Wet bees in winter

I'm gonna hopefully have a go at dribbling this year...

Two nucs ...two kids two pets a husband and a job...

I just don't have the brain power notorious the funds to allow anything technical at this stage...

I have a bee friend and a chemIst next door who I am hoping will mix my oa. ..

Unfortunately my Bees like my children will either sink or swim under their mothers limitations!!..lol..

pargyle said:

Yep ... Luddites were right there weren't they ... ?

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Trickling is still a very effective method of destroying varroa. To say otherwise is trollops. That is not to say it is the only way.
"old school"
Pretentious?
"moi"

drex said:

Neither method is difficult. Could you be over thinking this a bit. If worried about dose when dribbling, buy 10, 5ml syringes. Pre load with OA syrup, whip crown board off and off you go, one syringe ( or less depending on bee numbers) per seem. If dribbling I use one 60 ml syringe. Buy scales off eBay that will measure 0.1 gm (about £5). Api Bioxal is the approved OA treatment but expensive compared to generic OA
I tend to vape main colonies and dribble the nucs, which are all home made with access difficult for a vape. Recently made a nucs eke so I can vape from top, but it is a bit of a faff, so still dribble a few.

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If Vaping from the top using an eke what does the vapouriser sit on, presume it's not on the top of the frames as too hot and too close to the bees. I suppose a piece of wood sitting on top of the frames with the pan on top would do it. Anyone tried top box Vaping? Does it work? Presume the eke would need a space cut out for the vapouriser to go through with the cover board on top of the eke. Bit messy involving opening up the hive but that happens with trickling anyhow.

Beefriendly said:

Trickling is still a very effective method of destroying varroa. To say otherwise is trollops. That is not to say it is the only way.
"old school"
Pretentious?
"moi"

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There are still some good 'Old school' beekeeping things - just because things are 'Old school' does not make them automatically bad .. I'm not decrying OA trickling - as an effective treatment previously (when there were no inexpensive methods for delivering OA as a vapour) it worked well. There's no logic to using trickling, opening the hive in the depth of winter, pouring acidic sugar solution over your bees ....when vapourising with OA has so many superior qualities and frankly so few downsides.

And now for the English lesson ...


" noun: old school -

1. Used, usually approvingly, to refer to someone or something that is old-fashioned or traditional.

"he was one of the old school of English gentlemen"

adjective: old-school -

1. Having or adhering to old-fashioned values or ways.

"the restaurant is an old-school brasserie of the Parisian model"

- Perhaps they even refuse to serve Beaujolais Nouveau ?

nightshade said:

I'm gonna hopefully have a go at dribbling this year...

Two nucs ...two kids two pets a husband and a job...

I just don't have the brain power notorious the funds to allow anything technical at this stage...

I have a bee friend and a chemIst next door who I am hoping will mix my oa. ..

Unfortunately my Bees like my children will either sink or swim under their mothers limitations!!..lol..

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Good luck!

Lol...I'll need it @anduril!

Etton said:

If Vaping from the top using an eke what does the vapouriser sit on, presume it's not on the top of the frames as too hot and too close to the bees. I suppose a piece of wood sitting on top of the frames with the pan on top would do it. Anyone tried top box Vaping? Does it work? Presume the eke would need a space cut out for the vapouriser to go through with the cover board on top of the eke. Bit messy involving opening up the hive but that happens with trickling anyhow.

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https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32263 You could have a look at this thread, although Little John has decided not to contribute to the forum anymore.
I think Beefriendly made an eke with mesh to place on top of the frames using a vaporiser.

nightshade said:

Lol...I'll need it @anduril!

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Like everything in life, anything new always seems daunting until you have had a few goes at it, then it becomes second nature.

Anduril said:

I think Beefriendly made an eke with mesh to place on top of the frames using a vaporiser.

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I use a sublimox , not the passive varrox type.
The eke has a clear perspex cover and a hole for the nozzle.

pargyle said:

just because things are 'Old school' does not make them automatically bad ..

