The Basingstoke Beekeeper

Summer 2002

Contents

Apiary Update

by David Purchase

The impressions gained from my travels through Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight this year are that winter losses were lower than usual and that that the majority of overwintered colonies were some three weeks earlier than usual in their spring build-up. One consequence has been earlier swarms. In a few areas, beekeepers have reported fewer swarms than usual. However, in some apiaries I have seen as many as 80% of colonies which had either swarmed or were preparing to swarm. The Association apiary in St. John's Copse, Oakley, is no exception.

All colonies in St. John's Copse overwintered well. As seems to be the norm this year, early swarm preparations were evident in several colonies, despite early supering and replacing older brood comb with foundation. So, additionally, queens were clipped, nucs were made up and queen cells destroyed. Some colonies were still not deterred, and got the better of us! Artificial swarming is a 'must' for next season. It seems that nothing less will do in some cases.

Three weeks ago (mid-May) I took a day's annual leave. My intention was a 'bee free' day to clear a backlog of other tasks. On passing St. John's at 09.50 on an overcast morning, I decided on a quick security check of the apiary. On entering the apiary, I thought the bees sounded unusually busy for a mediocre day. Then I spotted it - a swarm issuing from an Association hive! It had to be a cast as the queen had been clipped. I watched for ten minutes until it settled in two halves at the top of a hazel tree, well beyond my reach. Duty called, and my conscience forced me to abandon my bee free day. Of course, I had nothing with me, so I went home for a skep, a saw and secateurs. I succeeded in cutting the hazel stems on which the two halves of the swarm had clustered. However, as I lowered them gently (I thought) to the ground, there was just enough movement to cause the swarm to take flight and re-settle on another, equally high, stem! This was repeated several times. During the process, the heavens opened for several minutes, leaving the swarm and me dejected and bedraggled. Eventually, I did manage to place 50% of the bees in the skep and hoped that would do the trick. So, after one-and-a-half hours of impromptu coppicing, I left with the aim of returning that evening.

When I returned, the swarm was back in the tree, again in two halves. What a surprise! Still, it was lower this time, so I went home for a step ladder. Now, it was a text-book operation From the top of the steps, I was just able to remove the tips of the branches, bees and all. I gently lowered them into a nuc hive, with foundation, which Peter had prepared for another use.

At the Apiary Meeting last Sunday, we were all delighted to find and mark a laying queen. Judging by the small number of eggs and their disposition, she had only just started laying. Perfect timing!

Peter (Apiary Manager) has worked hard to sterilise and re-roof the second-hand nuc hives given to the Association. He has equipped them with foundation and they are being used to accommodate swarms, courtesy of John (Swarm Coordinator), in the Association's quarantine apiary at Rope's Farm, Sherborne St. John. Once the swarms have established and have been given a clean bill of health, they are put to various uses. Some have been allocated to new members to get them started. It is nice to welcome, Jonathan, Paul, Penny and Valerie to our ranks.

I am sorry to end on a more serious note, but it is too important to ignore. Since varroa mites resistant to Apistan and Bayvarol were found on the Cornwall/Devon border last August, there has been widespread publicity about the risk of misusing the treatments. Yet, I am still finding evidence throughout my area of misuse, most commonly strips that have been left in hives through the winter. Failure to follow the manufacturers' instructions is inexcusable and irresponsible. I sympathise with any beekeeper who is genuinely unable to manage his or her own bees properly for whatever reason. However, it should be possible for a beekeeper in a difficult situation either to seek temporary assistance (after all, that is partly what beekeepers' associations are for) or to give away, sell or (as a last resort) destroy his/her bees.

May your swarms be few and your supers full.

David
(Secretary and Seasonal Bee Inspector)

Further Thoughts On All Those Swarms ..........

We are all familiar with the factors that trigger swarm preparations. We are all aware, too, that climate change is a reality. One major factor in the swarm equation is the age of the queen. We are all advised to re-queen regularly, partly to reduce the likelihood of swarming.

Now, ALL the colonies in St. John's Copse that had prepared to swarm, and many of those in other apiaries that I have visited, were headed by last year's queens. In theory, they should be less inclined to swarm than those headed by older queens. In reality, it appears to have made little difference this year, although I am unable to prove that statistically (ie, the ratio of swarms from colonies headed by young queens to those headed by older queens).

If we think back, last autumn produced a bonanza of nectar and pollen from the ivy. Most colonies were very strong going into the winter. Winter itself was benign. The upshot was that there was little or no break in brood rearing and the majority of colonies emerged strongly from the winter.

