some advice needed

[fritz752]

Hi,this is my first year of beekeeping and I bought a nucleus then transferred it to my hive.
The bees have done very well and thrived,however I did have problems encouraging them in to the super ,which they have only done in the last two weeks.
They now have some stores in the super uncapped.I want to treat with Apiguard, should I remove the supers and store(what happens to the uncapped honey)until treatment is complete ,and then put the supers back on.Or should I leave supers on and place Apiguard on top of supers.I have made a small eke to provide sufficient room for the sachet of apiguard to fit on top of frames.regards To all

 

[E1M]

Hi Fritz and welcome,
We are debating the very same thing, although we believe that whilst the weather is still good it can be left a couple of weeks or so.
I shall be checking this thread to see what advice, and there will be loads, is offered.

 

[BeeNice]

You need to tell us what the situation is in the main BB, is it full and fully drawn out, you will also need to do a varroa count to see what the volume of mites are. The bees should have been treated before you got them. The varroa count I have found is low this year. It is up to you whether you need to treat now or leave it a bit later or not at all until you treat with OXacid in the winter. If you do treat with the super on (treat between the BB and the super as its the BB where most of the bees are, the bees in the super will die off before the winter and will travel through the treatment anyway) you will not be able to take the honey as it would be tainted by the varroa treatment.
Hope this helps, but it's up to your judgement, you won't go far wrong with a strong colony and a good supply of stores.
Steven

 

[george]

Are there enough stores in the Brood Boxx to see them through Winter or are you thinking of using the super as the supply ?
If you are extracting the honey from the super for your own use , no you cant treat with apiguard with the super still on .
G

 

[fritz752]

the brood box is fully drawn except for the very outside frames ,I am not taking any honey off for myself the bees have earned it .the BB (national standard)
does not appear to have ,in my opinion ,a lot of stores ,only in the corners of the frames but has alot of capped brood at the outer frames ,central frames at my last inspection had been cleaned out and relaid with fresh eggs and larva in various stages of development.

 

[itma]

If you are leaving the super as winter stores then
1 - you can treat with it on (the bees won't mind a bit of Thymol in their honey)
2 - put the Apiguard and its eke at the top of the hive, ie above the super, and be sure you draughtproof the hive as well as you can. You don't want diluted vapour in the bigger hive.
3 - for the winter, put away the queen excluder
and, unless you are planning running brood and a half next season, you might consider 4 - moving the super beneath the bb for the winter, so that it should be empty and removable when spring comes.

But rather than just treat because that's what the calendar says, check the level of infestation, then decide whether or not to treat. And if so how - Apiguard isn't the only option. It is powerful if the weather is warm, but does taint stores.
And if you do treat, be sure to check the level of infestation remaining perhaps three or four weeks after treatment.


If the bees have 40 pounds weight of stored honey going into winter, then that ought to see them through. Any less and you ought to be feeding - probably in Sept/Oct.
/ Derbyshire? feeding and winter shutdown dates will likely depend on your altitude!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I agree with ITMA about stores - put the super underneath in October without queen excluder.
I would treat with Apiguard anyway, now is better than later.

 

[REDWOOD]

I want to treat with Apiguard
have you done a mite drop count

 

[fritz752]

thanks for the input at the last count(one week ago) mite drop was 22 over a 10 day period