Sublimation

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Dont worry re opening. They open in thick snow conditions in other parts of the world.
Brood minimum means some varroa there.. they multiply VERY fast so better NO brood.
A towel over the frames not being inspected will keep some warmth in, but bees will cope.

Re not liking the uncapping, shower hosing, cleaning method - 2 days in the freezer, bring the frame back up to sensible temp then replace in the hive before treatment may be more acceptable to some people.. just remember that frame must be back to room temp though.

Thanks, Heather. Yes the freezer option sounds attractive. Bl%dy mites. Weren't in the book I read all those years ago that got me into beekeeping. But manageable-touch wood.

 

[For want of a better word]

There must be a reason that they are that price. Has anyone bought one of the cheap ones? If so have they lasted.


Craig

YES... do not waste your money on the Uke8***nian ones.. wires burn out, solder melts switch looks if it came off an old Ducati !

The Varrox from Thorneeeeeeeees was not cheap ( Phornes only sell cheap stuff as seconds... (rubbish too !IMOLE)
Has lasted three seasons and has treated possibly 400 + colonies









( Not all mine I only have one to comply with the freezermans opinion!)

 

[user 6228]

idea: Small piece of metal tube(e.g. brake pipe fitted over the tip of the temperature controlled soldering iron. or a 10mm or 15mm copper pipe end cap drilled so the the tip is a push fit.
You can get cheap temp controlled soldering irons for less than £20 (Maplin, CPC etc...)

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

idea: Small piece of metal tube(e.g. brake pipe fitted over the tip of the temperature controlled soldering iron. or a 10mm or 15mm copper pipe end cap drilled so the the tip is a push fit.
You can get cheap temp controlled soldering irons for less than £20 (Maplin, CPC etc...)

As long as it's well insulated.

 

[For want of a better word]

idea: Small piece of metal tube(e.g. brake pipe fitted over the tip of the temperature controlled soldering iron. or a 10mm or 15mm copper pipe end cap drilled so the the tip is a push fit.
You can get cheap temp controlled soldering irons for less than £20 (Maplin, CPC etc...)

I have tried all kinds of ways to get 2g of OA hot enough, and quickly enough and inside the hive... I do not think a soldering iron would give enough heat quickly enough... as for vaporising with a blowtorch in a copper tube and blasting it into the hive as in one u tube from over the pond... no way !

 

[richardbees]

any OA method requires an opening and brood cull

mid-winter trickling only requires opening by taking the crownboard off for just long enough to trickle along the seams with visible bees.....less than 2 mins.

No need to do any culling

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

any OA method requires an opening and brood cull

mid-winter trickling only requires opening by taking the crownboard off for just long enough to trickle along the seams with visible bees.....less than 2 mins.

No need to do any culling

Yes but surely only if you KNOW you are brood free and this was being discussed in a context of possibly no brood-free period as per sunhivebee.
.

 

[nemphlar]

15mm open ended copper tube into top of hive did not blast into the hive, but gently wafted in like a summer breeze, perhaps fitting nozzles is the reason a higher temp is needed with the blow torch giving a high tube pressure

 

[Hivemaker.]

If they have brood, just treat them two or three times, no need to pull them apart in the middle of winter.

 

[user 6228]

If they have brood, just treat them two or three times, no need to pull them apart in the middle of winter.

How many watts is your vaporizer ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

How many watts is your vaporizer ?

300w

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Bl%dy mites. <ADD>I've fired up another thread on pulled brood, so as not to drift this one, but one reason for leaving Apiguard on which I accept is eccentric in late November, is in the vain hope it helps make a brood free period. As I said, blinking mites: my head hurts.</ADD>

 

[oliver90owner]

300W

The varrox is about 150W, I believe. That is why yours is so much faster.

Mine is 150W, made a long time ago with three diesel glow plugs embedded in a machined aluminium base.

One glow plug must be very slow, or it is a high powerered one! Or perhaps the process is speeded a little by using anhydrous oxalic acid.

I would think that buying in ready pelleted oxalic about doubles the cost, or perhaps more? My half a kilo will more than last me out, I reckon, unless I go the Hivemaker route.

I saw earlier in the thread that it supposedly needs over 5Ah to sublimate one colony with a 12V battery. Did not get a response by return PM, so a heads up to all that may have been led up the garden path - it is only about a tenth of that figure!

RAB

 

[Heather]

any OA method requires an opening and brood cull

mid-winter trickling only requires opening by taking the crownboard off for just long enough to trickle along the seams with visible bees.....less than 2 mins.

No need to do any culling

If brood there then you will still be 'cooking 'problems as the varroa in the brood will be increasing to infect the bees on their hatching. 10 varroa first day will be 100's in a week and keep doubling that daily.
Best to nip into the hive a few days before and just check no brood. With our weather recently many hives will still have brood. Remove brood frame temporarily to destroy varroa in with the pupae. Then all varroa are vulnerable to your treatment.

 

[richardbees]

Heather - I'm trying to find the day with best chances of zero to minimal brood, hence the 21 day theory.

All I can say it's worked for the last two years.....compared with earlier years, only nominal mite drop when I put api.g. on in September and zero mites in culled Drone brood May/june
r

 

[VEG]

richard do you inspect the hive on the 21st day to check?

 

[mbc]

, as broodfree periods just don't seem to ever occur in Britain.

I would disagree with this, certainly for my sort of bees where I live.
I imagine this is true for lots of other beekeepers all around the country.

 

[Heather]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380642655140


This seems too cheap.. will it suffice, safety wise?

 

[Finman]

.
What ever you use, use drone zones too. It is 1/3 free gap in lower part of a frame. There bees can draw drine combs.
If they do not have this free gap, they make drónes here and there.

so, when you inspect the hive, it is handy cut capped brood off with knife. Them burry it into soil. No need to freeze.

When you brake brood comb, and you see mites, then you have quite a load in the hive.

If you do not see, them then you have normal amount of mites.

.

 

[Finman]

I

Originally Posted by sunhivebee View Post
, as broodfree periods just don't seem to ever occur in Britain.


would disagree with this, certainly for my sort of bees where I live.
I.

Brood or not during winter, it depends much on bee strain what you have.

And if you tend to feed the colony many times during winter, it keeps brooding on.

It is important to the colony that it has a real winter rest during British winter.
If bees are active all winter around, they are not long living workers.

If I buy from Italy queens, I surely get all the time brooding hives, but local Italiana are breeded so that they have a good brood break.


Bees' biology is constructed so that it should be peace during winter rest.
All kind of knocking, temp measuring , peeping through cover glass and walking around hives distubs their winter rest.
.