I have a theory linking 'global warming' with the high incidence of swarming. Milder weather has meant longer foraging seasons which, in turn, has led to shorter breaks in winter brood rearing The effect on the queen of almost unbroken brood rearing must be to age her prematurely. Last year's queens could well have been, biologically, akin to queens at the end of their second year in the weather patterns familiar to us ten or more years ago.

Premature aging could, therefore, explain why there appears to have been an increase in swarming by colonies headed by chronologically young queens. What do you think? Why not write to Gordon with your views and experiences for publication in the next edition of Basingstoke Beekeeper?

One final thought. If I'm right, one answer might be to overwinter more young queens in nucs. Not, as has traditionally been the case to replace old queens in the spring, but to replace young queens too. More work, but possibly cost effective if it reduced the number of swarms.

David

``All Highly Educational''

Or "One Way Not To Do A Complete Comb Changeout"

by Gordon Scott

I've tried something like it before and it didn't work well. This time I tried a variation on the method, as described in good detail in BBKA News by a very experienced beekeeper whom I much respect.

The method described was intended for National hives and the author, rightly, warns that things may not work the same in larger hives like Langstroth Jumbos or MDs.

Well I use Jumbos, a fairly large hive that suits me very well, but I have now come to the conclusion that, for me at least, the method described simply doesn't work well in a large hive. If someone can convince me that the deliberate errors in the process are surmountable I might be persuaded to try this again ... but don't put any money on it.

Just a little more background ... my apiary is nicely situated in around 15 acres of wildflower meadow, with the village/suburb of Chineham within easy range and the bees always do well. When I look at other peoples "strong" colonies, I usually stay dumb because mine are often well ahead. I hasten to add that this is due to their situation rather than because I'm God's gift to bees.

Let's get started

On Easter Sunday, damp, cool and windy, we took to the apiary our brood boxes with their nice new foundation and plenty of dummy boards. We went through each colony in turn, checking them for disease and so on, removing all the frames with no brood and enclosing what was left between dummy boards. Then we put the new brood boxes above the old boxes, dummied to the same size, about six combs in most, then the QX, then the super ... left from last October when the colonies were still bringing in ivy nectar for all they were worth. There was a good nectar flow as usual here, so we did not need a feed.

The following weekend we returned ready to begin our manipulations of the bees themselves. The first two colonies went to plan and the queen was moved into the upper brood box with the QX between boxes. We put another super on as the flow was still good and I wanted to keep honey out of the lower box as much as I could. Last time we tried the method without doing this, they filled this box and I could barely lift it.

Colony three was a problem, though, as we couldn't find the queen. After two or three runs through, we judged they'd had enough and closed them up, planning to try again the following week. Anoying, though, as that spoiled our timescales ... more of that later.

Weekend three and we returned to check progress. Colony one had the queen nicely laying in the upper box and looked fine otherwise. We left her to it. Colony two had eggs and larvæ everywhere and a single queen cell in the middle of one frame. "Looks like the disturbance and changed egg-laying has made them decide to supercede" said I with moderate confidence. "Oh well best move that frame back to the bottom box and rewind the whole process for now". Which we did.

Colony three had emergency cells everywhere, so we'd failed to find her because we'd accidently killed her. Cut all cells but one and abort the process. Ho Hum. Still, look on the bright side, we now have things set for two new queens so swarming shouldn't be an issue in those two at least for our one week mid-May holiday in Spain.

Weekend four and we returned and removed the lower brood box from colony. While working them, Sue was stung on the back of the neck and also had a fit of sneezing from her hayfever, so she left me for a few minutes while I closed the colony. When she returned, she was complaining that she "didn't feel right" and that her palms and feet were itching. Her lips was also rather red looking. After twelve years of beekeeping that was a bit of a shock to see what looked like an alergic reaction, though this was probably the first time Sue had omitted to take antihistamine before going beekeeping ... for that hayfever.

I sent her immediately to the car, several minutes walk from the apiary, nobody said the apiary was perfect, with instruction not to stop until she got there. I grabbed smoker, tools and so on and followed post-haste. I drove quite quickly to our District Hospital with Sue almost fainting by the time we arrived. They were superb as ever and soon had Sue stable using just cortisone and antihistamines and without resorting to adreneline. Once I was satisfied the she was OK, I returned to the apiary to remove the remaining equipment. On my return to the hospital, Sue was in the short-stay ward of A&E and back to her normal colour. I was then sent home with strict instruction to video "Casualty" for her. By 9pm we were home and getting back to normal, although Sue now carries an Epipen and we wait to see whether this was an exceptional event or a long-term problem.

