Mite Washing Dead Bees ( March 2021 )

[@daisyshoney6021]

Many Beekeepers I have spoken to, have complain about the Apivar quality control this past year. . When you look at the frames, check for a Queen or brood. Maybe the hives were Queen-less. Save some of the honey frames and freeze them Use those frames for the new packages, ( If No disease was found)

[@FernvalleyFarm]

thats what i wonder about being queenless kept happening last year to everyone , and im going to start fogging more instead of apivar wondering if the mites got them and the apivar did nothing its to expencive if its not working right appreciat all your advice this is very discoraging at times

[@strugglingbeekeepermarkcot9642]

Great video buddy thanks for sharing. It is hard to tell what got them. I would say it was the cold weather.

[@FernvalleyFarm]

thanks im thinking the mites might have been bad . i still need to get into the rest of them

[@nmhoneyandbees5117]

Hello again my friend, the horses is definitely a good idea, as for the bees, the two hives you opened up, from what I saw, didn't have a gut or intestinal diseases, if they did you would see it on the top of the frames, so I think you can dismiss that, more than likely, if you had very high mite drop when you treated in autumn, then I suspect that the damage to the winter bees was already done, as a rule of thumb, for every mite on a bee, there are three in one capped cell, and that would have been your winter bee brood, so when they hatched, they were already weakened, as the mites would have already been feeding on their extra fat cells they need to get them through winter and the energy required to vibrate their wing muscles to keep the cluster warm, so they slowly drop off the outside of the cluster until you are left with the some dead ones still on the comb, it's called isolation starvation, where they just can't produce enough warmth to keep themselves warm enough to reach the food, that would give them extra energy to provide the strength to keep warm, plus apivar is beginning to get a bad reputation of not being able to effectively kill the mites, I think it is a quality control thing, it's pot luck if you get a good batch or not, but I think it was probably the mites in late summer and autumn when the Queen is laying eggs for the winter fat bees, that caused the damage, before winter set in, sorry for your losses, but you can still use the frames and the stores on them, for new splits or bees you buy in, because as far as I can see, it was not due to diseases that you need to worry about, so all good on that one, anyway we'll see a bit more on your next video, so until then, love to the family, and stay safe my friend,

[@FernvalleyFarm]

thank you for all the good advice yea im tinking the same thing mites little bastards LOL im starting to wonder about apivar and just fog what is your thoughts on that ?

[@nmhoneyandbees5117]

@@FernvalleyFarm I use oxalic acid vaporisation, I do it five times, five days between each vaporisation to cover the brood cycle, I also use apitraz or apistan strips, which I have found to be the best, well for me they work very well, with very high mite kill, I alternate the strips each year, and also oxalic vape now and then, especially in the colder months of November December

[@FernvalleyFarm]

@@nmhoneyandbees5117 thank you im needing to change things up

[@springcitybeefarm5971]

I would wash bees in cluster , mites will move bee to bee to keep warm in cluster less mites on bees dying on outside , I find protein is a key for producing strong winter bees I don’t depend any longer on fall pollen some years is seems to lack all what Is needed by bees to create fat winter bees witch to me explains the large drop in numbers you seeing look this year also to insure your bees have ample protein starting in late July early aug . Best wishes on rebuilding your apiary god bless .