breeding programs. Varrowa might’s are becoming resistant to treatment. How many selective breeding programs are being done in this country.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCY6EZkgxE[/ame]

 

[VEG]

Have you looked into placing crystals on/in the hive as this affects varowa mights as well

 

[enrico]

Oh come on shedman........you are talking to people who know far more than you......time to ignore you methinks!

 

[theeggman]

Oh come on shedman........you are talking to people who know far more than you......time to ignore you methinks!

Been there and done it.

 

[Little John]

Can someone give me the titles of all these book that say 12 frames in a national as i would like to read them

I don't know about books, but I run 12 frames (foundationless) in several of my Nationals - at 34mm spacing - and there's plenty of room left for propolis build-up.

And - it's not about greed (as someone inferred earlier) - I find that the slightly tighter spacing reduces inter-comb adhesions.

LJ