Inspection Tray Debris

[The Poot in Somerset]

Hi all
Attached are photos of debris following vaping after 24 hours.
Very few mites but 9 chalk brood dummies OR is it old, dumped pollen?
Is it anything of concern please?

 

[Swarm]

Bit of chalk brood, I wouldn't worry. Make a note and check how they progress in Spring.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Bit of chalk brood, I wouldn't worry. Make a note and check how they progress in Spring.

Thanks Steve

 

[Monbees]

Bit of chalk brood, I wouldn't worry. Make a note and check how they progress in Spring.

Not quite the same query, but the inspection tray of one hive, as l mentioned in a previous post, is still showing a heavy mite drop after three applications of apilife var. I see instructions say l can do a fourth round if necessary.
My query concerns the mite drop. Quite a lot of mites are still moving around (l don't use sticky tray). Is this normal? I brush them all off into a nearby hedge and hope they can't find their way back, fingers crossed.

 

[Swarm]

I've never used apilife var but if the numbers are still high, think about that fourth application.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Not quite the same query, but the inspection tray of one hive, as l mentioned in a previous post, is still showing a heavy mite drop after three applications of apilife var. I see instructions say l can do a fourth round if necessary.
My query concerns the mite drop. Quite a lot of mites are still moving around (l don't use sticky tray). Is this normal? I brush them all off into a nearby hedge and hope they can't find their way back, fingers crossed.

I used apilife var a few years ago but I found it didn't work very well. It might not of been close enough to the cluster of bee's. I ended up using apivar instead.
In the first 3 days there was hundreds of mites on the inspection board.

As swarm has said maybe change tact and apply a different treatment.

 

[Monbees]

I used apilife var a few years ago but I found it didn't work very well. It might not of been close enough to the cluster of bee's. I ended up using apivar instead.
In the first 3 days there was hundreds of mites on the inspection board.

As swarm has said maybe change tact and apply a different treatment.

Thank you all for your replies re Apilife Var. I find it very effective, especially given the mite drop in one colony. Does anyone have any thoughts about the mites that are obviously still alive on the inspection tray? Will they die eventually or can they crawl back into the hive?

 

[Curly green finger's]

I think that's the idea of using something sticky on your inspection boards.
I've seen varroa still moving and walking around I prosume they can crawl back into the hive and possibly attach back onto the bees.
I don't use vasiline but I just wash my varroa boards of regularly.

One way to combat this would to have the inspection board under the floor, ie
Don't slot it back in place but rest it as far away from the floor as pos.

 

[North End Bees]

I used apilife var a few years ago but I found it didn't work very well. It might not of been close enough to the cluster of bee's. I ended up using apivar instead.
In the first 3 days there was hundreds of mites on the inspection board.

Apilife Var doesn't want to be close to the cluster. You put it in the corners and it works by the vapours spreading around the hive. Apivar works by contact so needs to be closer.

I've used both in the past and both have been effective. I prefer the Apivar though as you can keep it in later in the autumn if necessary, and it's relatively clean. Apilife Var is more temperature dependent so may not work if autumn comes in abruptly. My bees propolised the Apilife Var wafers to the frames and it was a pain to scrape off.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Photo curtesy of @marybains0

 

[Curly green finger's]

Apilife Var doesn't want to be close to the cluster. You put it in the corners and it works by the vapours spreading around the hive. Apivar works by contact so needs to be closer.

I've used both in the past and both have been effective. I prefer the Apivar though as you can keep it in later in the autumn if necessary, and it's relatively clean. Apilife Var is more temperature dependent so may not work if autumn comes in abruptly. My bees propolised the Apilife Var wafers to the frames and it was a pain to scrape off.

Thats what I did, I put it in the corners maybe the temp wasn't consistent enough when I was using it.
Hence me changing to apivar.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think that's the idea of using something sticky on your inspection boards.

Not really - if you're doing a mite count using the calculator you want to count the natural mortalities, not the live ones who happen to drop.

 

[Monbees]

Not really - if you're doing a mite count using the calculator you want to count the natural mortalities, not the live ones who happen to drop.

The colony l am monitoring closely is in my garden, so l inspect the tray morning and evening, cleaning the tray each time. I don't do a calculated mite count, just observe a large drop or small/reducing drop. Obviously could not pay such constant attention if l had many hives, or out apiaries or was a bee farmer.

 

[Swarm]

Sticky trays are to help stop mites being blown away.
Dani, I have a colony who can do that with propolis.

 

[North End Bees]

Sticky trays are to help stop mites being blown away.

And stop them being hoovered up by the ants and earwigs?

 

[gmonag]

I would prefer not to start a discussion on the merits or otherwise of leaving the inspection tray under the OMF for the winter......

However, I have chosen to leave mine in, albeit about 5cm below the OMF. The result is that I can try to read the debris to give me some idea of what is going on inside the hive. I particular I would like to be able to spot when/if they are broodless (so I can vape them). Normally there is a scattering of bee parts, dead mites, poo, wax bits etc, in lines aligned with the frames. Today I spotted this:

Any ideas what this might mean? My first thought is that they are tearing down drone cells.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That is a big pile of dirty old cappings
More like old stores being used?
What are the frames like in there from memory?

 

[gmonag]

At the moment the hive consists of two Rose boxes (as in my avatar), so the frames are mostly brood frames, backfilled with stores. There is both worker and drone comb, many frames drawn from a starter strip.
I might add that this week they added half a kilo of stores!

 

[Meg]

Have you looked for mice? I reckon you have something bigger than bees eating your old combs.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Going back to Apilife the only time I used it the bees decamped to the outside of the box for two days till they had thrown the wafers out then they went back in
The idea of live varroa crawling out if the hedge and back into the hive did make me chuckle.