Where are my bees?

Welcome to NZ Beekeepers+
Would you like to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign up
15
7
Auckland
Experience
Hobbyist
Checked hive 1 last week and have the same thing, not as many bees, even after treatments, so need to reduce 2 x 3/4 boxes down to one. But the queen has laid in 8 brood frames…….any suggestions on how to do this?
 
8,865
5,295
maungaturoto
Experience
Commercial
Checked hive 1 last week and have the same thing, not as many bees, even after treatments, so need to reduce 2 x 3/4 boxes down to one. But the queen has laid in 8 brood frames…….any suggestions on how to do this?
if your down to brood boxes then don't. work on getting the hive up to strength instead.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Alastair
8,865
5,295
maungaturoto
Experience
Commercial
Thanks, at least I do have honey frames in the freezer for them going forward. Worst season for varroa/DWV so far.
thats something i don't like to see. afb 101. (assuming its honey for feeding back to the bees not empty frames)
plus it would have been better in the hive, i'm assuming the other brood box is empty.

honey in the hive, bit of pollen supplement if you can (tho its still rather warm so may be pulling in pollen), a bit of thin syrup to stimulate them.
get breeding up and running for a bit, especially in this warm temps.
get the bee number built up and most importantly well fed varroa free bees before weather cool down.

the faster the recovery is now the higher chances of survival is.

for the future.
obviously you need better mite treatment. what will make this difficult is the amount of hives being poorly treated or abandoned at the moment.
winter down the hive better. take off the supers early and let the bees pack stores into the brood. swap out frames if required.
then you don't need to do anything over winter. also no honey for the hive being stored, no afb risk etc.
nice and simple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NickWallingford
15
7
Auckland
Experience
Hobbyist
Thanks for that.
I have read a lot over the years on this forum about treatment, disease, wintering down etc. which I appreciate, its a wealth of information.
I alternate with Apivar and Bayvarol but am considering oxalic strips/Apivar next, then reintroduce Bayvarol in a few years then do the same with Apivar....what else can one do if there is chemical resistance!?
I try and winter down late February and jam them in as you recommend, particularly as at this time, each year, someone's bees are hungry and come looking, they were sniffing around the other day too.
Every year I store full frames of their honey to give back to them.
I have given them pollen patties and replaced a few half empty honey frames with full ones, will add syrup too, and hope they pull through.
When you only have a couple of hives it does take longer to become proficient but I have no qualms asking a very experienced beekeeper to have a look if I am unsure when disease checking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant
8,865
5,295
maungaturoto
Experience
Commercial
When you only have a couple of hives it does take longer to become proficient
experience yes, when you have hundreds/thousands of hives you get to see things most hobbyist would never see.
skills, not necessarily so. there is plenty of long term and even commercial beekeepers who make rookie mistakes.
a lot of it comes down to the bad habits they where originally taught and thats very very hard to undo.

for eg i saw a social media post the other day from a local beek and they said one of the most basic beginners misinformation.
but these guys are 25 year beeks and are currently commercial beeks.

this is why i tend to push hard on people doing things right from day one. otherwise you end up like those guys getting it wrong 25 years later.
like storing honey frames. you get away with it until afb hits and then it all goes to custard and everyone else ends up with it and having to clean up the mess.

beekeeping is a long game. i know 50 year beeks who say they are still learning new things. we all have to keep improving.
I alternate with Apivar and Bayvarol but am considering oxalic strips/Apivar next, then reintroduce Bayvarol in a few years then do the same with Apivar....what else can one do if there is chemical resistance!?
if you swap out bayvarol you really need to not use it for around 4 years. we had resistance 12 years ago or so, apivar is the only thing that worked for a long time. but the catch today is that is it also depends on what everyone else is using around you. if everyone else around you only uses bayvarol then when you switch back your no better off.

alterative treatments come with risks. unfortunately way to many beginners are jumping boots in and ending up with dead hives.
you need good beekeeping skills and experience first, otherwise your just rolling the dice.
one of the classic failures i've seen over the years is people trying it on all their hives at once. a smart person would use it one/few hives first to get the kinks worked out before applying it on all of them.
I try and winter down late February and jam them in as you recommend, particularly as at this time, each year, someone's bees are hungry and come looking, they were sniffing around the other day too.
this is why you always want good strength hives going into winter. they will defend against robbers and wasps just fine.
 