I went for a further look at the bees on May 4th. Colony one was fine, but colony two was definitely not welcoming with a fountain of bees emerging as frame three came out with a snap. What the heck, they have cells, what use can I really be here. I closed them up, supered them all generously ready for our holiday and went home.

The following two weekends we were away and the weekend after that was a cold, dismal, windy weekend, so we left them to it yet again.

June 1st and at last another chance to inspect and try and sort out what's left. We arrived with plenty of supers and various cover boards, clearer boards and so on, not looked at them for a month now. All seemed nicely active, but then it was at last a nice sunny day. I lifted the lid on colony one and bees poured out! Well, drones actually ... thousands of them. "How on earth has that happened?" Has the queen gotten through the QX or have the workers carried eggs up there? Why so many? We stacked the supers behind with a ventilated coverboard over them and left them while the drones escaped. The apiary was now alive with drones.

Going through the brood nest, things appeared fine. Good layup of brood over all frames, a good temperement if a little "runny", so we closed them down leaving a ventilated cover board instead of a roof so the rest of the drones could escape.

We started colony two and as soon as I lifted the lid ... drones again! I was still mulling this over in my mind as we took off the supers, when Sue said "There are queen cells in that one!"

"Oh of course; when we thought they had only one queen cell, they had only one in the brood box and several more in the supers. The queens were trapped above the QX and couldn't mate and I'll bet the only queen in the bottom box took off in a swarm." I mentioned at the start that these were strong colonies, but I hadn't expected that behaviour. We check the lower box ... no eggs or brood, so the swarm theory looked convincing. We took out the lower brood box and left it to one side to clear, restoring the hive to a normal configuration. Presumably our first colony also has an unmated queen in the supers. What a mess! We put colony one back together and moved on to colony three.

Some progress ... normal numbers of drones in this hive, though what looked like a full swarm of them in the air by now from the previous colonies. We went through the hive, but there was no sign of either queen or brood. Is there no justice? Again we restored the hive to a normal format, but with one super obove a clearer board, again leaving the old brood box aside to clear. Deciding thet they'd had enough of us for one day and with, fortunately well tempered, bees everywhere we went home. I planned to come back a couple of hours later to tidy up, but in the event, ran out of time.

We returned the following morning to apparent relative normallity, planning to put a frame of Brood All Stages into the two troubled colonies. We removed the supers from colony one, popped a coverboard over them and opened colony three, which we judged to be the easier to handle. I removed a comb from the centre, shook off the bees and put it aside, then we selected our first BAS comb from colony one, shook off the bees and put it central in colony three. We closed up, removing the cleared super and move on.

We opened colony two and put the upper supers out of the way whilst Sue went through the lower ones looking for a queen and I went through the brood box likewise. No sign of queen or brood anywhere, not even drone brood! I hoped the workers had killed the "dud", but I remain cautious. Again we selected a BAS frame and swapped them around, then closed the two colonies as again their patience was wearing thin. We'll try looking for a queen in the supers of colony one another day as this if, luckily, the Jubilee weekend and a double bank holiday.

After lunch and as we're gluttons for punishment we then went to the Association's apiary meeting in St. John's Copse. During the meeting a colony overdue for inspection owing to bad weather on the owner's only available opportunity the previous week was, as specified by Murphy's law, just starting swarming. There were virgin queens and sealed queen cells everywhere, so I scrounged a couple of cells and off we went back to our own apiary with a possible, if not confident, jump start for them. Actually, before we'd even reached the car those two cells had changed to one cell and a lovely new virgin queen. Darn; the cell would have been so much better a risk.

Back at our apiary we put the virgin, in a queen cage blocked with a scap of tissue paper, into the fairly confidently queenless colony three and wished her luck. The cell went into the rather more doubtful colony two. Not surprisingly after the interference with them in the past 24 hours, we made this process as quick as possible and left them to it, just putting clearer boards under two further supers.

As I write that's as far as we've reached. I wonder what we'll find out on Tuesday and next week. I can't help suspecting that the story isn't yet over.

Lessons Learned

We should have put QXs over the upper brood boxes. In the "book" version, there's a feeder over this, so the queens couldn't get into supers. Obvious with hindsight.

