using soot on swarms

[paulgid]

As anyone used soot on swarms to remove varroa?.
I have collected several swarms from chimneys and I have noticed very little varroa on them . I think it may be the sulther in the soot that is removing the varroa.
Try it and let me known how you get on.

 

[plumberman]

As anyone used soot on swarms to remove varroa?.
I have collected several swarms from chimneys and I have noticed very little varroa on them . I think it may be the sulther in the soot that is removing the varroa.
Try it and let me known how you get on.

I notice you have advocated this on two other threads - is this purely on the basis of your anecdotal evidence or have you some other description of it's use?

Chimney soot will contain far more than simply sulfur ( carcinogens such as benzene come to mind) and I for one would be very loathe to put it anywhere near bees without a lot more proof of efficacy and safety.

Personally, I would be a little careful about putting this sort of information on a forum as , without a scientific basis ( assuming there is none) you could cause more harm than good.

 

[paulgid]

I know of a colony of bee,s that have lived in a chimney for over five years if that was a colony of bee,s living in a tree they would of died years ago

 

[Leigh]

It is sometimes very difficult to know whether a nest is occupied continuously by the same colony, or by one dying out, closely followed by robbing, followed by a new swarm moving in. We have a colony that "has been living in the church roof for 20 years" - I saw a swarm go in last summer. At the moment it looks extremely busy, but on closer inspection you see that no pollen is going in at all....it is a dead nest being robbed out. There is a very good chance that a swarm will re-occupy it in the near future, and as far as most people are concerned, that colony will be on it's 21st year!

Bees are attracted to burnt areas/chimneys though....I guess they know best.

As far as the soot is concerned, surely the type of fuel burned must have some bearing on it's composition....seasoned wood/unseasoned wood/coal/anthracite etc etc? Personally, I'd have thought that there was much difference between living in a chimney and having soot pourred over.....couldn't the very fine particles of soot block spiracles? My gut feeling is that this wouldn't be a very good idea.

Try it on your own bees, and let us know how you get on! I'm sceptical, but would be delighted if it were proven to be a useful treatment.

 

[Nopants]

It is sometimes very difficult to know whether a nest is occupied continuously by the same colony, or by one dying out, closely followed by robbing, followed by a new swarm moving in. We have a colony that "has been living in the church roof for 20 years" - I saw a swarm go in last summer. At the moment it looks extremely busy, but on closer inspection you see that no pollen is going in at all....it is a dead nest being robbed out. There is a very good chance that a swarm will re-occupy it in the near future, and as far as most people are concerned, that colony will be on it's 21st year!

Bees are attracted to burnt areas/chimneys though....I guess they know best.

As far as the soot is concerned, surely the type of fuel burned must have some bearing on it's composition....seasoned wood/unseasoned wood/coal/anthracite etc etc? Personally, I'd have thought that there was much difference between living in a chimney and having soot pourred over.....couldn't the very fine particles of soot block spiracles? My gut feeling is that this wouldn't be a very good idea.

Try it on your own bees, and let us know how you get on! I'm sceptical, but would be delighted if it were proven to be a useful treatment.

My Grandfather used to put soot on his garden, it was very good at killing pests, at least these bees should be used to smoke and kind of calm, soot would make them clean themselves and probably remove the mites. Needs researching properly

 

[plumberman]

I know of a colony of bee,s that have lived in a chimney for over five years if that was a colony of bee,s living in a tree they would of died years ago

Possibly - but there are many more factors than soot- warmer? drier? Less disturbance? If the ONLY difference were the presence of soot, then you have the initial basis of a scientific argument.

 

[VEG]

How about you treat your bees with soot then come back and let us know how it goes.

 

[paulgid]

I have tried soot dusting on s swarm I collected last year.dusted them down when they were still in swarm box .the box had a wire mesh floor so I placed it over a tank of water the soot in the water just disolved but left mites flooring on top.it removed over 100 mites so good result .I was only asking others to try this to see if they would get same results.

