Price of varroa treatment

[ugcheleuce]

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I bought ready-to-use thymol pads... Then if you put one pad for two boxes, it does not work either.

That's good to know... because I found that my thymol pads were not eaten by the bees either. Last year the bees ate the pads very quickly, but this year all my hives in three locations were very slow to eat the pads -- in some hives, the pads weren't even touched. It could be, then, that those hives have not in fact been treated sufficiently... oh dear...

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Travelling a long way (ie to Hereford and Gloucester) just on a renewal visit is a bit of a PITA, but its essential. No landowner likes to have the use of their land taken for granted.

No doubt you keep a couple of jars of "rent" in the glovebox against a potentially distastrous forgetfulness of the sort Pete sometimes describes (smoker at home apiary etc.)...

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Rosebay willowherb..... acres of the weed in Cornwall... but according to an ethno botanist I had the pleasure of chatting with at this years BOAD conference in West Cornwall.... lacked full nectaries this year

Mytten da

There are fair amounts in my area, but not in the quantities Finman photographs and this year they went for the chestnut instead. I need to start calling on my local Italian restaurants.

 

[pargyle]

The figure quoted is apiaries not colonies.
It would be nice if BeeBase told you how many colonies there were rather than how many apiaries. Even a rough idea would be nice

Yes, of course you are right, I wasn't thinking ..

I know most of the beekeepers in my immediate locality (there may be a few closet ones of course) and within a mile radius of me I estimate there are between 80 and 100 colonies ... which is probably a bit on the high side for mainly urban foraging but you have to live with what you have.

 

[foghornleghorn]

@finman do you know if the research into varroa resistant bees where they yielded 50% less was done side by side.
I've seen research done in worm resistance in sheep where side by side the resistant ones underperformed compared to non resistant, but when the two groups were split resistant ones outperformed.
I'm not saying that this would account for all the difference but might explain some

 

[B+.]

@finman do you know if the research into varroa resistant bees where they yielded 50% less was done side by side.

This is what happens when you select for one trait alone. You have to select for multiple traits which takes much longer but your advance over a wider area....like the efficient frontier in portfolio theory.

 

[foghornleghorn]

This is what happens when you select for one trait alone. You have to select for multiple traits which takes much longer but your advance over a wider area....like the efficient frontier in portfolio theory.

I know what you mean, but in the trial with the sheep both groups would have had similar breeding values apart from worm resistance, it was the efforts they were putting into removing worms that was costing them in lwg, but obviously bees aren't sheep, so its something to be aware of that could possibly have altered the results

 

[Finman]

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Yes, that is good idea to hammer down the research, even if you have not seen the study, but results are unwanted.

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[Erichalfbee]

I will admit to midnight plus forays into the apiary with a headtorch

Take your camera tonight for the lunar eclipse.
Starts at one-ish, totality from 3 to 4.24

 

[pargyle]

Take your camera tonight for the lunar eclipse.
Starts at one-ish, totality from 3 to 4.24

Yes ... but even my night owl habits will probably see me in bed before that one starts ... Pity because it was a lovely clear sky here last night and the moon was very clear. Not sure 'er indoors would appreciate an alarm call for 3.30am !