If one makes the above mistake, or if one doesn't have suficient QXs, don't compound the problem by not checking the supers for cells.

The method is intended for National-sized hives where the brood box is small. In Jumbos and MDs, I think it's probably easiest to swap out comb in the brood box. Done in late March, there's no real problem replacing half the comb, though I would normally have to sacrifice some brood to do that. The comb changes aren't quite so quick, but at least it's then every two years, which isn't so long. I sometimes take out a frame or two of brood, replacing them with foundation, as part of swarm management, so it's quite likely that changes will be quite quick anyway.

With colonies this strong, maybe starting earlier would help, but I don't really like disturbing them too early.

With colonies this strong and with a second brood box and three or four supers by the start of May, it can also be quite hard work, but at least this time I could lift the brood boxes.

Gordon

Bee Candy?

I lost the recipe for hard bee candy,for winter feed, and would like to make some up. I made some once that was white and like brittle. Sure appreciate the help.

That's a lot of work. And for what? If you overheat it while mixing, you can carmelize the sugar and make it more or less indigestible for the bees. Let the bees make it.

Make up a feeder rim, around 1½to 2 inches. Fill it with dry granulated sugar, with a couple layers of newspaper to hold it from falling thru. Make sure it is directly above the cluster. The excess moisture evapporated by the bees, will concense and wet the sugar, and it will harden into a block. The bees, tasting the sweet newspaper will open it as needed and consume the sugar. It can be replenished, as needed, but always use a little more newspaper to keep it from falling thru the frames. Sugar on the floor of the hives may not be used, it may even be thrown out.

This not only saves your labor, it helps the bees dispose of a waste product that can be dangerous to them in winter - the excess moisture that often condenses or forms frost on the bottom of the cover. Actually they don't dispose of it; they recycle it.

You can use the same setup to feed a small amount (one gallon or so) of heavy syrup. In this case make sure the newspaper is at least six layers thick and makes a continuous bowl, ie, put the newpaper in after the rim is placed. The reason for the multiple layers is to prevent them from chewing thru the paper too soon, and spilling the syrup. It has to seep thru. In this case use only heavy syrup; we use straight HFCS straight as it comes from the drum. Thin syrup will soak thru too fast.

Excluders are not required, but I place one under the newspaper when feeding this way. The feeders may be still on in spring and the bees will remove the sugar and fill the rims with burr comb. This can mean a solid feeder full of drone brood. By using the excluder, it still mean a feeder rim full of burr comb, but it will be spring honey, instead. This can be removed as one piece with the excluder as the bottom, and put on a nuc that needs feeding.

Dave Green
Ill equipped for the real world, I became a beekeeper.
The Pollination Home Page: http://pollinator.com

Creamed honey

The most important part of making creamed (fine crystallized) honey is getting the starter right. With the right starter you need as little as 0,5% to produce a perfect result. Most literature, including The Hive and the Honey Bee, still talks about heating honey, fine straining, grinding, etc. None of this is needed. Heating and filtering only destroys the taste and have no purpose when the honey is going to be crystallized. The small amount of crystals you find in extracted honey doesn't matter. Most honeys can be crystallized, don't have to be within any moisture range or be any special type of honey.

The starter is made from liquid honey that is kept at 10 C (50 F) all the time. A small amount of crystallized honey can be added to get the process going faster, but is not needed. This liquid honey is stirred for a few minutes twice a day (morning and evening) until it becomes white and creamy. When the honey is no longer getting harder it's ready for use. This will take 3 - 7 days depending of water - glucose ratio.

Now to the most important part. The 10 starter should not be heated up before mixed with the honey to be crystallized. When temp is raised the small crystals move to form larger units and thus producing a coarser end product. If this 10 starter is poured into 25 liquid honey, the starter will be immediately heated up before it can be mixed properly with the honey. To avoid this, the liquid honey should be slowly mixed into the starter instead. Use a container twice the size of the starter you make. Add small amounts of the liquid honey during vigorous stirring until you have diluted the starter to double its volume. Then it's safe to pour it into the rest of the liquid honey and mix it all carefully.

I have used as little as 0,5% starter with perfect result, but 3% is recommended for safety margin. This will produce a honey so smooth you will need microscope with polarized light to detect any crystals in it.

The final result will depend on the ratio between glucose and water. More water-less glucose = a softer honey Less water-more glucose =harder honey (and faster crystallization)

Before packing in jars, let the honey sit in the container after mixing in the starter for a day. This will make the honey softer when some crystallization is done before filling the jars. How long to wait before filling jars depend on honey type and how hard you want the final product. If filling direct after mixing in the starter, the honey can get rock hard in the jars.