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But scorn is poured when one says "SO old school"! Don't you agree?

beefriendly said:

but scorn is poured when one says "so old school"! Don't you agree?

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no ...

At my place usually trickle when is temp from 2 to 5C, desirable higher humidity ( when is fog I like the most). Trickle is here considered most effective when is cluster of bees tight, and at these temps is such. Also desirable is that after trickling for some time temp maintain the same ( undesirable is warmer period after trickling - considered to decrease effectiveness). I think over 80% trickle OA than vapourize over here. We have no problem with killing the bees with trickling - I meant didn't hear someone killed them with it. Just apply 5ml of OA per seam full of bees in prescripted concentration.
Temp of solution should be about 15-20C ( wiser than me say this).
At 8C is considered here more effective vapourisation - when is cluster somewhat loose. I have no experience with vapourisation, but for me as hobby beek less fuss, safer, easier is trickle.

If you decide on Oxalic dribbling, don't forget that the solution should be lukewarm so as not to chill the bees.

On page 403 of the BBKA News for December, Bridget Beattie writes extensively about winter Oxalic Acid treatments. To add spice to this discussion, I'll repeat what she says when talking about vapourising - "Oxalic Acid should not be used more than once a year on any one colony as this may lead to bee mortality and reduce colony development." This is the lady who , in an earlier publication recommended to use of matchsticks to improve ventilation. I wonder where she gets her information from, although she has NDB after her name. My hive that has no matchsticks and was vaped 7 times in September and October and dropped 4800 mites is, apparently, doomed.

As you may guess, I favour vapourisation in winter primarily because it appears to cause less disturbance to the bees but in the interests of balance, I should inform you that I have no beekeeping qualification.

CVB

charlievictorbravo said:

As you may guess, I favour vapourisation in winter primarily because it appears to cause less disturbance to the bees but in the interests of balance, I should inform you that I have no beekeeping qualification.

CVB

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Strikes me that some of those with extensive beekeeping qualification should be taking lessons from those mere mortals with significantly less beekeeping qualifications ... one wonders where they obtain the misinformation that they portray as wisdom from ? And pass on to those gullible souls who choose to follow their misguided advice ..

pargyle said:

Strikes me that some of those with extensive beekeeping qualification should be taking lessons from those mere mortals with significantly less beekeeping qualifications ... one wonders where they obtain the misinformation that they portray as wisdom from ? And pass on to those gullible souls who choose to follow their misguided advice ..

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Better if they took their noses out of their books and stuck them into a hive now and then rather than spend their time memorising and quoting without even thinking about what they say or mean.

I may choose to put in for the general husbandry. Currently working my way through the syllabus, for my own satisfaction, and will decide about the exam later. I acquired the books on the reading list. Currently wading through " the behaviour and social life of bees" . The author presents the results of others work, which often contradict each other and then tries to make conclusions using terms such as " may" or " could" . More modern research usually gives an opposing view. The book is now so out dated, yet is still on the reading list

Well yesterday I dribbled over my bees...and then I put OA on them. Only kidding.

All seemed to go pretty well although the day was not as cold as I expected and the bees came out to meet me when I took the tops off the hives. They were quite sluggish however and I ended up taking a couple off my bee suit and putting them back into the entrance as they didn't look like they were going to make it on their own.

It was quite easy to do using a little bottle I got from Thornes which doles out the fluid in 5ml packets and took no more than a minute per hive. TBH I think it is faster than a sublimator would be for few hives although I can see one would be much more effiecient if one had to do many.

Today the bees are out and about and there were no dead ones in front of the hives. Quite what they are out and about doing I can't imagine as there are no plants out; doing their ablutions I presume.

Anyway, I'll check tomorrow to see if I have a mite drop in the main hive but I looked at the nuc box and there are no dead mites -- although it has to be said that there was no mite drop from the nuc all summer; is it possible to have a hive that has no varroa? I wouldn't think so.

Water, Pollen, toilet...