Jim Newmark
New Bee
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2012
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Bradford
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 1, whoops no, suddenly got 3 now. United two, back to two for the winter I think
I am posting as a newbie (of three years) so please don't shoot me down - just tell me where I am going off piste in this. I have read and read, over and over again and without apparent argument variations of "not inspecting is a form of neglect" Clearly a crime for which I could get drummed out of every bee organisation around. It is clear that full inspections are intended. Just why is this?
For the first year I did all that, stunning them with smoke and tearing the hive apart every week to ten days. It was infested with varroa but survived. I caught two swarms, a main and a cast, both swarming to the same convenient tree. I gave the original colony away and kept the main swarm and the cast, both still infested with varroa but during the winter one responded well to oxalic acid (one with a drop in the hundreds, the other died during the treatment midwinter with a shed of literally thousands of varroa). So last year I had a young healthy queen and they did brilliantly - building up from four seams to ten, no swarms, lots of honey. But this time I deliberately did not tear the hive apart to inspect - all I did was just watch them, with great pleasure, all summer, going about their business, happy and content, piling in the pollen, no varroa at all (that oxalic acid stuff is brilliant, isn't it?!) And no problems with a healthy cluster all winter.
So, should I inspect this year? They are again piling in the pollen and seem very content. Surely I can pretty much know their health by looking at the varroa board and using the glass top to assess activity and build up? Yes, they will definitely swarm this year - so what is wrong with a bait hive to the same tree? With a good chance of knowing where they are going to swarm surely it seems very counter-intuitive to tear apart a healthy organism and attempt to put it together again every week? What surgeon would do that to a healthy person "I know you feel perfectly well but there may be some cancer or disease in here."!
So, give me your arguments against this. I am sure they will come!
For the first year I did all that, stunning them with smoke and tearing the hive apart every week to ten days. It was infested with varroa but survived. I caught two swarms, a main and a cast, both swarming to the same convenient tree. I gave the original colony away and kept the main swarm and the cast, both still infested with varroa but during the winter one responded well to oxalic acid (one with a drop in the hundreds, the other died during the treatment midwinter with a shed of literally thousands of varroa). So last year I had a young healthy queen and they did brilliantly - building up from four seams to ten, no swarms, lots of honey. But this time I deliberately did not tear the hive apart to inspect - all I did was just watch them, with great pleasure, all summer, going about their business, happy and content, piling in the pollen, no varroa at all (that oxalic acid stuff is brilliant, isn't it?!) And no problems with a healthy cluster all winter.
So, should I inspect this year? They are again piling in the pollen and seem very content. Surely I can pretty much know their health by looking at the varroa board and using the glass top to assess activity and build up? Yes, they will definitely swarm this year - so what is wrong with a bait hive to the same tree? With a good chance of knowing where they are going to swarm surely it seems very counter-intuitive to tear apart a healthy organism and attempt to put it together again every week? What surgeon would do that to a healthy person "I know you feel perfectly well but there may be some cancer or disease in here."!
So, give me your arguments against this. I am sure they will come!