 

[gavin]

This must be a great way to get black bees! Sorry - couldn't resist.

Soot and little boys have long been known not to go together, so be careful:

'In England in 1775, Dr. Percivall Pott wrote a paper on the high incidence of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps who were typically boys small enough to fit inside chimneys and clean out the soot. Pott suggested that chimney soot contained carcinogens that could cause the growth of the warts seen in scrotal cancer. Over 150 years later, chimney soot was found to contain hydrocarbons capable of mutating DNA.'

 

[paulgid]

Radiation gives you cancer but lots of people have x rays and chemotherapy

 

[drex]

and a lot of the pioneers of X rays got cancer on their hands as they kept taking X rays of their hands to judge the exposure!

 

[mexbigshow]

surely it is just the fact that the bees are covered in powder so they groom themselves and each other in which case i would just stick to powdered sugar

 

[For want of a better word]

On my Grandfathers' allotment there was an old sooty chimney pot that hived a swarm of bees every year without fail, even when Hitlers' Luftwaffer burnt down The Crystal Palace and several other places of interest during the Britz of London.
Quite why I do not know... maybe the soot?
I have in the past added soot to a bait sausage, but not with any real success, this year I have tried both chilli powder and Tabasco sauce.... but so far the Buckie one has had the best result.
I have not tried a radioactive additive to the bait sausages yet, obviously Carbon 14 would be a good candidate?

 

[plumberman]

On my Grandfathers' allotment there was an old sooty chimney pot that hived a swarm of bees every year without fail, even when Hitlers' Luftwaffer burnt down The Crystal Palace and several other places of interest during the Britz of London.
Quite why I do not know... maybe the soot?
I have in the past added soot to a bait sausage, but not with any real success, this year I have tried both chilli powder and Tabasco sauce.... but so far the Buckie one has had the best result.
I have not tried a radioactive additive to the bait sausages yet, obviously Carbon 14 would be a good candidate?

Grind up the business end of a few smoke detectors. Americium should make a lively addition to your bait sausage.

 

[Ape Resi]

My Grandfather used to put soot on his garden, it was very good at killing pests, at least these bees should be used to smoke and kind of calm, soot would make them clean themselves and probably remove the mites. Needs researching properly

in the old days it used to be common occurrence to spread soot on vegetable patches now however it is not recommended for many reasons mentioned above.

In my garden, the patch nearest to the house was regularly used by my predecessors to dump their coal fire ash and soot - nothing grows, even the ground elder and nettle leave that patch of soil bare - I have since removed the top 5" of soil and brought in lovely soil in but still nothing grows - not worms or any soil life either... does not inspire me to use the soot on my girls!

 

[For want of a better word]

This must be a great way to get black bees! Sorry - couldn't resist.

Soot and little boys have long been known not to go together, so be careful:

'In England in 1775, Dr. Percivall Pott wrote a paper on the high incidence of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps who were typically boys small enough to fit inside chimneys and clean out the soot. Pott suggested that chimney soot contained carcinogens that could cause the growth of the warts seen in scrotal cancer. Over 150 years later, chimney soot was found to contain hydrocarbons capable of mutating DNA.'

Mulespinners disease................ or was that some other sort of testicular cancer?

 

[plumberman]

The reason it was scrotal cancer I believe was that the numerous rugae ( folds) trapped the soot, and this coupled with the no doubt poor hygiene habits of young gentleman increased the local exposure to the carcinogens.

 

[paulgid]

As I said in an earlier thread i think it is the sulther in the soot that removes the mites

 

[For want of a better word]

Grind up the business end of a few smoke detectors. Americium should make a lively addition to your bait sausage.

Would I need a PP9 battery?

 

[victor meldrew]

Bees inhabiting burn out sites could be instinctive behavior , honed over millenia .Dead trees post forest fires are less likely to spontaneously ignite as it takes years for the buid up of the dry kindling to feed such a fire ??

John Wilkinson