Queen cage for varroa control

[warsaw_hive]

Any UK suppliers for queen cages like this https://www.apimobru.com/gabbietta-var-control-mozzato/?lang=en ? Has anybody ordered them from abroad post Brexit?

I think they'd be useful for CBPV too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

How would you use them for CBPV?

 

[warsaw_hive]

CBPV is a virus of adult bees, but the window for infection is short, something like the first 24hrs after emergence. So introduce a brood break; if there are no bees less than 24hrs old then it can't spread. Once all the bees infected with CBPV have died off, brood rearing can resume. Problem solved.

 

[warsaw_hive]

Partly answering my own question, Northern Ireland/Ireland members can buy from Donegal bees although it's pricey for a bit of plastic https://www.donegalbees.ie/products/var-control-cage . Their delivery page implies no delivery to Great Britain though.

 

[Mint Bee]

so wait say 25/26 days for last drone brood to emerge. Let the queen out to start laying up again and first eggs will emerge say a further 20 days later. That's a lot of bees to loose from a stressed colony with a high mortality rate. The open floor method discussed here https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/a-way-to-combat-cbpv.51048/ sounds like a better way to work with the bees?

 

[rolande]

so wait say 25/26 days for last drone brood to emerge. Let the queen out to start laying up again and first eggs will emerge say a further 20 days later. That's a lot of bees to loose from a stressed colony with a high mortality rate. The open floor method discussed here https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/a-way-to-combat-cbpv.51048/ sounds like a better way to work with the bees?

Stress. Probably the most important word in beekeeping