One mite from 300 bees. I understand that sometimes it’s a good idea to get an idea of the infestation level of varroa mites in bee colonies. You can take samples from a couple of colonies in an apiary to
The bee shaker and varroa resistance
More viruses due to cold weather
The weather has given the coldest May since 1962, 12 years before I started with bees. The bees have had a hard time getting enough pollen to keep up egglaying to reach optimum nectar gathering strength when summer comes. In
Aiming for a new season
In the beginning of March the bees had their main cleansing flight after winter. In the beginning of April most of them had more combs and boxes given. At the end of April another round checking food, need for thymol,
The Beeshakers
‘The Beeshakers’ would be a good name for a pop/rock/soul-band/group, wouldn’t it? Why not a group of beekeepers that have control of their bees and the Varroa infestation? Regardless of if you are on the path of becoming treatment free or
Treatment free feral bees
Up till now anyway, this colony of bees (and their ancestors forming this colony’s ancestor colonies) that has lived in a wall since several colony generations, has never been treated with any kind of chemicals ever, against Varroa mites or
Comment to evaluation
I want to clarify somewhat the comment in the text about the contradiction concerning the reason for lowering the threshold for giving Thymol to get a better selection. At the same time saying that if you have non-selected bees against
Evaluation of season
Around Christmas I get time to do work on an Excel application on the computer, feeding it with new figures about the honeybee colonies from the season. It helps me identify the least good colonies (which will get their queens
My selection parameters
I have prepared for and selected for varroaresistance for quite some years. Last year I learned how to test a colony for VSH, a simplified method described by John Harbo, easy for everyone to use. DWV-bees on the hardboard Before
MT-colony conclusion
I have shared the performance of this colony which had almost a box of plastic small cell frames and natural positioning of these frames (as the uppermost broodbox). Which also had a tough experience with mice living in the bottom
Taking home the breeder
A week ago I brought home the breeder queens for ease of grafting. They should at least have been treatment free last year (2013) and they should not have been a new colony 2013. The queen should be at least