Don't know if I made myself clear.... This is also available on my homepage. Go to research then honey

P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
email@omitted.anti.spam http://www.algonet.se/~beeman/

Miticide resistance - the facts

Extracts from Bee-L

The following exchange was on bee-l about fluvalinate resistance (e.g. Apistan resistance). The initial exchange is a bit heated due to a "glib" response, for which Allen appologises.

Max Watkins email@omitted.anti.spam

Allen,

In a recent communication about the evolution and spread of pyrethroid resistance in Europe the following comment was made:

It is thought that beekeepers in Italy used a liquid agricultural formulation of Klartan, absorbed on a porous piece of wood or similar to combat varroa. Because there was no control over the amount (of active ingredient) applied, this practise inevitably gave rise to resistance, not only to Klartan, but to the whole class of synthetic pyrethroids including Bayvarol and Apistan.

You replied:

This is often repeated, but is at best an oversimplification, and at worst a lie that those who sell a penny's worth of chemical for $ don't mind having repeated often.

That is a glib response, offensive not only to me but to the well-respected bee researchers from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France as well as the hundreds of beekeepers who carried out the trials which proved this to be the case. Research such as this cannot be dismissed because there was some involvement from a chemical company (Sandoz, as it was). Especially when you don't seem to know or care about the reality of this situation - even 'though I have posted this on the LIST some time ago. I am really surprised at you.

The statements which John Burgess mentioned originally are far from rhetoric from a "chemical company". There is solid foundation to these claims.

In the early 90's as the then Technical Manager for Sandoz I coordinated an international team of independent, reknown experts on a project lasting 5 years, investigating the emergence of pyrethroid resistance in Europe.

It had been openly stated by many people, incuding Sandoz, way before the conception of APISTAN that a pyrethroid-resistant mite strain would inevitably evolve. Klartan/Mavrik was being used for years before APISTAN was developed.

Providing there is a large enough selection pressure and the benefits outweigh the costs, organisms mutate through natural selection. FACT. Any and all treatments to control "pest" populations represent a type of selection pressure. FACT. Because of its many benefits of bee safety, low residue profile, proven low mammalian toxicity profile etc etc Apistan (or illegally Klartan/Mavrik) was and indeed still is the most popular hive treatment for varroa worldwide. Incredible selection pressure. FACT.

When the first reports of "Apistan inefficacy" arose in 1992 in Italy, APISTAN had only been in use for one year. In the regions where the "inefficacy was most widely reported APISTAN was not used at all; the agrochemical Klartan, however, had been used for 8 years, on balsa wood, on cloth and anything else to hand.

Recipes for using Klartan were common in Europe. In Spain they recommended a 5% soltion in water; in France it was 2% solution. This didn't work in Southern Italy after a while and so the dose was increased to 50% and then in many cases, to 100% neat. Low efficacy after 8 years. FACT.

When this inefficacy started to show up in Northern Italy, where APISTAN had been used for just 2 years the cause was not so clear. However, the Italians were able to trace exactly the spread of a resistant strain of varroa along the main routes of migratory beekeeping from the North to the South of Italy. Colonies are taken to the South for the winter and brought back North in Spring, carrying with them the resistant varroa from the South. FACT.

It is no one's fault that resistant varroa emerged, it is a natural process of evolution. The uncontrolled dosing did however greatly speed up the process. If there is an increase in the LD50 (the level of a substance that wil kill 50% of a population) by tenfold, ie a resistance factor of 10, generally one can say that a resistant strain has emerged. In the case of varroa from Southern Italy the resistance factor was more than 400. Definately resistant. It was also shown scientifically that this resistance is conferred to other related pyrethroids such as flumethrin and acrinathrin. FACT.

The dose/response curves obtained for this resistant strain are distinct. Wherever resistance was monitored throughout Italy and later in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Eastern Europe. the exact same curves are characteristic. This most probably means that the resistance has arisen only once in Europe and spread from one focal point. The slow speed of apparition in neighbouring countries suggests Italy to be the focal point. If the dose/response curves were markedly different for the different populations examined then we could expect there to have been separate evolution. So far all populations examined (coordinated by Vita since 1997) have shown the same pattern and seem then to have the same origin.

