I literally laughed out loud when you were counting bees! I'm a newbie so I was thinking to myself "Oh my heck, that is ridiculous" as I'm watching them fly away. Thanks for the chuckle lol
Thank you so much for your bee tutorials! I am a bee (keeper) wanna be! You are an excellent teacher! Keep using your gift and putting out great, easy to understand content on RU-vid!
Thank you for guiding me through that process. Thank you for correctly navigating what that looks like. You do well in making these videos and thank you for showing me what to do for proper maintenance of a hive. I am excited to see more of your work.
Loves the bloopers at the end. Haha. Thank you, most informative video I've seen yet for treating mites. I plan to do this. I live in Minnesota. Hopefully it's okay and colder climates.
Great video, you covered all the bases. Im pretty new at this and was not real keen on doing it with alcohol and killing the 300. Also I’d give you a thumbs up just for the counting part
The video is very interesting, the consultation is, is it just a unique treatment? and how many days are those strips removed? Very grateful for your reply.
Great video man...very informative!!! I am planning to start a couple hives next year - just prepping for now. Just curious, is there any harm in using the Max strips as a preventative measure - before - you notice a mite problem?
Hi, try to spry your bees with Suger Water 1/1 blended with Tee Tree Oil - About 25-30 drops for a 1/2 liter bland. Use a Hand Sprayer, and gently spray ALL frames from both sides - ONLY in the Nest Box. You could use (as a preventive method) feeding your bees with 2 liters Suger Water, blended with 25-30 drops of Tee Tree Oil, on ALL of your hives as well.
Here in the U.K. I use oxalic acid in sublinox vaporizer,can be used anytime,a natural product gentle on the bees,queen keeps laying,no withdrawal period and only costs pennies a hive and only takes minutes
Maria Keenan hopes all well with your bees,I only use pure oxalic acid not that over priced apibioxal rubbish in either my Varrox vaporizer or my sublimox .it can be used at any time but won't be so effective in really cold weather as the bee will be tightly clustered,the vaporizer method is gentle on the bees unlike the trickle method which is invasive and harmful in my opinion.if after the first treatment I get a heavy drop I ll treat them twice more 5 days apart to kill a full varroa hatching cycle,I tried a few years ago to go treatment free which was fine for a few years until my winter loses increased dramatically. i usually only lose a few hives on average now from 120 to 130 hives regards Sean
It's quite obvious that you are an experienced bee keeper. I am not! How do you handle all those bees without gloves and not get yourself continuously stung? I am so impressed! Thanks for the video about the mites. It is most helpful. Ron
Bees don't tend to sting hands that much unless they are agitated or just mean. Typically, if you handle them gently and smoothly, you're good. I find that gloves make it more difficult to handle frames and that could lead to agitating them. However, if you aren't comfortable with them yet, definitely use gloves. Being nervous can lead to knocking them around too. Appreciate you watching.
The spider mite is the major natural predator of Varroa mites, but it can't live in a humid environment. In a natural beehive, even a dead tree has the water-carrying structure intact; the wood will soak up excess moisture and it will eventually evaporate off the branches. If you have a Varroa infestation, either your hive doesn't allow the bees to ventilate the air sufficiently, or something you're putting in there is killing off the spider mites. Using a lid which will absorb moisture and let it evaporate to the outside will lessen the problem. Also, a horizontal beehive will almost always have better ventilation than a vertical one.
That was a really good video. Im so against varroatreatment that isnt natural, but I understand the nessacerity. I do it with 2 natural acids treatment once in the early spring with rhubarbslices the hole season that doesnt hurt the honey and one acidtreatment after catching the honwy and the other when they will sleep in winter. I also powdersuger ob them so they try to get rid of that and thw varroamites aswell. I have a bee-gym in the entrance too of the same purpose. Ive tested how many there is in the varroasqreen in the bottom to put all thats there in a cup of water shake a little and I can then see how many varroa as they are floating. Sometines none and sometimes one. I also has frames for wildbuilding as they build for drones, when they are kept lock on I take that part of the frame out. The varroa loves the dronelarva. The hens does that too, they are so happy to get that snack. If the frane is done in 3parts it takes about a veek to buld them ready to harvest. With 2 parts about 10days.
I did the same treatment. My bees went crazy and hundreds came out and swarmed/bearded on top of my hive. I took off the reducer. I also had many dead bees.
The instructions that comes with MAQS states you should increase ventilation not close it off. Also need a respirator and gloves. The MAQS are very strong.
There is the thermal treatment you can use now. I did Mite Away Quick strips and it was really rough on the bees. Good when you can do the treatment, but rough. Plus you can't use it once it gets hot outside. I believe under 90 Deg. the first three days. I'm trying the 10 Frame Thermal Bee Hive System - Mighty Mite Killer. It looks rough on the bees too, but like you said the colony collapse by varroa would be even worse on the hive.
How long do you keep the MAQS strips in the hive? I used ApiVar one time and left them in so long that I think I sterilized my queen! I'm in Phoenix, Arizona and it also gets hot quick. Thanks for your humor and thorough directions. I'm going to go try this. Wish me luck!
