Treated with Oxalic acid today.

[gavin]

Had my warm fleece on throughout, and just a loose veil on top. By the time I was done my fingers (in Marigolds) were really suffering and the text I sent back at the car was painful! The car got stuck in the snow but the cottage overlooking the site had three lovely ladies spectating, and they came out and pushed the car out of its snowy rut when they saw my trouble! Extra honey for them next year I think.

Yes, the bees were wide awake and quite active. A few flew from a couple of the hives, and the ones that landed on the snow were carefully popped back in the hole in the crownboard.

 

[tonybloke]

picked up some OA this morning from Heebeegeebee (thanks Adam) and will bee treating mine tomorrow, (New Years Day).
I'll get the OH to Film the process, and hopefully post the resulting video.
rgds, tony

 

[peteinwilts]

did mine on Boxing Day which was a balmy 7 degrees C

I found it quite interesting how all three hives of mine were clustered in different places in the hive (one at the top, one at the bottom and the other at the front)

... when I looked into the ones at the bottom the heart started racing as I could not see any bees at all.... it looked completely empty. It was only when looking harder that I couldn't see the OMF in the centre of the hive due to the cluster. When treating, there was a healthy 'buzz' and a number of bees came up the frames to try and shoo me away.

 

[Polyanwood]

If it's not raining, I'm doing mine tomorrow too. I'll try to to breathe on them too much.

 

[Black Comb]

Did mine 2 days ago.
The "quiet" hive was a little fiesty and some decided they liked the warm fleece I was wearing over the top of the bee suit and just stuck to it.

Previous count was 1 or 2 per 48 hours.

Today's 48 hour count was 60+ in the stonger colony - not managed to get back to the other yet.

 

[tonybloke]

treated my 2 hives at 12.30 p.m. both hives are doing well, having 8 seams of bees in each of the hives.

 

[gavin]

treated my 2 hives at 12.30 p.m. both hives are doing well, having 8 seams of bees in each of the hives.

Show-off!

Incidently Peter-in-Wilts, clustering at the front is a trait found in pure A mellifera mellifera. I had one like that last winter which seemed on other grounds also fairly pure Amm. Clustering low down or high up is, I think, just a reflection of the pattern of deposition of stores and the remaining stocks. They tend to work upwards into stores when they can.

G.

 

[peteinwilts]

Show-off!

Incidently Peter-in-Wilts, clustering at the front is a trait found in pure A mellifera mellifera. I had one like that last winter which seemed on other grounds also fairly pure Amm. Clustering low down or high up is, I think, just a reflection of the pattern of deposition of stores and the remaining stocks. They tend to work upwards into stores when they can.

G.

that is interesting to know!! these are the bees I thought may be black bees because they are so dark.. photo's in the spring!

 

[Black Comb]

Counted again today.

Hive 1 (strongest) additional 50 drop in last 24 hours.
(previously 60 + in 48 hours)

Hive 2 10 in 72 hours.

Both were given Apiguard in September.

 

[gavin]

that is interesting to know!! these are the bees I thought may be black bees because they are so dark.. photo's in the spring!

If you have dead bees on the floor you could also check ....

- rather stocky build, broad bees unlike the fine tapered shape of continental races
- hairs on the second last abdominal segment rather long
- wing venation (maybe someone could help with that)

Through the season, pollen tends to be stored all round the brood nest, honey cappings are white due to an air space, the bees tend to fly in cooler weather.

G.

 

[Somerford]

clustering at the front is a trait found in pure A mellifera mellifera.

G.

gavin - where does your source information on this come from ?

I would have believed that bees, whatever strain, will cluster where there are stores to be consumed...if they just stayed at the front of the hive then they would be dead by spring

regards

S

 

[RoofTops]

If anyone wants to try mid-winter queen rearing I have spare drones. Took the lid off one hive last week to administer the OA and found a few drones wandering around on the top bars. As things did not look right I delved deeper and found a drone laying queen.

I've got the address of an Agentine queen rearer who could supply a queen at this time of year but I fear it is best to let this lot just die out.

 

[VEG]

Tis a shame especially as there isnt much you can do about it at this time of year.

 

[BKF Admin]

If anyone wants to try mid-winter queen rearing I have spare drones. Took the lid off one hive last week to administer the OA and found a few drones wandering around on the top bars. As things did not look right I delved deeper and found a drone laying queen.

I've got the address of an Agentine queen rearer who could supply a queen at this time of year but I fear it is best to let this lot just die out.

I had a hive that was queenless last winter.

 

[RoofTops]

OA Video

Film critics will no doubt find something to moan about in this video but it covers some useful points. Made in Devon of course.
http://www.newtonabbotbees.org.uk/

 

[VEG]

Would have been better if there were bees in there (sorry couldnt resist)
Also he say's dilute to 4.5% . Shouldnt it be 3.2% as I though that was the reccomended dose.

 

[oliver90owner]

PeterS

Nothing untoward as yet. I noted your previous mite drop count but was not aware of when done.

O.5 mite-drop per day at this time of year is regarded as the level which will may well cause colony collapse by the end of next season, so no problem if that was the only criteria you are worried about - there being plenty of time to treat before the colony collapses. However there are worries now that mites are transferring disease pathogens from one bee to another so the fewer the mites there are over the difficult winter period the better, provided the treatment does not harm the bees in other ways. Like I have said before, there are other risks and it is just a balance you have to make. I am monitoring for mite drop on two hives at present. One will not be treated, the other might. I am delaying treating a further two colonies to be as sure as possible there is no late hatching brood present.

There are several ways the stronger colony may have quite a high loading - robbing from a weak varroa infested colony late in the season, apiguard not as effective as it might have been for some reason, a long brood season for more mite reproduction, drifting bees. That is why monitoring is important - you can follow the trends and correlate any problems caused by varroah with your historical evidence.

The mite drop may yet increase for a few days btw.

Regards, RAB

 

[gavin]

gavin - where does your source information on this come from ?

The honeybees of the British Isles
by Beowulf A. Cooper
Published in 1985, Northern Bee Books (for) British Isles Bee Breeders' Association

G.

 

[oliver90owner]

RoofTops,

let this lot just die out

All may not be lost until they do. It may now be a drone layer but may have been laying workers until recently, or may be laying patchy brood. Sooo if it goes the course, and if spring comes early, there may be some bees there to reinforce another colony..... On the other hand it may be better to turn off their life support and save the stores....

I would suggest an early inspection (might be the middle of January down there!!) and make an assessment whenever possible. At least there is just a queen and no laying workers to contend with. That is one plus.

BTW, is she laying now?

Regards, RAB

 

[RoofTops]

Yes, she is laying but at least 50% was drone brood, but my main worry was there were only about 2 seams of bees at most and the patch of brood only about 6" across.

I am just going to leave them, they had plenty of stores and as you suggest if we have a warm spell they may yet perk up. They are on a new apiary for me and I am not sure what early forage there is for them.

I shall keep fingers and everything else crossed. I suppose some sort of pollen patty might be worth trying. It would have to be a substitute recipe.