There will always be a risk of any pest organism developing resistance to the treatment. It is why several different types of treatment should be used. If there is resistance to one treatment, perhaps the second or third [different treatment will take out the resistant individuals. Even IPM will not stop the phenomenon of mutation and evolution in pest populations but the aim is to keep the resistance to a manageable level, below the economic damage threshold.

Vita (Europe) Limited is a small UK company specialising in the development of honeybee disease treatments. We take the concept of IPM very seriously and unlike the chemical giants who have no time for such small markets, we are dedicated to improving the health of honeybee colonies, operating world-wide. Yes, we make and sell APISTAN but we also have other treatments in registration and in development, many of them natural agents, for EFB, AFB, mites, chalkbrood and wax moth.

In science and in business I believe there is no room for half-truths. At Vita our policy is to be open so as to avoid confusion. While many people may disagree with what we're doing, Vita is not in the business of making a fast buck. What we do is thoroughly researched and is for the long-term. No short cuts, no "oversimplifications". Whatever is posted to the LIST from Vita, we believe to be correct and true.

But, Hey, how can this possibly be true - Vita must be classed as a "chemical company", right?

Believe what you will.

Max
Dr Max Watkins
Vita (Europe) Limited
Brook House, Alencon Link
Basingstoke, Hants RG21 7RD UK
http://www.vita.demon.co.uk

Allen Dick email@omitted.anti.spam

Max, I want to apologise if I have offended you or any others. That was certainly not my intent, and maybe the writing was a bit glib. I sometimes kid around a bit.

I certainly respect the efforts you and many others have put into fighting varroa and in no way discount the work because some of it was done with funding by a chemical company. I respect the profit motive and think it is an important engine of development.

Max, I will also confess right now to having a less-than-perfect memory and to being influenced by the many versions of the story I have heard, especially since they are repeated so often. I will have to review the material and perhaps revise my thinking when I have a moment. Once again, I should likely reiterate that this is a discussion list and what is written here -- by anyone -- should be questioned and not mistaken for carefully researched fact. Maybe your contributions are different, but I know the above is true of what I write and would be very concerned if anyone swallowed any of my opinion pieces whole.

Having said that, and although I am sure that you are probably as authoritative as any man alive on the topic, that does not mean that your view or your version, or your conclusions, or your methods are the only ones that are credible.

As evidence, I can offer that varroa is still causing havoc. We still can see a day coming soon when we may very well have no effective and practical controls available. That to me proves that the job is not done, or was not done well. I'm sorry, but that is just the way it seems to me. I hope you can and will prove me wrong.

Once again I apologise and hope you can show us that the problem was handled correctly, is under control, and will stay that way.

Allen

Lipscomb, Al email@omitted.anti.spam

I get a little confused on these evolution things. I always thought that "mutation" was a random event. Pressure then caused selection on the population. If the mutation gave a reproductive advantage then those that had the gene may survive and reproduce better than the ones without the gene.

If putting pressure on a population always causes it to become resistant I do not understand how we got smallpox under control. You would have thought that resistance would have emerged and a stronger version of the virus taken over.

Come to think of it I cannot understand how extinction should happen as often as it does. In most cases it is a long slow process with lots of pressure on the populations.

Al

Blane White email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi Al and Everyone,

No wonder you are confused the term "evolution" used in this context is just plain wrong and confusing. The correct term is adaption. Resistance is always present in the population at very low levels and the selection pressure of the treatment brings it to the fore. No mutation needed just selection. The result is a resistant population.

Now Max, from what it appears to me here in the USA, anywhere in the world where fluvalinate in any formulation has been used for about 10 years for varroa control resistance has developed. Since we are selecting for the same traits in the population, I would expect the curves to be very similar or the same where ever the selection has occurred - this is the evidence that mutation is not involved just selection of pre-existing resistance. Apistan resistance occurred here in MN and was documented first in one of the beekeeping outfits who had varroa first and was therefore using apistan longest ( and yes I am very confident they were not using other (illegal) treatments. Apistan selected for the resistance at about the same rate as other formulations of fluvalinate in other parts of the world. Don't get me completely wrong there are many very good reasons to use Apistan instead of those other formulations such as contamination of honey and wax etc. but in terms of selection!

For resistance I really see no difference.

FWIW

Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture

Max Watkins email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi Blane,

You are right, of course that in the States, the widespread use of Apistan has probably been the strongest selection pressure, as Klartan/other agro formulations aren't used as frequently in beekeeping as in some other countries (so I believe). This pyrethroid resistance was bound to arise sooner or later, as there was only really one control agent being used with a specific mode of action. It doesn't matter what the formulation was, the resistance to the active ingredient was inevitable in the circumstances. If there had been other types of treatment available, the selection for resistant strains would have been at least slower, giving the industry longer use of what tools it had.

