I have a not very good photo of a varroa tray where you can just about see where stores have been uncapped. Sometimes it is quite obvious but I don't always have the camera with me.
It is pretty obvious where the cluster is and you can just about see where stores have been uncapped.
This is from a couple of years ago in March.
varroa-tray1.jpg varroa tray2.jpg
In these shots it seems that the material isn't falling down vertically between straight combs, or has been subsequently mixed, as the lines are not clear. However - mostly brown fibrous stuff in the middle; pollen around this and also mixed in; paler stuff with sugar crystals further out.
The pollen would normally be around and over the brood nest so some falls in the same place as brood debris.
Thanks, Jon and Gavin. I don't think any of mine has brood at the moment, and very little uncapping was going on when I last looked (but the boards are mostly out).
Yes, the lines aren't visible - or do I imagine seeing that your frames are arranged warm-way, Jon?
Kitta
All mine are warm way.
That was a poor illustration I posted but it was the only one I could find amongst my photos.
I am off to do the last of my colonies with oxalic this afternoon and I have the camera so maybe I will come across a better example.
Here is the one that was shown as the 'tenner' the other day. The floor debris will have accumulated since mid to late September so it is showing where there was brood then. The bees were occupying slightly more seam area two days ago than the brood area. There is a little liquid, perhaps oxalic acid, and the brown stuff looks damp.
Another strong one but only occupying part of the seams.
... and one across much of the length of the seam. I estimated that the 3-month mite fall (including the last two days after oxalic) was about 200. If the full number is 500 (guessing) then the oxalic acid treatment should leave about 10 mites (at 98% effectiveness). However I lost swarms last summer into the castle walls so there could easily be surges in numbers whenever those colonies collapse.
Close-up of that one (with my crappy phone camera, Jon may do better):
PS Cold way! (Is that the annual warm way - cold way argument over then?!)
Last edited by gavin; 21-12-2012 at 03:39 PM.
Warm way, cold way, the main issue is where you like to stand when working the colonies.
I always stand at the back of the box.
I don't think it makes a button of difference to the bees.
I did 10 colonies and 8 nucs earlier this afternoon.
The 10 colonies had a total of 46 seams so 4.6 average.
That is smaller than last year as the average was 6.7 seams when I did Oxalic on 20 December.
One had only 2 frames and the strongest had 7.
The nucs were very evenly balanced all with 3 seams of bees.
At this stage of the year I would not expect to lose more than one or two of these.
This was a decent sized colony which has eaten a good few kilos of fondant.
Stores are good in this one and you can see capped stores 3 frames in on the frame with the green lug.
winter-cluster-col83.jpg
This was more typical, 4-5 seams but should still be ok.
I usually remove 3 of 4 frames and close down clusters like this with insulated dummy board to reduce the space.
winter-cluster-col95.jpg
This is 1 week of debris on a tray.
winter debris.jpg
Last edited by Jon; 21-12-2012 at 05:54 PM.
Oxalic Acid.
From the side for me.
Your floor debris seems to have little sign of the consumption of stores - which fits the season of course.
Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk
A couple of years ago I weighed nucs during November and December and was amazed how little they consumed. I think from memory it was only about 300 grammes per week on average.
Oh - I was only checking my perception skills! Did I, or din't I, spot a faint line on Jon's board - and I did.Originally Posted by gavin
K
Treated all mine with OA today. Windy and overcast, but at least it wasn't raining and the temperature reached 9 degrees. The thermos flask with prewarmed OA worked a treat as did one of those refillable Trickle containers from Thornes. Most of the bees were quiet and well tempered despite being exposed to the wind and a mild drenching in warm sugar solution.
All looked healthy with between 2/3 seams of bees in wooden nucs, 4/5 seams in 8 frame Paynes poly nucs and a few up to 9/10 seams in cedar hives. Funnily enough the only hives to look short of bees were those on double brood boxes, presumably because they were well buried. Even the Kielers looked OK and got some OA as I'd missed them from Apiguard treatment earlier.
Pleased they all looked strong enough to get through the winter ... main thing to worry about now is DLQ's by springtime
Happy Christmas everyone
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