Cussword
Drone Bee
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2014
- Messages
- 1,284
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Fylde Coast, Lancashire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- Still just the 1
This came today;
Dear
By way of introduction, I am the Deputy Marketing Manager of Bee Craft magazine.
I hope you will not object to me emailing you on this single occasion with some important information.
Today I received the warning below from the National Bee Unit. As not every beekeeper is registered with BeeBase this message may not reach everyone who needs to be made aware, particularly the more inexperienced among us.
So for the benefit of our bees, could you please take a few minutes to read the information below and forward it to all your beekeeping contacts.
Let's hope the weather improves soon and we can look forward to a good beekeeping season ahead.
Very many thanks and kindest regards
Wendy and the Bee Craft team
Food stores
Beekeepers may wish to monitor their colony food levels closely over the next month as in many northern parts of the UK, the weather is still cold and foraging opportunities for large colonies are few and far between. It is important to check and monitor all your colonies feed levels, if you do not wish to open them up, lift below the floor, in turn, on both sides of the hive to see how much it weighs. Where the hive is light, liquid feed should be applied directly above the bees. Remove any supers from above the brood box which are empty or have few bees in them. This will help the bees get to the food quickly; Feed can be sugar and water mixed at 1:1 ratio or one of the proprietary ready mixed syrups available from Beekeeping Equipment Suppliers. More information about mixing up sugar can be found in the Best Practice Guidelines no. 7 http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167 Fondant can also be used. Large starving colonies of bees will take 1 gallon (approx. 5 Litres) of syrup very quickly while smaller colonies will take half a gallon (approx. 2.5 Litres). After feeding, heft the hives again and check the weight and if in doubt feed some more in a few days’ time.
Some colonies in northern areas of the UK have low levels of pollen, which is essential for brood production. If this is the case, then some form of pollen patty will need to be given to colonies which should be placed directly above the brood nest, after you have fed any syrup.
Mite levels
Some of you may not have gotten round to treating your colonies with oxalic acid as the weather was so mild in winter. Treatments that were applied in winter may have had lower than normal efficacy due to the presence of brood and therefore beekeepers may want to consider treating colonies again, especially where bees are showing signs of deformed wings. Thymol based products and formic acid pads may be ineffective at the present time as daytime temperatures respectively of 12-15 °C or above are recommended. Neither should MAQS strips be used on smaller colonies.
Therefore contact strips such as Apistan or Bayvarol may be beneficial, these offer a rapid knock down in severely infested colonies. However, resistance to these products has been reported in some areas and therefore colonies will need to be monitored after the treatment and an alternative treatment applied if necessary later in the season.
Alternatively, Apivar & Biowar (Amitraz) are available under the EU Cascade system by using a special import certificate. For more information about this, contact your local vet.
Kind regards,
National Bee Unit.
Dear
By way of introduction, I am the Deputy Marketing Manager of Bee Craft magazine.
I hope you will not object to me emailing you on this single occasion with some important information.
Today I received the warning below from the National Bee Unit. As not every beekeeper is registered with BeeBase this message may not reach everyone who needs to be made aware, particularly the more inexperienced among us.
So for the benefit of our bees, could you please take a few minutes to read the information below and forward it to all your beekeeping contacts.
Let's hope the weather improves soon and we can look forward to a good beekeeping season ahead.
Very many thanks and kindest regards
Wendy and the Bee Craft team
Food stores
Beekeepers may wish to monitor their colony food levels closely over the next month as in many northern parts of the UK, the weather is still cold and foraging opportunities for large colonies are few and far between. It is important to check and monitor all your colonies feed levels, if you do not wish to open them up, lift below the floor, in turn, on both sides of the hive to see how much it weighs. Where the hive is light, liquid feed should be applied directly above the bees. Remove any supers from above the brood box which are empty or have few bees in them. This will help the bees get to the food quickly; Feed can be sugar and water mixed at 1:1 ratio or one of the proprietary ready mixed syrups available from Beekeeping Equipment Suppliers. More information about mixing up sugar can be found in the Best Practice Guidelines no. 7 http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167 Fondant can also be used. Large starving colonies of bees will take 1 gallon (approx. 5 Litres) of syrup very quickly while smaller colonies will take half a gallon (approx. 2.5 Litres). After feeding, heft the hives again and check the weight and if in doubt feed some more in a few days’ time.
Some colonies in northern areas of the UK have low levels of pollen, which is essential for brood production. If this is the case, then some form of pollen patty will need to be given to colonies which should be placed directly above the brood nest, after you have fed any syrup.
Mite levels
Some of you may not have gotten round to treating your colonies with oxalic acid as the weather was so mild in winter. Treatments that were applied in winter may have had lower than normal efficacy due to the presence of brood and therefore beekeepers may want to consider treating colonies again, especially where bees are showing signs of deformed wings. Thymol based products and formic acid pads may be ineffective at the present time as daytime temperatures respectively of 12-15 °C or above are recommended. Neither should MAQS strips be used on smaller colonies.
Therefore contact strips such as Apistan or Bayvarol may be beneficial, these offer a rapid knock down in severely infested colonies. However, resistance to these products has been reported in some areas and therefore colonies will need to be monitored after the treatment and an alternative treatment applied if necessary later in the season.
Alternatively, Apivar & Biowar (Amitraz) are available under the EU Cascade system by using a special import certificate. For more information about this, contact your local vet.
Kind regards,
National Bee Unit.
