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Altogether a strange year for me so far..
I lost 2 colonies over the winter (absconded), and from the 19 that survived I kept 7, the rest I sold on or traded for wild boar.
Everything was looking great for a super spring crop and then April went cold and wet, with may bringing more of the same. no honey, lots of lost queens on their maiting flights, not much joy at all.
With far more TLC than should be needed I have got myself back up to 20 colonies, the Linde and clover is ...

• - Shake the bees from a central frame in the super onto plastic sheeting
• - Fill approx 30g bees (that is about 300) into a labelled container
• - After killing the bees by freezing them weigh the sample of bees
• - Let the bees soak for at least 15 minutes in soapy water (use washing up liquid) and shake thoroughly.
• - Separate the varroa from the bees buy rinsing through a double sieve. Or use a course metal mesh (too catch the bees) over a coffee filter paper
• - count the varroa / 10g

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