Good evening My name is Eliseu and I am a beekeeper here in Brazil in the State of Paraná, southern region of the country. I liked your video but I do not speak English and you could describe the procedure and products you used to treat bee hives. Then I use google translate. Thank you very much.
Eliseu Santos Hola! I think it will be easier for you to go to this link and translate it: www.dadant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MiteAwayinstructionsDadant2.pdf
I know I'm late treating my varroa. So far no messed up wings. Only dead bees is from a little bit of robbers getting killed. I'm right in the middle of a cotton bloom so i was wondering if i could still treat.
What part of Georgia. I’m trying to figure out where I want to retire. I was thinking north Georgia or Tennessee. I think Kentucky is too cold for too long. What’s your thoughts
I don't even bother testing for mites anymore , they are a fact of life now. I treat withe Ox. vapor twice in spring and twice in fall. That Acid you're using is too strong .I used to do it like that . I haven't tried OxVap with supers but some say no problem.
Varroa Destructor has entered Australia via Newcastle Sea-Port. Our government authorities are attempting to stop the spread by eradicating the mite. They have adopted placing a pin on a map of an infected site and euthanising all hives in a 10 kilometre radius. So far it has spread as a commerical beekeeper had some of his hives 2.5kms from an infected premise (IP) and then without knowing he had contracted some mites in his hives, he loaded them up and moved them around. He has been 100% co-operative and he is loosing alot of his 2000 odd hives. I know he has lost 4 load each containing 120hives so far. He is getting threats against his safety which is just crap, he was just the unlucky bugger to get caught up with this situation. Our zones set by goverment is 0-10km (red) all hives destroyed and bait traps set around area, 10-25kms (purple) authorities will come and do an official check on your hives. They are also setting bait traps in this zone as well. 25-50km (yellow) as a beekeeper advised to check our hives for the mite and report locations and how many hives we have. There is a standstill order for the state of New South Wales where no movement of hives can occur. Im now looking at different ways on how to treat mites. Currently as of last night, I am only 1.77 kms outside the red zone due to a new IP, so a little concerned I may loose my hives if the red boundary changes like so many other beekeepers caught up with this. Unsure if they will eradicate the mite altogether like they are set on their action at this time or if its already now to late for Australia to be the last varroa free honey producing country so I have be told
Great video. As an FYI - the strips should be placed between the brood boxes for a hive with 2 brood boxes for best exposure. They should also be staggered so they fully extend side to side.
HI, I use a queen excluder between brood box and supers. Do I just put the mite strips on the brood box, then the excluder, then the super? Thanks!Excellent videos.
@@DUSKvsDAWN Using Organic acids like Formic acid and Oxalic acid which are present in nature is the best way to deal with mites, they break down naturally unlike man made chemicals. They are fine to use if used properly, I wouldn't recommend listening to anywho on the internet when they dont give a solid reason based on evidence as to why you shouldn't use natural acids to kill mites off.
I don't understand how this stuff can be considered organic if it can do that much damage to a large man. Yes, ants and other critters make formic acid, organically ... but something tells me that the amount of acid that is put into the strips is mega more than what can be naturally produced and that this may not be 'organic' acid. I thank you for sharing and passing along the information. I also understand that if nothing is done that this hive may not survive. I think man tends to be a bit arrogant and thinks he can fiddle around with chemical compositions and such and thinks he's one-upping nature and in control. But how many 100's if not 1,000's of times have we heard, years later, that such-n-such a concoction was indeed harmful, on the molecular level or what ever. Once these concoctions like herbicides and pesticides are put into the environment they never go away. They get into everything and eventually they end up in the ocean where the marine life is contaminated with just about everything. So where does it stop? When is man going to learn that he does not know everything he needs to know about the natural world before he tries to play God by mixing up chemical cocktails and/or adds in some genetic manipulation? A whole new paradigm, a new way of thinking, within our scientific community needs to happen. How to work with and not against the natural world. And not using concoctions as our first line of defense. I wonder how badly wild hives are infested. Thanks again for sharing.
First off, great video! Why don't you have an inner cover? Just asking, as I'm just researching beekeeping wanting to get in it. Kinda got the impression it was a mast have. Edit: Just realized that that might be the inner cover. If so then why is there no vent hole? Thanks!
I have a small hive. I’m treating it for mites with a Mitey Mite strip. I also have European Foulbrood and will be starting to treat that tomorrow. My question is should I put a box on top of the one box hive or just keep it one box and wrap it up for the winter?
Formic acid found in nature in stinging ants and stinging nettles as an irritant...not causing “burns”. It is used most abundantly as a food preservative because of its antibacterial properties..again, not causing “fumes that will cause you respiratory problems”. In highly concentrated forms I can be harmful but in the doses that you use in the beehives it will attract bees, not harm them, they will pick up the formic acid on their body and spread it to the hive. If it were as dangerous as you say your bees would be killed and the honey spoiled for human consumption. At worst, constant contact could irritate at the point of contact.
