mischief 139 Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 I finally got a good day to inspect the hives today. I had seen A drone a couple of weeks ago at Tahi's entrance- didnt see any sign of drone brood inside today, so no idea where it came from. It was mainly to get used to doing inspections again and make sure the brood looked all good- yep n' nice calm, good looking pearly brood, nice caps, didnt see eggs or the Queens but I wasnt really looking for them, heaps of pollen and only one moldy old play cup. One thing I noticed was with Rua, I had painted the top inside edges of the hive, hoping this would lessen the amount of propolis along these edges and it so far seems to have worked. So much easier to get the frames up and out with out 'fighting' them....oh and I just love my pointy edged frame grip/hate the round nosed one. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Maru Hoani 634 Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 On 8/1/2020 at 10:49 AM, jamesc said: Yo ..... a big thanks to the staff at NZ Beeswax for sharing their secrets with us the other day. It's always a great moral booster to actually eyeball the person one is talking to and get that social interaction. Tania showed us the new product from Bayer ..... the Bayergate mite strip that sits at the hive entrance and has holes that the bees squeeze through, rubbing themselves with pesticide. I like the idea that one didn't have to open up the hive to administer them ..... just make up a whole heap of 'carriers' in the shed on a wet day and tuck them in the entrance, much like a mouse guard. No skill needed for that job ! I would have been curious too see the frame washer, but I gotta go to Hamilton for that. Finally, seen the video a few years back and was wondering how long it would be before it would come out. Hopefully they slide into the smart bottom board entrances. Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisM 1,252 Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 9 hours ago, Maru Hoani said: Finally, seen the video a few years back and was wondering how long it would be before it would come out. Hopefully they slide into the smart bottom board entrances. It seems odd to be treating foragers instead of nurse bees. I guess it could stop reinvasion, but first you have to get the mites out of the brood nest. There are some parallels with Covid 19, community transmission and border control (?). I've designed several 3d printed entrances that try to combine elements of robbing guard, wasp tunnel, decoy area and screw on the outside of hive/nuc box. It would be fun to make one poorly that was porous so as to have a wet region where OAG was topped up in a reservoir and created a wet area with surface tension in the liquid making the entrance tunnel wet so the foragers walked it around the hive. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Alastair 8,565 Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 6 hours ago, ChrisM said: It seems odd to be treating foragers instead of nurse bees. You are right Chris, my own gut feel is it will not work especially well. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Dennis Crowley 1,324 Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 5 hours ago, Alastair said: You are right Chris, my own gut feel is it will not work especially well. They have been using it for about 3yrs in Europe with good results 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisM 1,252 Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 11 hours ago, Dennis Crowley said: They have been using it for about 3yrs in Europe with good results On the continent, if the hives have a broodless period in winter and all the mites are phoretic that could be a factor (same as the use of OA Vapour in Europe). After they have been running it for 3 years in Hawaii with brood all year round, that will get my attention... However, it is great that people are developing new ideas and trying them, I'm all for it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,755 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 A neighbour came up to visit today. He has an awesome property full of fruit trees and Kowhai and small sheltered paddocks that would probably make great Nuc sites. He has dabbled in bees for years, and rings many a spring to say his bees have died and would I have a spare nuc. This year is different. He has decided to retire from bees and offered me a permanent site so he could get his fruit trees pollinated. My neighbour knows heaps about everything and got talking about sodium, and how had I ever noticed how the bees liked to sup from dirty puddles. Sort of. He went on to say he was talking to another beekeeper a while ago who commented that one of his best sites is on a Natural farm with good sodium soil levels. My neighbour tells me his property now also has good levels of soil sodium. Big Hmm here. Bees thrive on soil sodium ..... drawn up by plants and secreted in nectar . Anyone for Glyphosate ..... ? The circle of life is a bit like computers...... rubbish in , rubbish out. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
tommy dave 1,166 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 1 hour ago, jamesc said: My neighbour knows heaps about everything sounds like all of us i'm likely to be fairly peripatetic over spring. Imagine us drinking speights and spouting our respective views on carbon credits or, even worse, me trying to survive a day of real/commercial beekeeping Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,755 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Perfect. Perhaps we should organise a night to wsrm the Honky Tonk .... the final stages of the Covid project. Perhaps we could get a celebrity Unicorn to play Piano... The interesting and enlightening thing about this project is that it was built mosyly from junk we had lieing around . 3 Link to post Share on other sites
tommy dave 1,166 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 not sure how legit this is, but looks like there is some fairly cheap honey out there Honey For Coins – Just another WordPress site HONEYFORCOINS.CO.NZ Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,755 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Why not bid and see what you get ..... like the auctioneer said at the Coalgate Cattle sales today ...... $150 for a yearling heifer . " stick some green grass in her and bring 'er back in two months and treble yer money !" Link to post Share on other sites
