What did you do in the Apiary today?

[pargyle]

Not happy with two of the hives that have Apivar in ( due to come out in a week) so vaped them yesterday.
24 hour drop of over 50. Hmmm

I think you need new neighbours or to educate them about varroa !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

could be worse - she could be living in the rolling plains of Kent

 

[pargyle]

could be worse - she could be living in the rolling plains of Kent

Some things are best kept as thoughts and not committed to public view ....

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think you need new neighbours or to educate them about varroa !

Yes bit of a pig. I have three others with strips in, one on the roof. I’m going to do the lot when the second is due. Rats! It’s why I say to everybody please check a month after your autumn treatment is done

 

[The Poot]

Last few days….

Added straps to the hives - glad I did.
Fitted inspection trays to reduce wind / drought - glad I did.
Cleared leaves and twigs off the landing boards - the bees were glad I did.
Blew the leaves away from around the hives and away from the apiary.

 

[B_north]

Banked the first snowfall around the base of the hives. I love the insulating value of the snow for the hives and am glad it showed up this year before the cold weather it sure makes wintering the hives easier.

All are wrapped like Christmas presents, tucked in and warm.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Vaped the four colonies that have Apivar on. Two have had a couple of vapes and dropped far too many so I decided to do the rest.
That’s the last time I use Apivar. Put it on only because I found an in date pack in the cupboard.
Never again.

 

[Goran]

Trimmed grass.. Relative warm day.. bees active.. Added extra frames of stores to one of merged colonies ( actually 5 mnucs into one colony). Tomorrow " is said" will be rain and start of cold weather..

 

[Moobee]

Going to the out apiary today to sort out the two hives that were decimated by wasps. Haven’t been able to sort visit for a few weeks due to the terrible weather so hoping it’s not a huge wax moth party….

 

[Swarm]

Fingers crossed for you, I had a bonfire after they ruined some stored combs. I'm just getting ready to fetch the last few feeders home, should have been off by now but my back is wrecked so this ten minute job could last a couple of hours.

 

[B_north]

Vaped the four colonies that have Apivar on. Two have had a couple of vapes and dropped far too many so I decided to do the rest.
That’s the last time I use Apivar. Put it on only because I found an in date pack in the cupboard.
Never again.

How long have the strips been on? I am not being argumentative but Apivar has a time of 8 weeks to work( 10 in England) and if I would vape at anytime within those 8 weeks I could not be sure if the mite drop is because of the vape or if those mites might have dropped because of the Apivar, or the mites were not yet affected by the Apivar and would have dropped anyway within a day or so. Just being a friendly 'devils advocate'

 

[Erichalfbee]

Advocate away. I have them marked to remove on Sunday which is 10 weeks. To complicate matters one of the colonies vaped yesterday has dropped zero over night.
I’ll keep going with the OAV in three for four doses.

 

[B_north]

Advocate away. I have them marked to remove on Sunday which is 10 weeks. To complicate matters one of the colonies vaped yesterday has dropped zero over night.
I’ll keep going with the OAV in three for four doses.

I do not doubt your findings at all. We are all struggling with Apivar lately and pinpointing it's problems is becoming hard to do especially when it works within an apiary on most hives and then not on a few.

ETA I also am trying to find alternatives to the Apivar.

 

[Erichalfbee]

ETA I also am trying to find alternatives to the Apivar.

I have one already. It’s just more work but then I have only a few colonies.

 

[Ian123]

ETA I also am trying to find alternatives to the Apivar.

Many had the same experience/issues back in early to mid 2000 with Apistan. I doubled up for a number of years with some home made apiguard until a ready source of Apivar was found.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Put insulation under the roof and bolted down two WBCs belonging to a client. Very exposed near the top of the highest hill in Sussex.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Finished oxalic drizzle today. All hives and nucs ready for winter wraps. Have to wait for the weather to change...way too warm now to wrap in black. Temperatures in the mid-sixties and upper seventies (18-25) in October and November. Saw orange pollen coming in on Wednesday, November second. So strange.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

The bees were very active in all hives at this site yesterday in the not-very-warm sun. After the wheat harvest, the farmer appears to have very lightly planted OSR in all these fields. Just two or three plants in a square metre. They're mostly over now. I haven't seen him to ask what the plan is.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Vaped the four colonies that have Apivar on. Two have had a couple of vapes and dropped far too many so I decided to do the rest.
That’s the last time I use Apivar. Put it on only because I found an in date pack in the cupboard.
Never again.

This year is my first late summer treatment using OA rather than Apivar. The number of repeat vapes has been high in some colonies, though I finally gave up with a couple of colonies and put in strips. It has been harder than ever getting the mite numbers down this time. So I've been saying to myself that I'll not use OA in late summer again. Because this is the first time I've used OA after the summer honey crop, I drew a connection. Now I'm thinking that the persistently high mite drops might be more to do with the mites than the choice of treatment.

 

[alisonfosterbell]

Why are beekeepers treating with Oxalic Acid now? I'm a novice so please put me right! I understood that OA is only effective when there is little/minimal/no brood, as the so called phoretic mites (who are piggybacking on the bees and so not reproducing and easier to kill). Before OA treatment one needs to make sure that all the brood has hatched. Since this autumn has been so unusually warm then the normal brood free period has been delayed. I'm told that one should treat, having checked at least over a 12 day cycle that brood is minimal, in December. Night temperatures should be above 0', day temps cool (to avoid too much bee activity), intervention carried out as quickly as possible to avoid chilling... Preferably before midwinter, after which time the brood might start up again. Fulfilling all these conditions and being free from work, means the windows of opportunity are few! Please put me right if I'm mistaken!