Treated with Oxalic acid today.

[BKF Admin]

Jim is right,we dont need to talk about the square root of the pickled onion,we just need to work out how to get the lid off the jar..

 

[taff..]

Now you get the idea

Its just a forum not a Scientific lecture class. Some of us have done that to death and need a chill out.

indeed, I've come on here to give me a break from writing up a project, Airworthiness aint an exciting topic


by my understanding we need a 3 week gap in laying before treatment to ensure the colonies are broodless, however if the 3rd week is warmer and the queen starts laying again surely thats ok because when you treat at the end of the 3rd week that brood is still open so treatment will still be effective.

does that make sense or am I talking out of my A*$e again?

 

[RoofTops]

No, you make a good point. No sealed brood is the condition required. But, ideally no brood at all as I seem to recall there can be some mortality of brood, but it is not very high. Whether this is more of a problem at this time of the year I am unsure. The queen can quickly re-lay, to replace any losses.

And airworthiness is a vital subject, so get back to work!

(Not airworthiness of bees by any chance?)

 

[Poly Hive]

There are a few points being slightly over looked in this discussion.

Finman is of course utterly right in what he says re Finnish conditions at this time of year.

In the UK are there still patches of brood here and there? Yes undoubtedly.

Do I have any? I have no idea and I am NOT going to go and look.

However I AM going to treat on this basis.

It's the best weapon I have to hand. There may or may not be brood and if there is I am going to miss some varroa. That dear friends cannot be avoided nor can I do much about it bar do nothing which is the worst option.

So on balance I will attempt to do the best I can for the bees. Which to be honest as a bee servant (which we all are) is the best you can hope for.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
Here is one example of Jimbeekeeper's natural error

It seems to be a bit manipulated but it is inside natural error tolerance.

 

[taff..]

No, you make a good point. No sealed brood is the condition required. But, ideally no brood at all as I seem to recall there can be some mortality of brood, but it is not very high. Whether this is more of a problem at this time of the year I am unsure. The queen can quickly re-lay, to replace any losses.

Thanks you Rooftops and PH, my question really was 'is my theory right?' and appreciate that the practicallity can be a bit different as in, 'they are getting it in a few days time regardless'

And airworthiness is a vital subject, so get back to work!

(Not airworthiness of bees by any chance?)

it is, especially in the MOD right now.

and sadly not

 

[Finman]

In the UK are there still patches of brood here and there? Yes undoubtedly.

Do I have any? I have no idea and I am NOT going to go and look.

You are right. Merely to inside OR COUNT MITES helps nothing.

I had so much mites this autumn that I trickled hives soon after winter feeding. It was late September. I did not wait that they suck bees still 2 months.

Our beekeeping teacher warned to give a new dose in September because it just make winter cluster smaller. he had made 2 trickling in his hives and spoke from experience.

If I handle them again after cleansing flight, there is not much capped brood and bees will stand better trickling, because half year have gone when I trickled them last.

I give them a new handling in March and I take off capped brood if they have them.

Oxalic acid handling is really handy and good. Stuffs berfore that worked but this is really good and work even better.

Perizin, what I used 20 years ago is not perfect but it is still in usage. At least researches calibrate or verify they results.
Perizin was trickled too like OA.

.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Jim is right,we dont need to talk about the square root of the pickled onion,we just need to work out how to get the lid off the jar..

Do I have any? I have no idea and I am NOT going to go and look.

However I AM going to treat on this basis.

It's the best weapon I have to hand. There may or may not be brood and if there is I am going to miss some varroa. That dear friends cannot be avoided nor can I do much about it bar do nothing which is the worst option.

So on balance I will attempt to do the best I can for the bees. Which to be honest as a bee servant (which we all are) is the best you can hope for.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

PH

I think the above sums up Oxalic Acid Treatment!

But remember, dont treat on a Saturday

 

[Finman]

I
But remember, dont treat on a Saturday

...nor in Sunday. Work will not have blessing.

I am not a member of chuch and I can do work whenever. I am a lost soul.