tommy dave 1,166 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 2 minutes ago, jamesc said: Why not bid and see what you get ..... like the auctioneer said at the Coalgate Cattle sales today ...... $150 for a yearling heifer . " stick some green grass in her and bring 'er back in two months and treble yer money !" helped manhandle a calf out of a ditch on saturday arvo. Dead on monday. saved on ammo cost i guess. Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,755 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Yep ..... you gotta be born lucky to get outta life alive ...! Link to post Share on other sites
yesbut 6,184 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 9 hours ago, tommy dave said: not sure how legit this is, but looks like there is some fairly cheap honey out there Honey For Coins – Just another WordPress site HONEYFORCOINS.CO.NZ Looks like someone's taking the mickey...bids all $30k Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie James 877 Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 Just got another booking for my queen cell tut in Leeston on Sunday. Can take several more. 15 degrees here today. Have a cuppa and give the grafting yard a quick slurp of syrup. Varroa levels incredibly low 1 Link to post Share on other sites
CHCHPaul 472 Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 My bees are loving this weather. They seem to be on a flow up in the valley’s. Barely a cell to spare. Had to undersuper (brood) a couple of singles today and have at least one double with 6-7 frames of brood. If we don’t get some rain and cooler weather soon there could be swarming probs on the horizon... (got some photos to put up but they keep uploading sideways... any ideas @Grant? - I’m on an iPhone, but it has only been a problem for a few months) Link to post Share on other sites
kevin moore 676 Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 22 hours ago, jamesc said: Perfect. Perhaps we should organise a night to wsrm the Honky Tonk .... the final stages of the Covid project. Perhaps we could get a celebrity Unicorn to play Piano... The interesting and enlightening thing about this project is that it was built mosyly from junk we had lieing around . a blind man would be pleased to see it, awesome and even the rustic door stop. Link to post Share on other sites
Grant 4,277 Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 58 minutes ago, CHCHPaul said: (got some photos to put up but they keep uploading sideways... any ideas @Grant? - I’m on an iPhone, but it has only been a problem for a few months) Iphone or probably more likely safari always seems to have this issue. Yet I cant get to replicate it on my work iphone. suggestions - try chrome, use the gallery as you can rotate in that. in time - there is an upgrade coming that will allow you to use an app to view the forum, so that might also fix it. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post Stoney 1,566 Posted August 7 Popular Post Share Posted August 7 52 minutes ago, CHCHPaul said: My bees are loving this weather. They seem to be on a flow up in the valley’s. Barely a cell to spare. and have at least one double with 6-7 frames of brood. If we don’t get some rain and cooler weather soon there could be swarming probs on the horizon... I agree, went through a site today below the mountain, dew is really stimulating them.. majority of the 28 have drone brood between the brood boxes, slabs of healthy brood and fresh white wax glueing them up.. surprised to see them this advanced with Queen cups built in the strongest.. I’ll pull the grunty ones out and use them as my cell raisers. Was 2 colonies here that missed the autumn varroa treatment somehow.. both have visible mites and were given meds and emerging brood to aid recovery. Definately too early for me to have this strength. They will be split into my weakest site next round. 5 Link to post Share on other sites
yesbut 6,184 Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 Tree Lucerne having a great run here. First sting of the new season today. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,755 Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 18 hours ago, Stoney said: I agree, went through a site today below the mountain, dew is really stimulating them.. majority of the 28 have drone brood between the brood boxes, slabs of healthy brood and fresh white wax glueing them up.. surprised to see them this advanced with Queen cups built in the strongest.. I’ll pull the grunty ones out and use them as my cell raisers. Was 2 colonies here that missed the autumn varroa treatment somehow.. both have visible mites and were given meds and emerging brood to aid recovery. Definately too early for me to have this strength. They will be split into my weakest site next round. Hmmm .... the power of Bayvarol eh 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi Bee 589 Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 On 6/08/2020 at 8:34 AM, ChrisM said: On the continent, if the hives have a broodless period in winter and all the mites are phoretic that could be a factor (same as the use of OA Vapour in Europe). After they have been running it for 3 years in Hawaii with brood all year round, that will get my attention... However, it is great that people are developing new ideas and trying them, I'm all for it. They may work well if someone is using bayvarol strips in the same time. But the costs then........ Link to post Share on other sites
john berry 5,582 Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 What has happened to the marketplace section on the forum. Have I missed something. Link to post Share on other sites
Stoney 1,566 Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 6 hours ago, jamesc said: Hmmm .... the power of Bayvarol eh Certainly done it’s job jimmy.. and now the spring build up varroa battle begins.. what have you decided to use as spring medicine this time round? Link to post Share on other sites
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