It could be that resistance, caused directly by use of Apistan, has appeared in Europe. It's possible. But in most European countries, besides Apistan and Klartan there are commonly other types of treatment used which could have some retarding effect on the emergence of resistant strains. The account that I gave earlier, however, describes what happened in Italy and it looks very much like the resistant populations emanated from one central source. The uncontrolled dosage at that source must have had an accelerating effect on resistance emergence.

It may also be true that the dose-response curves for pyrethroid-resistant mites in the USA are similar to those in Europe - I don't know, as I've not seen any of the US data but it would be interesting to compare. Do the US mite population(s?) have the same characteristics as the Western European mites? I agree that similar traits should probably be selected for and the curves indeed should look something like those we have generated here. I just wonder if you'll see the resistance factor of 400+ ? Maybe.

I'm not trying to set myself up as an expert and of course, I may be entirely wrong. I do make mistakes - let's see now, I remember I made one back in 1978....

Max

Peter Dillon email@omitted.anti.spam-internet.fr

Max,

following this thread with much interest.

I am "surrounded" by beekeepers (99% of whom are hobbyists, or in other words beekeepers who do not need to gain a living from apicultural activities).

They are very much aware of the problem posed by V.j. - many are now without hives due to its presence!

When I arrived here from England (at the time totally free from V.j.), the first organisation I got into contact with was the local group named Groupment Departemental Defense Sanitaire (County Group Defending Bee Health)- and when I asked what was the recognised treatment against V.j. was instantly presented with some "slim slivers of poplar wood that had been soaking in a milky white liquid"

These were being sold I presume with the blessing of the local County Vet. Office as the cheque that I HANDED OVER WAS SIGNED TO DDGA. The whole idea of treatment was chaotic - no controlled timing period for the area, no recognised disposal of used strips - often they were left laying around in apiaries.

As time proceeded, there was discussion relating to changing the molecule due to resistance showing up - but to my knowledge, this resistance was never tested for in an organised manner, it was all hear say.

I had hives that when tested with Amitraze after being treated with Apistan dropping several hundreds of mites, others none at all - confusion reigned, at least in my mind on what was really happening. As far as I am concerned, treatment left in the hands of people who do not either understand what they are doing or the consequences of their actions is the best recipe for long term disaster.

There appears to be a pretense that the Vet. services are in control and know what is happening - they are not and don't. The average beekeeper in my area will not supply information and is distrusting of his fellow beekeepers - just incase he/she finds out how much money he/she is making/lossing.

We tried to set up a Development group for Beekeeping in the area - failed due to apathy The different beekeeping unions are at each others throats when ever possible.

It is only when such disastrous situations as Gaucho and Sunflowers arrive on the scene that sense prevails. On the surface, everybody states that they are using the recognised treatment for V.j., A.F.B.etc, but in reality!!!, leaving those that do follow the rules to suffer.

One old beekeeper came to the house and asked what I THOUGHT ABOUT THAT NEW STUFF - Apifoss. I presumed he was talking about COUMAPHOS ( even I am not sure about its spelling). The vet. officer who was visiting put him right by telling him not to use it but instead to use Amitraze soaked onto jute strips. He realised the bloke would never buy the official materials and considered it better for all concerned that a treatment however it arrived was better than none.

I gave up and fell into line - treat V.j. like the rest and get good results whilst it lasts. Before I WAS PAYING THE PREMIUM and not going to gain the extension in time as most of the rest were happily making their 5%,10% dips out of what ever was in fashion.

SO how are the trials relating to the pheromone that will waylay females on their way to brood cells going?

Yours truthfully

Peter

PS I do have excellent contacts with many serious beekeepers throughout France. I HOPE THAT THE ABOVE EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN AND WHAT REALLY HAPPENS.

Believing that the truth always come out one day!!

Max Watkins email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi Peter,

I sympathise with your position in France. We've found the exact same situation in many countries, including France where quite a bit of our research is done. On the one hand the "Authorities" set stringent rules for registering a treatment - so stringent and expensive that very few firms can get their product through to the user and on the other hand you have what you described perfectly - there is quite widespread disregard of the rules even BY THE AUTHORITIES for this very legislation.

