WSBKA bee auction.

[Newbeeneil]

I’ve just been perusing the catalog https://www.westsussexbeekeepers.org.uk/sitefiles/34/1/9/341959/2022_WSBKA_Auction_Catalogue.pdf
for next weeks auction. Looks like it could be a fun day.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Do you know, I've never done one of these.
There's masses of stuff! Are the boxes and nuc boxes I presume all used?
I'll race you for lot 15

 

[Newbeeneil]

I'll let you have that one as one of my lots is no 57!

If they don't say new the chances are they are used. Some is real c**p but the majority is very good.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Do you know, I've never done one of these.
There's masses of stuff! Are the boxes and nuc boxes I presume all used?
I'll race you for lot 15

Lot 276 has got me salivating!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lot 276 has got me salivating!

It might be an education. Maybe not the one you want though

 

[Murox]

Pity its so far away, there were things I would be happy to bid for. That box of porters escapes is going to cause rush then

 

[plain_hunt]

What are icing sugar bellows? Lot79

 

[pargyle]

What are icing sugar bellows? Lot79

One of those bits of kit bought by the unsuspectng, uneducated, who then find them absolutely useless and a few years later consign them to a bee auction in order to maintain anonymity when disposing of them ...

 

[Dodge]

276BBKA News - 73 copies

Would be funny if it was 73 copies of the same edition and the buyer was unaware.

Wonder how many times in those 73 copies the words "matchstick" and "Ventilation" crop up.

 

[JamezF]

Wonder how many times in those 73 copies the words "matchstick" and "Ventilation" crop up.

Ventilation comes up now and again. Matchsticks haven't been mentioned for a few years that I'm aware of though.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

One of those bits of kit bought by the unsuspectng, uneducated, who then find them absolutely useless and a few years later consign them to a bee auction in order to maintain anonymity when disposing of them ...

Probably the same item.

 

[JamezF]

Ventilation comes up now and again. Matchsticks haven't been mentioned for a few years that I'm aware of though.

James

My preference is to read the electronic version of BBKA News because it's more convenient and today I discovered a tool that allows me to search the text of the PDF files which is actually genuinely useful as there are sometimes things I'd like to refer back to. I am therefore now in the unenviable position of being able to confirm that the most recent reference to matchsticks (for ventilation rather than foul brood testing) was in October 2019 where Gareth Morgan of Wimbledon BKA says in the "In The Apiary" article:

"Ventilation is also important at this time of year to help reduce any condensation that can develop into mould. I use four matchsticks, or similar, placing each one diagonally, under the corners of the crown board to help create a ‘chimney effect’ for efficient air circulation rising up from the open mesh floor and out at the top of the hive."

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Would be funny if it was 73 copies of the same edition

par for the course - same thing regurgitated ad infinitum since 1874

 

[Somerford]

276BBKA News - 73 copies

Would be funny if it was 73 copies of the same edition and the buyer was unaware.

Wonder how many times in those 73 copies the words "matchstick" and "Ventilation" crop up.

Smoker fuel

 

[W0otz]

Lot 276 has got me salivating!

Could be cheap smoker fuel. Or secret santa gift for JBM.

 

[plain_hunt]

One of those bits of kit bought by the unsuspectng, uneducated, who then find them absolutely useless and a few years later consign them to a bee auction in order to maintain anonymity when disposing of them ...

Well, I get that, there’s always stuff like that at our auction. But I’m still none the wiser as to what they are/do. Suppose I’ll have to look them up when I get bored.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well, I get that, there’s always stuff like that at our auction. But I’m still none the wiser as to what they are/do. Suppose I’ll have to look them up when I get bored.

Icing sugar bellows are use to dust icing sugar onto the bees as the uneducated believe it kills varroa.
Better used for cake decorating

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well, I get that, there’s always stuff like that at our auction. But I’m still none the wiser as to what they are/do. Suppose I’ll have to look them up when I get bored.

The idea is that powdered sugar dislodges varroa, which it does. It’s used in a sugar roll to estimate the varroa load in a colony.
Some beekeepers have extrapolated it to whole colony use, rather than a cupful of bees.
If you dust every frame liberally the varroa fall off the bees through the OMF.
The trouble is that you have to do it weekly. It’s very intrusive on the colony and I’m not sure what dusting eggs and day old larvae does to them.

 

[JamezF]

I thought the idea was that by covering the bees in icing sugar they'd groom themselves and dislodge the varroa in the process, which would then fall through the OMF.

I also thought that it had been demonstrated to be ineffective as a treatment (I think that's mentioned in the series of videos from OSU posted a while back discussing treatment using oxalic acid strips), perhaps because in the crowded conditions of a hive a varroa mite is quite likely to be able to find another bee to grab onto even if it does fall.

James

 

[plain_hunt]

Thank you for the replies. And you need bellows to apply icing sugar???does it fit to the bag? Or?? I’m still going to have to look them up to see how they work. It seems to me to be a must buy piece of kit, much the same as the PBE and magazines. I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about them before.