Wet supers returned to hive and then...?

[Swarm]

Every time I tried this rain got in between the boxes, filled the lug gulleys and turned combs grey and mouldy.

I tried it only once, not supers thankfully but spare broods. I gave up that idea after seeing how sodden they were getting and got them all under cover to dry out.

 

[deadcertie]

People with that many hives aren't foolish enough to leave supers full of honey on all winter - remove, extract, treat and feed
simples

And the uncapped/partially filled supers? These need to be stored somewhere before treatment, yes?

 

[deadcertie]

Just replying to the hive 1 bit. It sounds as though, from bottom to top, you have BB, QE, empty super, wet frames in another super. You need.... BB, crown board with small hole in, eke, wet frames in super. They will clean the wet frames out. The way you have it now is that they will just use the super with the wet frames in. Not sure if you have frames in the empty super but if not then you may be getting comb built in there!
I may have the wrong end of the stick as usual but feel free to correct me if I have!

I now underdstand what you meant and where you were coming from. You didnt have the wrong end the stick. Thanks for that.

 

[Erichalfbee]

?
Treating for varroa with nadir super: that super is surely unfit for consumption the following years, no?

Depends what you use.
MAQS or Formic pro and OAV are ok

 

[Erichalfbee]

Regarding wasp attack. Planned on freezing uncapped supers from other hives for a couple of days and putting them in super under the BB of weak hive when Autumn kicks in property. Also with mouse guard

Not a mouse guard. Too difficult to defend. Reduced entrance maybe with one of enrico’s tunnels.

 

[deadcertie]

Depends what you use.
MAQS or Formic pro and OAV are ok

Apistan so need to remove them, judging from your reply.

I really thought I was missing something but it would appear to be a case of removing and storing the supers, that could not be extracted, for 6-8 weeks.

Thank you for getting back to me.

 

[deadcertie]

Not a mouse guard. Too difficult to defend. Reduced entrance maybe with one of enrico’s tunnels.

I have already reduced the entrance to about an inch. But yes, will look into that too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Apistan so need to remove them, judging from your reply.

I really thought I was missing something but it would appear to be a case of removing and storing the supers, that could not be extracted, for 6-8 weeks.

Thank you for getting back to me.

If you are thinking if storing supers you can’t extract then spun off the honey and feed it back to the bees or put them above a reduced hole crownboard with an empty super above the crownboard That way the bees will rob the honey down and the supers should be safe from the Apistan
May I ask why you are using Apistan? Varroa are considered largely resistant.

 

[deadcertie]

If you are thinking if storing supers you can’t extract then spun off the honey and feed it back to the bees or put them above a reduced hole crownboard with an empty super above the crownboard That way the bees will rob the honey down and the supers should be safe from the Apistan
May I ask why you are using Apistan? Varroa are considered largely resistant.

Not returning honey to hive, if that is what you meant. That's in jars...

I did look at various Youtube videos (to see what you guys mentioned as to how to return wet supers) and will delay treatment until after wet supers have been cleared. I will use an extra empty super above crown board and reduce hole with CD.

This is what I based my decision on:
https://www.vita-europe.com/beehealth/blog/the-continuing-effectivess-of-apistanThough, i have noticed other articles that contradict the link above, like you say. That being said, i have not seen any dead mites on bottom drawers so last years OA treatment seems to have done the trick. Merely preventative. I will treat again with OA in december. But based on no mites present at all atm winter bees will be healthy.

 

[drex]

If using Apistan, this is a good authoritative article
https://www.theapiarist.org/apistan-redux†/
Just because there are no varroa on the monitoring board does not mean there are none on the bees. It is a very poor indicator. Better to do a one off OAVape then look a few days later.
I do my winter OA vape end of Nov/ early Dec. This is when they are most likely to have minimum brood

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

?
Treating for varroa with nadir super: that super is surely unfit for consumption the following years, no?

it will be empty so no problem

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not returning honey to hive, if that is what you meant. That's in jars..

I thought you were talking about uncapped honey that you couldn’t extract.

 

[Erichalfbee]

But based on no mites present at all atm winter bees will be healthy.

Believe me, natural drop is no indication of infestation. You need to do a sugar roll or an accelerated drop. I have very few varroa dropping on my boards which I keep in most of the year. I use OAV so the first treatment serves as an accelerated drop. There are some colonies that drop hundreds in the first 24 hours in the face of no inspection tray evidence.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This is what I based my decision on:
https://www.vita-europe.com/beehealth/blog/the-continuing-effectivess-of-apistan

of course they'd say that - they are trying to sell the damned stuff to you.
Better off avoiding the stuff totally and using something that mites have not managed to develop a tolerance to (like thymol based products) that would also save the annual hand wringing of getting the shallows 'contaminated'

 

[deadcertie]

Believe me, natural drop is no indication of infestation. You need to do a sugar roll or an accelerated drop. I have very few varroa dropping on my boards which I keep in most of the year. I use OAV so the first treatment serves as an accelerated drop. There are some colonies that drop hundreds in the first 24 hours in the face of no inspection tray evidence.

I haven't a single one. None at all: collect all the debris and check under microscope every fortnight ish. Am v surprised tbh.

 

[deadcertie]

of course they'd say that - they are trying to sell the damned stuff to you.
Better off avoiding the stuff totally and using something that mites have not managed to develop a tolerance to (like thymol based products) that would also save the annual hand wringing of getting the shallows 'contaminated'

I will bear it in mind for next treatment after the OA one in Dec. Have heard horror stories about thymol killing off queen and brood. Then again, all treatments have pros and cons...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I haven't a single one. None at all: collect all the debris and check under microscope every fortnight ish. Am v surprised tbh.

Do a sugar roll
If you still have no mites then don’t t treat with anything and breed from this queen.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Have heard horror stories about thymol killing off queen and brood

never heard of anything like that - MAQS maybe but not thymol products

 

[pargyle]

I will bear it in mind for next treatment after the OA one in Dec. Have heard horror stories about thymol killing off queen and brood. Then again, all treatments have pros and cons...

Thymol does not harm the queen or brood ... you are probably hearing about MAQS which is formic acid based and there are plenty of examples where it has damaged queens and brood ... it's a powerful product and when used when it is too warm, in too much concentration and without enough space in the colony being treated it can be detrimental -although it is an effective varroacide.

 

[deadcertie]

Thymol does not harm the queen or brood ... you are probably hearing about MAQS which is formic acid based and there are plenty of examples where it has damaged queens and brood ... it's a powerful product and when used when it is too warm, in too much concentration and without enough space in the colony being treated it can be detrimental -although it is an effective varroacide.

You are right pargyle, so much info. It was MAQS I read about (formic acid) not thymol.