What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Wilco]

Yesterday I managed to melt a hole in my veil whilst setting up the gasvap. Fortunately it was able to finish checks at that site and duct tape it before going elsewhere.

 

[user 819]

No reason to hate V.crabro just becuase you disturbed a nest, like any wasp nest a defence mechanism comes in to play. Generally though left unmolested they aren't a bother to any one.

 

[Levitt53]

I've just put a super with half capped stuff, left after extracting, onto my 3rd biggest colony. The biggest two have two supers still. One has one super still full of brood (ran brood and a half this year) and one with two supers full of uncapped honey. Hoping to take a bit more of capped stuff in a couple of weeks.

 

[Erichalfbee]

No reason to hate V.crabro just becuase you disturbed a nest, like any wasp nest a defence mechanism comes in to play. Generally though left unmolested they aren't a bother to any one.

Spot on.
I was hiking in Turkey one year with a group. I like to stay at the back taking pictures. Before I know it I had a head full of hornets. I took around twenty stings and cried for hours. The pain was awful and we had nothing but paracetamol. We must have disturbed their nest and they got really peed off by the time I got there.
I still love them and think they are magnificent creatures. They are forgiven.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I’ve hopefully changed a few folks minds about wasps and hornets today , all the talk of hornets on social and the media seems to have the publics attention more so than I’ve ever known it can’t be a bad thing .

Thanks for the useful information from fellow members about wasps etc.

Cheers cgf

 

[Newbeeneil]

Spot on.
I was hiking in Turkey one year with a group. I like to stay at the back taking pictures. Before I know it I had a head full of hornets. I took around twenty stings and cried for hours. The pain was awful and we had nothing but paracetamol. We must have disturbed their nest and they got really peed off by the time I got there.
I still love them and think they are magnificent creatures. They are forgiven.

This evening I was jarring up a couple of hundred jars and decided to leave the last bucket until first thing tomorrow. I left the velux windows open because of the heat and when I returned 10mins later to close them I heard that wonderful throaty buzz of a Crabo. After a bit of a chase I managed to flick him back out. I returned to my living room to find it had entered there via the French doors! This time I did the glass and cardboard trick to safety eject it.
They are very beautiful creatures.

 

[steveselvage]

Checked my out apiary today, all on double brood with a super.
Every one is rammed with stores and the queen's have moved down to the bottom box as they have stuffed the top box with honey. I had planned to leave them double and let them have the super as winter feed but wondering if I should extract the deep boxes and leave them on single with a super for feed.
I really don't want to extract again this year, I've scrubbed everything and wrapped it up for winter.

 

[Swarm]

Leave them on doubles and extract the supers.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Good grief it's hot in a bee suit dealing with defensive hives.
Old queens caged. New queens shipped Thursday.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I had planned to leave them double and let them have the super as winter feed but wondering if I should extract the deep boxes and leave them on single with a super for feed.

you certainly don't need a super on top of a double brood.
Extract the supers and leave them on DB

 

[simonforeman]

Qrikey, a week ago I had to feed most hives as nothing in the hives. Today they have stuffed the broods with nectar and I may need to remove a couple of frames from most hives to give the queen space to lay.

Ivy out in force here in sunny hot South Lincolnshire.

All my nucs from my grafted queens doing really well. First vape done also. Busy day but good progress made.

 

[user 819]

I think some jump to eagerly and too early to get them ready for winter , we are still in summer . By all means watch the stores level but they don't need 30 or 40lbs just yet.
Late forage is still to come esp ivy and of course those that may be up for a bit of robbing.

 

[elainemary]

OMG! This is the mite drop on a colony that I started treating with Apistan 2 days ago (never used before so resistance unlikely)

The biggest shock to me though, is this colony was treated with Formic Pro on 15 Aug for 1 week as per the manufacturer guidelines. I’d completed a sugar shake the first week of Aug and it showed a 3% infection. I suspected something was not right though when mite drops continued at a relatively high rate after the Formic Pro treatment.

Either Formic Pro does not work effectively on v large colonies or they have been robbing another colony somewhere nearby. None of mine!