 

[VEG]

Im with Poly Hive on this one I treat regardless if I think there is brood or not. We all know we cant get rid of varoa altogether its all about keeping the numbers we have in check.

 

[Repwoc]

Done th OA treatment today. A few bees were out from one hive - not many, only half a dozen or so. Other two (Carnis) were apparently inert, even though the temp is ~8C. After opening and trickling the OA syrup they woke up though - quite a buzz from them as I put the roofs back on.

With one hive the bees were right at the top of the frames while the others were deep down. I think it's time to put some fondant on them. Going to make it up this afternoon.

 

[taff..]

I've just come back from doing mine, of the 2 colonies that I have, the stronger was pretty active, clearly using the higher temps today to have a tidy up and remove the dead bees out of the entrance, this colony is covering 8 frames, I cant belive its soo strong, I dont think there were that many bees in there 2 months ago

the other colony however are a different matter, not very many bees in comparison and none flying, they did go into winter far smaller than the first colony.

my nucleus is also coming along quite well and has expanded a fair bit since the last time I opened them up


happy days

 

[Black Comb]

It's 3 degrees here today and thawing. Snow been on the ground for a while and little activity.

When the snow goes and it warms up above 7 I'll OA them.

 

[VEG]

Most snow gone here but temps slowly rising I will be doing the OA sometime this week.

 

[FenBee]

I too did the Oxalic acid treatment on my bees, what I thought was the weaker of the two hives, was the most active and although the bees were clustered when I provided the treatment, a few came out for a fly around afterwards. The other hive the bees were clustered down below and did not come out while the sun shone.

So, it's just fingers crossed and hope they make it through the winter. Both hives have plenty of stores.

 

[jezd]

It's 3 degrees here today and thawing. Snow been on the ground for a while and little activity.

When the snow goes and it warms up above 7 I'll OA them.

This you might be waiting a while for 7'c there, we got to 3-4'c today but its going to cool off again now for at least the next 10 days.

My question is when is it too late for OX treatment given they will start to lay over the next few weeks (slow laying mind) ?

Jezd

 

[skydragon]

I gave mine a dose of OA today, the first time I've ever done this.

Air temp was approx 3 deg C, snow on the ground and there was no sign of the bees out, so I presumed they'd be inert and hudled in a ball.

How wrong i was...really glad i put my beesuit on because as soon as I removed the roof and insulation there were 8 - 10 of them who decided to try and 'deter' me...I also had to use a bit of smoke to get them to move off the top bars of the frames... they were very active climbing around/over the frame tops, rather than being balled up as I expected.... so much for being dormant ;-)

 

[oliver90owner]

rather than being balled up as I expected

Please don't use that term here! Bad Karma (or whatever you call it!!)

Rather different meaning than you thought, I think. 'Clustered' is the term - 'balled' refers to a queen about to be suffocated, in beekeeping ternimology!

Is your colony on just a brood or with a super of stores above? OMF? Well insulated? If only a brood and an OMF, I am not surprised they are on the top bars - been too bl**dy cold, lately, to be clustering lower down. Hope you had a quick look at the amount of capped stores, while open; if there is a super above there should be plenty, yet awhile.......

Regards, RAB

 

[skydragon]

I meant clustered... ;-)

It's a single brood on an OMF, with a super on top containing some blocks of fondant and packed with bubble wrap and a sheet of foam insulation. With a cover board and roof on top.

For the reasons you state I was expecting the bees to be near the top of the frames, but what I wasn't expecting was how active they would be (ie. I presumed I'd see seams of inert bees clustered at the top of the frames, not them actively scrambling over the frames and some flying).

Yes, I had a look at the amount of uncapped stores and there did seem to be a lot untouched. I also noted they had taken a fist-sized lump out of the underneath of each fondant block.

 

[steve1958]

Treated mine yesterday.
They all appeared happy enough.
I think they must be missing me though
as two of them followed me in doors,
and then spent 5 minutes flying around the kitchen looking for the open window.