We are asked constantly why we don't have the next product(s) out yet. Registration alone (ignoring product development time) can take 3 years. Vita is now just coming to the point where we have registrations of new products pending in many countries. Our APIGUARD thymol gel is about to be widely registered so you can expect to see that in France this year. APIGUARD is used for the control of mites in honeybee colonies and will be 7 years in reaching the market from the initial development stages. Believe it or not, that is fast.

Our pheromone blend, PHEROVAR which interupts varroa reproduction is about 18 months out of line. It's a complicated blend and what we thought was the correct constituency last year turned out to be not quite so. A question of isomerism. We used the wrong isomer of three. The blend is known but we have to go through all the dosage, efficacy and bee tox tests again, hence the delay. But it will come and news of it will be posted in the bee press nearer the time.

Max

Vaseline(tm) On Hives

dan hendricks email@omitted.anti.spam

I lost track of who suggested this as a way of preventing propolis glueing hive bodies together. I did this once and got a big yuk out of the result: Everytime I touched the hive it squirmed sideways, leaving the bees unconfined. This was a big nuisance so I turned my back on that idea immediately. Besides, it is a lot more fun talking about my successes than about my failures.

Dan

Dave Cushman email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi all

I am guilty of promoting the use of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) as is Tom Barrett.

http://website.lineone.net/ ~dave.cushman/petjel.html

The problem that Dan Hendricks has encountered is usually caused by a too liberal application or not enough white spirit/turpintine to thin the petroleum jelly so that it penetrates the woodwork.

I have used this method for over 20 years with no problems.

It has made my beekeeping life easier during this time.

Dave Cushman, G8MZY

Tom Barret email@omitted.anti.spam

Hello All

As Dave points out, Vaseline should not be applied too liberally. It is also important to ensure that the hives are vertical otherwise the supers could slip. But I do believe that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

Tom Barrett

Murray McGregor email@omitted.anti.spam

In a completely non-migratory situation, out of places where strong winds might hit them, and on level stands, you may have a point.

However, in most situations, absence of adhesion between the boxes is a serious nuisance and makes a lot of work at migration times. Although we do not set out to lubricate these surfaces, when boxes are new, and before the bees glue them up, I have seen the wind alone clear the top boxes off a site of colonies, even with rocks on top. Happened this year near Braemar, in front of my own eyes, a single powerful gust just slid the top boxes sideways off 6 hives.

It would also mean about 3 man hours per site stapling the colonies up to prevent them sliding all ways when moving them. We just shift them with only the floors secured to the bottom box, other wise loose. Roping the colonies on trucks for the moves also would cause slipping, which natural bee glue helps prevent.

I appreciate only too well we are not talking about the same types of operation here, but I doubt I would do it even if I was a small hobbyist, as it will bring attendant difficulties which, IMO, will outweigh the benefits.

Murray McGregor

Tom Elliott email@omitted.anti.spam

How about skipping the edges of the hive bodies, only doing the rabbets? I've not tried the vasoline trick, but it would appear to be a fairly simple solution.

Dave Cushman email@omitted.anti.spam

Initially I did not use it on frames but I now coat the endgrain of the topbar and the top bar upper surface but ignore the lugs as they can become slippy and difficult to hold. I also coat the lug space within the boxes.

As regards slippage between boxes this does not occur in my system as all boxes are clipped together with stainess "Z" spring clips.

http://website.lineone.net/ ~dave.cushman/zsprings.html

Illustrates how this is achieved.

Recipes

Diary

Unless otherwise stated, evening meetings are at 7:30pm in our Study Centre, The Walled Garden, Down Grange, Basingstoke and apiary meetings are 2:30pm at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

June 2

Apiary Meeting

July 7

Apiary Meeting

July 21

Flower show at walled garden -- all day?

August 3

Monk Sherborne Horticultural Societies 50th Aniversary Horticultural Show; 2pm.

August 4

Apiary Meeting with a barbecue afterwards in the Walled Garden

August 10

Open Day at John Furzey's Queen Rearing Yard.

September 1

Apiary Meeting

September 19

In the Study Centre. Brian Spicer -- History of Hackwood Estate.

October 17

In the Study Centre. Sarah Dailey -- Gardening for wildlife.

October 20

Nature's Harvest -- all day + Honeyshow.

November 21

In the Study Centre. John Hamer -- Another approach to urban beekeeping.

December 19

In the Study Centre. Bring and Buy with mince pies.

Committee

In the Study Centre. Wednesdays 6 February, 3 April, 2 October, 4 December.