Oxalic Acid.

[Jon]

I still have about 18 to treat and I hope to do them at the weekend.
10-11 frames is really strong. I think my strongest are on about 7 frames.
Mine overwinter with small clusters most years, probably 5-6 is average and this year a wee bit smaller.
You can get a 2 frame colony through the winter with a bit of TLC but you won't get any spring produced honey from it.
what temperature was it today? the clusters open up quite a bit when it is mild.

[gavin]

It was about 4C and there was a breeze picking up. A grey day. Some of the colonies were really quiet and one had the cluster well down the frames. Some, like the one shown, were busier with active bees on the top but I don't think that the cluster was particularly dispersed.

Some were light but doling out the fondant wasn't so easy as I broke my knife! Even tried sawing the blocks (it was the only likely implement in the back of the car) but I gave that up and I'll finish the job another day. The one in the picture was hungry so I reassembled it with the spare super off, the crownboard straight on the cluster, a full (12.5kg) block of fondant still in its (open) bag over the feed hole, empty brood box around it, the spare super parked back on top, and a sheet of 50mm Kingspan under the roof.

[Bridget]

Gavin very interesting picture. No chance of opening up like that here - far too cold and windy. I was trying to remember what mine looked like last year when I did an OA and I don't remember them clustered on top of the frames. More down between the frames.
Checked my leftovers OA from last year and it seems its out of date. Would OA go out of date or just a sales ploy from Thornes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jon]

You need to make it up as fresh as possible. The sugar in it make it go off quite quickly.
it definitely does not last year to year although the dihydrate powder you get from Thorne lasts indefinitely.
It only takes 10 minutes to make up a fresh batch.

As Gavin commentated, that lot were low on stores and that brings them up to the top as they start at the bottom and work up.

[gavin]

You need to make it up as fresh as possible. The sugar in it make it go off quite quickly.
it definitely does not last year to year although the dihydrate powder you get from Thorne lasts indefinitely.
It only takes 10 minutes to make up a fresh batch.

As Gavin commentated, that lot were low on stores and that brings them up to the top as they start at the bottom and work up.

Yes Bridget, bees at the top is not a good sign and that box was light. Not so light now, it has 12.5kg of fondant on top! The converse is, of course, that if they are down between the frames they still have stores over their heads, and that is good. I had only one like that. It looks like the colonies I had at the heather have raised a lot of late brood, squandering much of the heather honey they stashed away down below but raising a lot of young bees in the process. They all have many lines of brown dust on the floor insert showing where brood was being raised.

[Mellifera Crofter]

... They all have many lines of brown dust on the floor insert showing where brood was being raised.

Is the difference between brood gnawing their way out of cells and bees uncapping honey cells the colour of the debris on the floor insert, Gavin?
Kitta

[greengumbo]

Is the difference between brood gnawing their way out of cells and bees uncapping honey cells the colour of the debris on the floor insert, Gavin?
Kitta

I'd be interested in this as well. Still not got my eye in with regards to colour but there are two obvious browny dust lines on my varroa board that I just assumed were uncapping debris.

[Jon]

You can sometimes see where bees have started to uncap stores as there will be a heap of debris on the tray at a point some distance away from the cluster. They uncap stores and move them nearer to where they want them but can obviously only do this in warmer spells of weather. Cappings debris from emerging brood tends to be darker than the debris from stores being uncapped. If bees have decided to ditch pupae due to lack of food or chilling you will often see segments of bee legs on the tray. This is most noticeable during Thymol treatment in autumn where the odd colony decides to uncap a lot of brood.

[gavin]

There are often lines of slightly fibrous-looking mid-brown debris under the middle of the brood nest. I'd always assumed that this was the remains of the cocoon spun by a pupating bee, chewed off the cap of the cell and cleared out inside the cell too. The debris around this can be of different colours but is usually whitish and sometimes with sugar crystals mixed in. Wax and solidified stores I thought. Immediately around the brown line area there is often more pollen than elsewhere - but probably not at this time of year.

I'll take a picture next time I see a good example, unless anyone wants to beat me to it.

In winter it is reassuring to see as it means that the colony was raising brood late in the autumn and so the queen is in reasonable shape.

[Bridget]

This has been one of the most illuminating threads. I had no idea they would uncap stores and move them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk