What did you do in the Apiary today?

[elainemary]

I have only one season's experience over six hives using Apivar, which is notably, a synthetic compound which has some drawbacks which do not appear to attach to oxalic treatments. But I have found that by using it exactly according to instructions it has been extremely effective in controlling varroa. I didn't need to monitor varroa drop because the correct use should cause most of them to drop in any case....no follow up needed.

It's seems possible that tolerance may develop over years, but using one application per year and removing the strips at the right time, I hope to avoid this.

I'm not persuaded that using oxalic crystals is as straightforward as I would like my beekeeping to be, but I can see that it is the "direction of travel" for beekeeping judged by comments here.

David Evans (of Apiarist) recommends following up Apivar with ONE OA vap or trickle when the colony is judged broodless (mid Nov to mid Dec depending on location and weather). He logically says OA mops up any mites that have not been zapped by the Apivar strips as it works in a different way. This minimises any risk of mite ‘tolerance’ or resistance. Then I t’s safe to use the strips again the following late summer. He’s done this for several seasons. I’ve now done it for 3 seasons and agree with you, Apivar is very effective. I rarely get a drop of more than a couple of mites with OA in Dec though I had a couple of hives with a drop of about 10 this year.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I must admit the thought of putting something as awful as Amitraz into my hives doesn’t appeal to me

 

[Goran]

I must admit the thought of putting something as awful as Amitraz into my hives doesn’t appeal to me

Old words from some old beeks at my place.. When varroa occurred they were watching it decimate colonies like a wave of plague.. When amitraz started to show its effectiveness against varoa.. That was light in a tunnel, for which they claim it should be built monument for colonies it saved.. Still today a lot of beeks use it with high effectiveness, but for difference to apivar - it is used in burning papers and through smoke it shook down varroa.. When here we test some antivarroa treatment we usually test its effectiveness with amitraz..
Nowadays there are more " organic" means of fighting varroa, but amitraz isn't forgotten.. Especially when varroa show high resistance to Coumaphos and flumethrin at my place..
Oxalic acid is my most sphere of interest, but I don't hesitate from amitraz if needed..

 

[Erichalfbee]

Oxalic acid is my most sphere of interest, but I don't hesitate from amitraz if needed..

Yes. It has its place in extremis

 

[user 20297]

I must admit the thought of putting something as awful as Amitraz into my hives doesn’t appeal to me

We had a good discussion about it a while ago.

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/how-nasty-is-apivar-for-humans.51338/
I understand your point of view but there appear to be some more acute potential hazards to health from vaping as have been discussed elsewhere today.
Oxalic sublimation would satisfy the bee-fiddler in me, but Apivar is so straightforward and a one-off treatment is all I've needed this year.
I wonder which approach the bees prefer?

 

[Boston Bees]

Any bees on them, Goran? I've yet to see a single bee on hazel in twelve years.

Plenty on the twisted hazel here, come spring

 

[drdrday]

I'm doing multiple vapes now because I think I missed the broodless period that I would normally use for single trickle. With this warm weather its hard to judge when they have no brood.

I've been doing multiple vapes too because I just don't think they had a broodless period at all. We had so many warm periods throughout December that they were out flying regularly. When it was cold it was literally for a day or two.

 

[thorn]

I helped my bee buddy set up his new hive scale under one of the hives in his garden. I must admit that I couldn't stop laughing as he opened the app on his phone and showed me all the information it gave him. The cherry on the cake is that when we compared the weight it gave with the luggage scale we use on all our hives there was a 4kg difference. We'd checked the luggage scale with a known weight.
I must get his wife to confiscate his credit card.

 

[The Poot]

First application of fondant today. Managed to apply it without “slapping it on”.

 

[Erichalfbee]

First application of fondant today. Managed to apply it without “slapping it on”.

And so you should

 

[philipm]

Emergency feed on three hives today two still look strong but one hive I,d be surprised if its still going in the spring not many bees .All three hives still flying today

 

[Moobee]

A spring vape before supers go on might be an idea. You could do one vape and see what the drop is

won't you then kill your open brood just as the bees are starting their build up?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

won't you then kill your open brood just as the bees are starting their build up?

No - OA sublimation does not harm brood

 

[Erichalfbee]

 

[Goran]

Errr.. Making fondants today, nothing in the apiary since temp fiddle around zero.. More wine we drink.. less accurate we were Just joking, but since we are making them for ourselves we don't make them " exact" it goes around 1,5-1,6kg each.. Bees don't complain..

 

[elainemary]

We had a good discussion about it a while ago.

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/how-nasty-is-apivar-for-humans.51338/
I understand your point of view but there appear to be some more acute potential hazards to health from vaping as have been discussed elsewhere today.
Oxalic sublimation would satisfy the bee-fiddler in me, but Apivar is so straightforward and a one-off treatment is all I've needed this year.
I wonder which approach the bees prefer?

I think if David Evans recommends it, he's done a lot of thinking and has a lot of insights about it & I trust his judgement. I haven't seen any negative effects in my bees. I haven't had any losses since I've started using it (last 4 seasons - first one was Apitraz, followed by last 3 years Apivar) and they've come out of winter and into Spring really strong. Perhaps also down to young queens, good stores & my constant fretting in September whether they have enough of the latter!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think if David Evans recommends it, he's done a lot of thinking and has a lot of insights about it & I trust his judgement. I haven't seen any negative effects in my bees. I haven't had any losses since I've started using it (last 4 seasons - first one was Apitraz, followed by last 3 years Apivar) and they've come out of winter and into Spring really strong. Perhaps also down to young queens, good stores & my constant fretting in September whether they have enough of the latter!

The decision is already being made. Resistance is being seen
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/gasvap-frustrations.51363/page-3#post-805139Hivemaker reported significant resistance last year too

 

[madasafish]

Frost but sun melted it all - a balmy 5C
Checked and fed all my nucs/mini nucs. Eaten surprising amount of fondant - no doubt due to mild weather.
Moved two nucs about 20meters

Agreed to inspect allotment hives (not mine - I just assist) Thursday in light of high fondant use.

 

[The Poot]

Frost but sun melted it all - a balmy 5C
Checked and fed all my nucs/mini nucs. Eaten surprising amount of fondant - no doubt due to mild weather.
Moved two nucs about 20meters

Agreed to inspect allotment hives (not mine - I just assist) Thursday in light of high fondant use.

I had it my head that bees consumed more stores in cold weather - using energy to keep the cluster warm. This year with the very mild temperatures is disproving that. I guess the flying bees use more energy flying, than when quivering in the cluster and need a good feed when they return home.

 

[elainemary]

The decision is already being made. Resistance is being seen
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/gasvap-frustrations.51363/page-3#post-805139Hivemaker reported significant resistance last year too

Thanks Dani, I do hope resistance doesn’t develop. I can only say this isn’t the case in mine to date, as OA treatment when broodless last 3 years has resulted in only 1 or 2 mites dropping in most of my main hives, showing very few mites remained. Also I’ve been monitoring all through the following seasons and my mite numbers mean I don’t need to treat again til the following September.
I looked at the link you sent through and HH said “I'm seeing possible Amitraz resistance and the resulting in high mite loads” He goes on to talk about Apistan. Is there any hard data on resistance that you know of?
Think the only thing people can do to guard against it is to make sure strips come out of colonies as per manufacturer instructions.