I suspect the Formic pro is the issue. No evidence of more honey coming into this hive than others in the same apiary. After doing some digging, Formic pro is different to Maqs - only 80% claimed effectiveness by the manufacturer and they’ve changed the outer paper on Formic pro so it’s released more gently to not kill bees or risk the queen. Wasn’t the old Maqs 90%+ effective?

I wonder if they’ve tested the ‘new product’ properly on big colonies….the formic pro after a week had no scent at all and had completely dried up.

Surely if the treatment WAS effective and the colony is robbing another, this number of mites couldn’t have hitched a ride in that short space of time? The treatment was taken off on 22 August. So only just over 2 weeks ago.

Bearing in mind Apistan only kills phoretic bees this number of mites and more, could still be in the sealed brood. V concerned now whether this colony will make it through winter as the virus loads must be v high.

What do you experienced beekeepers think, is it possible for this number of phoretic mites from a Rob-out in just 2 weeks? Plus up to 80% more in sealed brood?

 

[Erichalfbee]

That’s quite a drop.
What was the drop like on Formic Pro?
You need an InstantVap fir Christmas

 

[Redcap]

Yesterday I managed to melt a hole in my veil whilst setting up the gasvap. Fortunately it was able to finish checks at that site and duct tape it before going elsewhere.

Where would we bee without duct tape....every beekeepers friend !

 

[The Poot]

OMG! This is the mite drop on a colony that I started treating with Apistan 2 days ago (never used before so resistance unlikely)

The biggest shock to me though, is this colony was treated with Formic Pro on 15 Aug for 1 week as per the manufacturer guidelines. I’d completed a sugar shake the first week of Aug and it showed a 3% infection. I suspected something was not right though when mite drops continued at a relatively high rate after the Formic Pro treatment.

Either Formic Pro does not work effectively on v large colonies or they have been robbing another colony somewhere nearby. None of mine!

I suspect the Formic pro is the issue. No evidence of more honey coming into this hive than others in the same apiary. After doing some digging, Formic pro is different to Maqs - only 80% claimed effectiveness by the manufacturer and they’ve changed the outer paper on Formic pro so it’s released more gently to not kill bees or risk the queen. Wasn’t the old Maqs 90%+ effective?

I wonder if they’ve tested the ‘new product’ properly on big colonies….the formic pro after a week had no scent at all and had completely dried up.

Surely if the treatment WAS effective and the colony is robbing another, this number of mites couldn’t have hitched a ride in that short space of time? The treatment was taken off on 22 August. So only just over 2 weeks ago.

Bearing in mind Apistan only kills phoretic bees this number of mites and more, could still be in the sealed brood. V concerned now whether this colony will make it through winter as the virus loads must be v high.

What do you experienced beekeepers think, is it possible for this number of phoretic mites from a Rob-out in just 2 weeks? Plus up to 80% more in sealed brood?

Scary!

 

[elainemary]

Scary!

Yes I agree. There has been a really strong nectar flow here last 2 weeks so I really can’t see why a colony would risk fighting another to Rob it out when there has been such a flow. I’ve watched the bees bringing in balsam stripes. I strongly suspect Formic pro is the problem here.

 

[elainemary]

That’s quite a drop.
What was the drop like on Formic Pro?
You need an InstantVap fir Christmas

It was good on the first couple of days and the drops went on being high during the treatment but didn’t stop after.

What I can’t say is what was the kill rate in the brood cells. What i do know is the treatment went on 15 august so all sealed brood would have emerged as young bees by 24 august. So how on earth has this number of mites got in the colony if the formic pro did work properly iand penetrate the sealed brood?

I’ve written to the manufacturer; to what extent have they tested the new product on big colonies? I wonder if I get a reply?!

 

[E&MBees]

Checked up on the colonies that were very light during last week. Noticable improvement in weight thankfully. All colonies were the busiest they’ve been for weeks, all flying in same direction too. Noted some ghost bees, so they must have found some balsam down in the valley. Ivy buds are opening now as well.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The biggest shock to me though, is this colony was treated with Formic Pro on 15 Aug for 1 week

Beesource members are using a treatment window of 14 days not 7
The Americans have been using it for some years.