strimming around hives

[victor meldrew]

Good t

good old sickle . Eco friendly !

 

[BernardBlack]

I always leave grass a certain height in front of the hives.

It’s easier to see if/when bees are affected by Acarine, with them crawling up the blades one of the signs.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It’s easier to see if/when bees are affected by Acarine

Do you see that often in Ireland then?

 

[JamezF]

I have osteospermum or creeping phlox planted around my hives so I don't need to mow or strim the areas directly around them. It looks nice, and keeps the weeds down.

I like that idea. I wonder if they'd out-compete my nettles.

James

 

[BernardBlack]

Do you see that often in Ireland then?

Personally, I haven’t. Not sure how prevalent it is.

 

[madasafish]

Never found such a time with my busy bees. How strange that your turn a blind eye!!

Mine are trained to avoid me: if they attack, requeening is their fate. If I cannot garden without PPE, the bees have to change.

 

[Boston Bees]

Personally, I haven’t. Not sure how prevalent it is.

It isn't, as far as I know.

My concern would be that leaving grass long simply means you lose many more foraging bees than you need to. We all know that a bee that falls into long grass can, for whatever reason, struggle to get out again, especially if loaded with pollen and of a certain age.

It's a very blunt diagnosis tool for acarine anyway

From the NBU: " Adult bees that are infested with tracheal mites will cluster in front of the hive, appearing confused and disorientated, unable to return to the colony. Large numbers of bees may also be seen crawling up stems of grass in front of the hive (Figure 4). Such behaviours are not, however, clear indications of acarapisosis: not only are they associated with other pests and diseases; even bees that are severely infested with mites can behave in a normal way, in spite of the fact that their tracheal wall has been damaged. Detection under a low power microscope after simple dissection of the bees is the only reliable method of diagnosis"

 

[Garry R]

I always have an easily removable flight board on my hives. I have seen bees heavily laden getting caught by a gust of wind as they are about to land and getting blown into the longer grass around the hive. They then struggle to get up again to the hive. The flight board increases the smooth landing area. No flight board and struggles in the grass equals more energy wasted - more work for the bees- less honey for the beekeeper. Help them out where you can. Probably not a huge amount but every little helps.