Karin Alton(LASI) recommends vaping now

[Finman]

Is there more likely to be brood inside a really well insulated hive during the depths of winter?

Insulated hive has nothing to do winter brooding.

Brooding and wintering is programmed in bees' genes. Often beekeepers have bred the strain so, that it is not able to adapt local climate and survive over winter.

All are explained in Internet, how it works.
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[charlievictorbravo]

It isn't new though. We already know that the longer development period of drones allows the varroa to produce more adult female offspring.
The reason why samples are frozen is to preserve them so they can be examined when there is less work to do. At this time of year, there is no other work to do so why freeze them? Using a different method makes the result non comparable

That's interesting - I had assumed it was a sure way of killing the bees and mites before the washing process. Maybe it's a bit of both?

I don't think I'd want to do the LASI process in the middle of winter. I know that natural drop monitoring is not considered accurate but I think it's accurate enough to tell me whether there's lots of mites or not very many. Then I can decide whether to use a non-invasive OA Sublimation (from under the OMF) to treat. The bees are not disturbed and the propolis seals are not compromised.

CVB

 

[Hivemaker.]

At this time of year, there is no other work to do

....I wish.

 

[fatshark]

....I wish.

And I suspect the LASI people are also quite busy in the winter ... just that there's no fieldwork to do ;-)

 

[Finman]

And I suspect the LASI people are also quite busy in the winter ... just that there's no fieldwork to do ;-)

In university they teach future beekeepers and bumble counters.


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[jenkinsbrynmair]

And I suspect the LASI people are also quite busy in the winter

Apart from ripping brood nests apart you mean?

 

[B+.]

....I wish.

Sorry HM....most of us have little/nothing to do with the bees at this time of year

 

[Hivemaker.]

Sorry HM....most of us have little/nothing to do with the bees at this time of year

But there is other important work to do for most people, including those at LASI I imagine... isn't there?

 

[B+.]

But there is other important work to do for most people, including those at LASI I imagine... isn't there?

No doubt. I was probably a bit flippant in my earlier comment but I'm sure people know that.
I still have bee related stuff to do too but its not at the level of intensity that it is during the active season.

 

[Cussword]

At least we agree on something.
Pity really - we're looking for a retired person who needs a bit of pocket money to take care of the village public toilets.

Is it a live-in job?

 

[Finman]

.
Jenkins is as clever as Haiti people. Haiti had a big catastrope some years ago.

Local people regretted in TV that Red Cross does not empty their toilets.

But to empty the village toilet is a nice Cristmas Present to Jenkins' village. Could we collect money to Jenkins, that he does the job. Send a selfie then.

( they do not have sevage out there. Stucked)

 

[B+.]

I had assumed it was a sure way of killing the bees and mites before the washing process. Maybe it's a bit of both?

I don't think I'd want to do the LASI process in the middle of winter. I know that natural drop monitoring is not considered accurate but I think it's accurate enough to tell me whether there's lots of mites or not very many. Then I can decide whether to use a non-invasive OA Sublimation (from under the OMF) to treat. The bees are not disturbed and the propolis seals are not compromised.

CVB

It is. The bees in a sample will die overnight in the freezer, but, they may be kept there until a convenient time to run the test.
With the natural mite drop count, you are really just trying to establish a starting point for the infestation. If done properly, it is accurate enough.
The natural mite drop should be done over a three week period before any substantial amount of brood is sealed. This means you are probably talking about starting in late feb/early march. It will give you an average daily mite drop at the start of the season. Other tests tell you how the infestation is progressing.

 

[Finman]

.
In Lasi kind research it is necessaery to know, how much the treatment killed and how much it left alive. This system is never meant to ordinary beekeeper.

But there is another reason to know, did the treatment worked. Treatments are often uneffective. Nobody knows, what happened in the treatment. Why it went wrong. Low temperature with thymol and formic acid gives poor results.

In winter dead mites drop inside empty cells, and it give mite fall next spring, when bees clean the cells.



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[SDM]

Why would phoretic mites get off their bees to die in an empty cell ?

 

[Finman]

Why would phoretic mites get off their bees to die in an empty cell ?

They die and drop there. Or when bees have habit to go inside empty cells inside the cluster, and mites get poison, they drop from bee. Cluster is then very tight, when lots of bees are inside empty cells.

I do not know actually, but when I slanted a frame in spring, tens of mites dropped down.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Why would phoretic mites get off their bees to die in an empty cell ?

Died of old age - it happens to all living things - fell off bee, fell into empty cell, stayed there until cell was cleaned in the spring. Plausible but unlikely.

CVB

 

[Finman]

Died of old age - it happens to all living things - fell off bee, fell into empty cell, stayed there until cell was cleaned in the spring. Plausible but unlikely.

CVB

Not old age. At least I made trickling in that hive in November.

 

[B+.]

Interesting reply to my question on FB about the pedigree of LASI queens from Karin this morning:

Karin Alton "We started off with A. mellifera mellifera, but we don't guarentee that they are pure, as they have mated naturally with local drones. As far as the hygienic trait, our research suggests that daughters of fully hygienic mothers have an extremely good chance of being hygienic too

 

[Erichalfbee]

So you pays your money and takes your choice, then

 

[B+.]

So you pays your money and takes your choice, then

To be fair to Karin, I'm not sure if LASI are to blame. I suspect that most hobby beekeepers are ignorant of these aspects of honeybee genetics and just take the word of a prominant organisation like LASI. LASI may be the beneficiary of this ignorance but are probably not deliberately setting out to mislead people.
Although she did say that they were originally A.m.m, I didn't get the answer I had hoped for (Proof of origin and the pedigree of their current breeding stock). This is disappointing as its the only way I can say if their strategy is sound.
I noticed quite a few people commenting about how aggressive they were (not just the 3 that she tried to suggest). This may be the result of their choice of source material or their open mating "strategy". It may even be the result of selecting for a single trait. Without this information, I don't think anyone can say for certain.