Mummzie

Staff member
1,284
1,161
Tasman
Experience
Hobbyist
I have read a lot over the years on this forum about treatment, disease, wintering down etc. which I appreciate, its a wealth of information.
I alternate with Apivar and Bayvarol but am considering oxalic strips/Apivar next, then reintroduce Bayvarol in a few years then do the same with Apivar....what else can one do if there is chemical resistance!?
have you considered it may be something other than varroa? ie, get a sample tested for nosema.
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
have you considered it may be something other than varroa? ie, get a sample tested for nosema.
I will add my own comment. Nosematosis is characterised by a disease of the bees' intestines, and is manifested by traces of diarrhoea in the hive. (for northern countries) your climate allows for cleaning flights, but I can assume that traces of diarrhoea will still be present.
Try to get tested for Acarapis wudi trachea mite. The disease is called acarapidosis. It could be the cause of the weakening and death of the colonies.
 

yesbut

Staff member
11,939
7,039
Nelson
Experience
Hobbyist
Chill Bro, I'm just pointing out in case you weren't aware that Acarapis has not been detected here yet.
 
109
75
Russia
Experience
International
Chill Bro, I'm just pointing out in case you weren't aware that Acarapis has not been detected here yet.
You should at least see the "patient" in order to diagnose anything.
What I meant to say was that countries interact with each other and different diseases are carried in the same way. And it's not necessarily the case that the set of diseases you're used to will remain constant.
 
8,865
5,295
maungaturoto
Experience
Commercial
I will add my own comment. Nosematosis is characterised by a disease of the bees' intestines, and is manifested by traces of diarrhoea in the hive. (for northern countries) your climate allows for cleaning flights, but I can assume that traces of diarrhoea will still be present.
Try to get tested for Acarapis wudi trachea mite. The disease is called acarapidosis. It could be the cause of the weakening and death of the colonies.
diarrhoea from Nosema api is usually not to bad, not a known cause of big issues. nosema cerane that can be a different ball game.
tracheal mites is a very remote possibility. but we also do have surveillance programs to detect those.

but at the moment there is a lot of poorly done mite treatments going on, a lot of people walking away from hives. so mite reinvasion is highly likely.
there is also claims of "no mite treatment is working" which sounds like a lot of PPBK (bad beekeeping).
 
3
0
France
Experience
International
Checked hive 1 last week and have the same thing, not as many bees, even after treatments, so need to reduce 2 x 3/4 boxes down to one. But the queen has laid in 8 brood frames…….any suggestions on how to do this?
If you have noticed a decrease in the number of bees in your hive, there could be a variety of reasons for this. Some possible causes include pests or diseases, a lack of food or resources, or problems with the queen or the hive itself. Here are a few suggestions for how you can reduce your hive down to one box:

  • Combine the two boxes into one: If you have two boxes that are both 3/4 full, you can try combining the two boxes into one. This can help to keep the bees more compact and can also make it easier to manage the hive. Just be sure to carefully inspect each frame and remove any dead bees or debris, and try to keep the frames in the same order as they were in the original boxes.
  • Remove some of the frames: If you have more than eight frames of brood, you may need to remove some of the frames to reduce the size of the hive. Try to remove frames that have the least amount of brood or honey, and leave the frames with the most resources for the bees to use.
  • Consider splitting the hive: If you are having problems with pests or diseases, or if the queen is not performing well, you may want to consider splitting the hive into two smaller hives. This can help to keep the bees more manageable and can also help to prevent further problems from developing. Just be sure to follow proper hive splitting techniques to ensure the success of the new hive.
 


Top