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Thread: Varroa counts

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Default Varroa counts

    Anyone else keeping a watch on their Varroa drop over the recent cold spell? Mine appear to be increasing which I suppose might be due to ever-reducing amounts of sealed brood. It's predicted to be 14oC tomorrow in contrast to a max/min of 1oC/-4oC yesterday so will be interesting to see if the increased colony activity displaces a few more of the little blighters.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Getting close to Oxalic time. I suspect there is little or no brood present at the moment.

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Doing mine tomorrow ... for that very reason. I also like the cluster to be a bit less compact ...

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    13 degrees here in Dublin and Bees flying yesterday????
    We had a lot of bees going into start of November on brood and Half. I have heard report of swarm in November from reliable source as he believed no room in brood box due to excess amounts of Ivy being collected.
    Last edited by Greengage; 07-12-2016 at 10:18 AM. Reason: hit submit button accidently.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    15c in Belfast. I checked a few nucs and a couple of colonies and they are indeed brood free.
    I'll treat in a couple of days when they are back in cluster.
    They are working like it's springtime and bringing in pollen at the moment.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    The tops of mine have all been cold for weeks so I'm assuming that this would be a good time for treatment too. This year I've decided to rely on a rather late treatment with amitraz (obtained through the Bee Farmers Association and their friendly vet) and generally leave off the oxalic but, like Jon I suspect, I'd be trickling when they've clustered in the cold rather than waiting for clusters to open.


    Heard a rumour from an association in the West that I was being prosecuted for veterinary medicines misdemeanours! Guess I'm being confused with someone else ....


    The bees were flying well here too.
    Last edited by gavin; 07-12-2016 at 03:26 PM.

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Just back from doing all mine ... some of the colonies were clearly confused by the temperature as they were running around on the landing board in the dark, before I'd even touched the hive. I sublimate so prefer the cluster to be more open. If I was a dribbler still like you and Jon I'd wait for them to cluster again.

    I started in one apiary with a head torch (no suit) and had to switch to red lights as I was getting buzzed. I tidied up by the light of the moon which, between the scudding clouds, was very bright. Colonies look good through the clear crownboards. Nice to see some bees again.

    Didn't remember your name coming up when I was recently in the Wild West ...

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    Heard a rumour from an association in the West that I was being prosecuted for veterinary medicines misdemeanours! Guess I'm being confused with someone else ....
    The bees were flying well here too.
    Interesting about the Misdemeanour, I saw in this months AN Beachaire the Irish beekeping magazine an advertisment from a British company who will supply medicines via mail, I thought this could not be imported without a licence and I have to sign for it when I purchase. must be a mistake in the magazine. ( Oh your probably outside Europe so these conditions dont apply )
    We also have a new product available called APIVAR it is available from a company called Veto Pharm of France and they have been given a temporary licence to sell APIVAR on to the Irish Market for Varroa treatment. it says available from usual stockists anyway I dont require it but I asked about getting it and guess what, None of the scockists have it . I asked my supplier why he sells chemicals and describes them as medicines, he reckoned because they are licenced, wonder what the correct term here is.

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Mite drops somewhat variable. Some colonies with very low natural drops have produced a surprisingly* good number. Others have been exceedingly low. Quite a difference between apiaries.

    * disappointingly, though better on the tray than in the colony.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    I put correx boards under a couple of colonies I have in double Paynes nucs and one had a drop of about 150 and the other about 70 mites after 48 hours.
    These colonies were treated with Apilife Var in August.
    Definitely worth treating as there will be more mites dropping over the next couple of weeks.

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