Fish and Chips
21/01/12 14:32
FISH AND CHIPS FOR BEES !
Not quite but Bob Bradshaw uses a salt shaker from the fish and chip shop, filled with icing sugar, for his bees - please read on.
The new year is already here and the oxalic acid treatment still hasn’t been done.
It makes you wonder what to do.
We have not yet had the frost that is recommended before
giving the treatment. I have just had a phone call from Bob Bradshaw who has, this very morning, treated his bees with oxalic acid and he reports the bees were not in a proper cluster - sort of half and half. He fears he may have done more harm than good. I must admit I have no advice to offer him.
You are dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t in this situation. Personally I think I will wait for the frost then give it ten days for most of the grubs to be capped over and then treat. If we don’t get the frost, I will abandon the oxalic treatment and treat with Hive Clean or whatever as soon as is possible.
The weather being what it is, the bees will most certainly be consuming their stores faster than is normally the case, so heft the hives and put candy on, or better still sugar fondant if you are in any doubt about the weight.
We are still talking about the dreaded varroa. Let me tell you about a talk I had with Bob Bradshaw the other week. Bob does not use any chemical treatment on his bees - ever! For the last two years or so he has had no problem with his bees. They over Winter well, produce a reasonable amount of honey and do well all-round.
Bob just uses icing sugar to which, JUST ONCE in a series of treatments, he adds oxalic acid.
Bob took me through his method in detail and this is it.
He thinks the excessive amount of icing sugar he uses is the reason for his success. When he gets into the hive he takes out two or three of the empty frames from the sides to giving him room. Still in the hive, he can now pull two frames apart at the top but holding the frames together at the bottom so as to form a ‘V’ between the two frames.
Using an old fish and chip shop salt shaker, he shakes the
sugar on to the bees on both frames very liberally. He agrees it looks to be excessive but he believes it is doing no harm to the bees. He continues making a V with each pair of frames until every bee in the hive is well covered in icing sugar. This he does about every three weeks or so throughout the Winter months.
He tells me that very little of the sugar finds its way down onto the varroa insert and the day after treatment the varroa can easily be counted to see just how many have been knocked down. He also says that if the hive is opened a couple of hours after the treatment there are very few signs that the sugar was ever there, and all the bees are clean and tidy.
Bob is very enthusiastic about this way of ridding his hives of varroa so I may give it a try on one of my hives this year.
As I am a fanatic black bee keeper, I received an invitation to a jamboree at Burnley town hall organised by Off Shoots to celebrate a very prestigious award. They have won Third prize in the International Best Green Educational and Sustainability Awareness Project
I suppose it is comparable with wining a bronze medal in the Olympic games. They are very proud indeed. Their latest video on beekeeping at Towneley is available at www.gwpl.co.uk Click on You Tube icon (Bottom right of the screen) then Bees in the Borough. It is well worth a look.
All the very best to you all in the coming New Year
Arthur and Bill
The new year is already here and the oxalic acid treatment still hasn’t been done.
It makes you wonder what to do.
We have not yet had the frost that is recommended before
You are dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t in this situation. Personally I think I will wait for the frost then give it ten days for most of the grubs to be capped over and then treat. If we don’t get the frost, I will abandon the oxalic treatment and treat with Hive Clean or whatever as soon as is possible.
The weather being what it is, the bees will most certainly be consuming their stores faster than is normally the case, so heft the hives and put candy on, or better still sugar fondant if you are in any doubt about the weight.
We are still talking about the dreaded varroa. Let me tell you about a talk I had with Bob Bradshaw the other week. Bob does not use any chemical treatment on his bees - ever! For the last two years or so he has had no problem with his bees. They over Winter well, produce a reasonable amount of honey and do well all-round.
Bob just uses icing sugar to which, JUST ONCE in a series of treatments, he adds oxalic acid.
Bob took me through his method in detail and this is it.
He thinks the excessive amount of icing sugar he uses is the reason for his success. When he gets into the hive he takes out two or three of the empty frames from the sides to giving him room. Still in the hive, he can now pull two frames apart at the top but holding the frames together at the bottom so as to form a ‘V’ between the two frames.
Using an old fish and chip shop salt shaker, he shakes the
He tells me that very little of the sugar finds its way down onto the varroa insert and the day after treatment the varroa can easily be counted to see just how many have been knocked down. He also says that if the hive is opened a couple of hours after the treatment there are very few signs that the sugar was ever there, and all the bees are clean and tidy.
Bob is very enthusiastic about this way of ridding his hives of varroa so I may give it a try on one of my hives this year.
As I am a fanatic black bee keeper, I received an invitation to a jamboree at Burnley town hall organised by Off Shoots to celebrate a very prestigious award. They have won Third prize in the International Best Green Educational and Sustainability Awareness Project
I suppose it is comparable with wining a bronze medal in the Olympic games. They are very proud indeed. Their latest video on beekeeping at Towneley is available at www.gwpl.co.uk Click on You Tube icon (Bottom right of the screen) then Bees in the Borough. It is well worth a look.
All the very best to you all in the coming New Year
Arthur and Bill
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