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Thread: todays news

  1. #3721
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    In all honesty I would be very reluctant to go through bees at this time of year. Intellectually I know it can be done safely but instinctively I feel this is their time of year and I don't want to disturb them.
    As for being Q- well not having been in for some 6 weeks now if not more then I don't know, and if they are they are and if not then great.
    Where people are getting the idea that it is ok to be going through them like a swarm inspection I just don't know. I actually read the other day this question. "When is it safe to stop swarm inspections?" They were still hunting swarm cells in mid October in the UK.

    There is so much information out there and so much of it is unfit for us. I put up a slide on Tuesday night warning the class off from Youtube et all.

    PH

  2. #3722

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    I would prefer not go rummaging myself either. I assume the Q was not marked. Are there any drones present in the colony? If yes then maybe there is a problem but brood rearing really tailed off sharpish for my colonies in August so I would not be surprised if the Q is just taking a break.

  3. #3723
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    If the colony was calm it almost certainly has a queen in it. Whether it is a virgin or a non laying queen is a matter of waiting until Spring.
    Mid October it is not unusual at all to have a broodless colony especially if the weather has been bad for a few weeks.

  4. #3724
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Poly Hive View Post
    Where people are getting the idea that it is ok to be going through them like a swarm inspection I just don't know. I actually read the other day this question. "When is it safe to stop swarm inspections?" They were still hunting swarm cells in mid October.

    PH
    As a beginner you are taught to inspect every week. You get your bees in summer and you inspect every week. And there’s no trainer to tell you when to stop bothering the bees. I was lucky to find this forum right at the beginning of my beekeeping and soon picked up it was not ok to be going through your bees weekly in September. However it was only later I found out about winter brood etc.



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  5. #3725

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    Quote Originally Posted by Poly Hive View Post
    In all honesty I would be very reluctant to go through bees at this time of year. Intellectually I know it can be done safely but instinctively I feel this is their time of year and I don't want to disturb them.
    As for being Q- well not having been in for some 6 weeks now if not more then I don't know, and if they are they are and if not then great.
    Where people are getting the idea that it is ok to be going through them like a swarm inspection I just don't know. I actually read the other day this question. "When is it safe to stop swarm inspections?" They were still hunting swarm cells in mid October in the UK.

    There is so much information out there and so much of it is unfit for us. I put up a slide on Tuesday night warning the class off from Youtube et all.

    PH
    A swarm in October ?
    Not if you are Sober !


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  6. #3726
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    A colony definitely broodless in October is a good candidate for OA* trickling ... there will still be mites left over from the late summer treatment and, if they're all phoretic, they're easy to get. By January, many colonies have started rearing brood again.

    You could do some calculations, but I bet that 95% knockdown of all mites now would be preferable - in terms of mite numbers by late Spring - to 95% of the phoretic population once the colony has brood in early January.

    I treated with OA last year in late November after a protracted cold period. I didn't check for brood but someone - FD perhaps? - commented that their colonies were broodless when checked about the same time. My Varroa levels this year have been really low.

    * I mean Api-Bioxal of course

  7. #3727
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatshark View Post
    A colony definitely broodless in October is a good candidate for OA* trickling ... there will still be mites left over from the late summer treatment and, if they're all phoretic, they're easy to get. By January, many colonies have started rearing brood again.

    You could do some calculations, but I bet that 95% knockdown of all mites now would be preferable - in terms of mite numbers by late Spring - to 95% of the phoretic population once the colony has brood in early January.

    I treated with OA last year in late November after a protracted cold period. I didn't check for brood but someone - FD perhaps? - commented that their colonies were broodless when checked about the same time. My Varroa levels this year have been really low.

    * I mean Api-Bioxal of course
    Totally agree with this FS. Treating a broodless colony now to mop up phoretic (and in my experience "less fit end of year Varroa") would probably be far better than waiting until January.

  8. #3728
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    In theory I completely agree but..........I am not pulling frames at the moment to see and the reason why not is simple. It is still quite warm and the bees I am quite sure in my mind have brood as I seeing a constant stream of pollen going in. So over the last ten years I hyave been using OA trickle in January. In late April and May I have been checking drone brood which as we all know is 8 times more attractive to the mites so that is where they should be in droves. Not found a one yet. I pick open fifty or more cells and put the frame back feeling quite happy with the situation. Now as long as that test works for me and the bees look healthy which they do, and produce honey which they do, then I am happy.

    Going back to poking around in October are people not going on courses to learn these things or reading books now? Or is it all oh I'll find out what I need from the pool of misinformation that the web is?

    PH

  9. #3729
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    I wasn't commenting on whether we should be rummaging around in colonies at this time, just that if they were broodless (which you'd discovered because there were doubts about the queen or whatever) then I'd treat. I've got several colonies I've not looked in since the first week of August.

    GG and I had cause to go through some colonies with vanishingly (desperately?) low levels of brood a few days ago which, under other circumstances, were ideal for treatment.

    Here's another thought, and possibly one for GG ...

    A broodless colony in midwinter has the highest (100%) proportion of phoretic mites. If the colony starts rearing brood, do they get heavily infested with mites? In relative terms there are lots of mites in the colony per late stage larva. Or are the mites "not very fit"?

    If they do get heavily infested, it has potentially dire consequences for the very early season build-up of the colony ...

  10. #3730
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatshark View Post
    I wasn't commenting on whether we should be rummaging around in colonies at this time, just that if they were broodless (which you'd discovered because there were doubts about the queen or whatever) then I'd treat. I've got several colonies I've not looked in since the first week of August.

    GG and I had cause to go through some colonies with vanishingly (desperately?) low levels of brood a few days ago which, under other circumstances, were ideal for treatment.

    Here's another thought, and possibly one for GG ...

    A broodless colony in midwinter has the highest (100%) proportion of phoretic mites. If the colony starts rearing brood, do they get heavily infested with mites? In relative terms there are lots of mites in the colony per late stage larva. Or are the mites "not very fit"?

    If they do get heavily infested, it has potentially dire consequences for the very early season build-up of the colony ...
    Oh fun.

    I would wager that even in a non-treated colony a fair proportion of phoretic mites don't survive very long in winter anyway and those that do might not be in optimum reproductive state, at least come first brood rearing. In fact I wonder if in general these survivors use the early brood as, in effect, a hide out and to regain fitness - rather than to kick start full-on reproduction ? They would still be transmitting DWV but maybe not at the same rate ?

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