Varroa Count Results

Four days after putting the insert in, we removed it and put it on our patio table to inspect in the sunlight.

With the help of Ted Hooper and the Defra leaflet, we counted just 10 still varroa mites, but the board was also covered with two or three types of other, smaller, moving insects. From the Defra pictures, I dont think that the largest of these was Braula coeca (?) because it was considerably smaller than the Varroa. It looked like a little red spider but there were literally hundreds of them scurrying all over the board.

The next size down was really too small for detailed observation to the naked eye. It just looked like little brown specs moving around. I am hoping these were Melittiphis?

We have decided not to worry about these for the time being... Instead, we divided 10 varroa mites by 4 days to get a daily mite drop of 2.5. According to Defra, that figure for this time of year means that control is not yet required. We will do a first icing sugar dust at our next inspection and see how the bees react and in the meantime have asked Norman for his advice. Now I just have to dispose of the sticky paper - yuk!

Varroa check (finally)

Emails from David from Frome beekeeping division about purchasing Apiguard have made me assemble a homemade varroa floor insert.

Our hive originally had a solid floor, and Robin made it into a varroa floor for us by turning it round, putting the brood chamber on top of a mesh floor with the solid floor underneath. We then blocked off the "rear" opening with a piece of wood that can also be removed to slide in an insert. (Robin, apologies, I have explained this appallingly).

DEFRA's very useful leaflet explained that I needed an insert with sticky paper. So, one IKEA slim chopping board later, with sticky paper from the kitchen shop glued on and secured with much muttering and elastic bands we have a bona fide varroa insert.... Well, it will do for now...

I put this in the hive on Tuesday and will give it 3 days before removing and counting. I was quite suprised (not sure why) at all the debris already underneath. I don't think I had thought about it before and now need to work out how I will clean this old debris without disturbing the bees.

I really, REALLY hope there is little or no varroa, as rereading David's email I note we had to let him know about the Apiguard before end of July...

Belated Update

I didn't post last week because my husband did the weekly inspection with his mother. I think we may have persuaded her to take up beekeeping if she can find a friend to do it with her... Liam reported that everything seemed OK, a few half super frames were drawn out and he moved them along a bit to encourage the bees to keep up the good work.

We both then did an inspection on Monday taking advantage of a (very) brief lull in the rain. I couldnt believe how drowsy the bees were. It was not until we had inspected the 5th brood frame that they seemed to realise anything was going on. It was very strange and almost too calm.

I managed to spot the Queen first for the first time (normally Liam manages this - after excitedly spotting about 4 drones or "potential" Queens...) and also managed to get the camera totally covered in Propolis. On the plus side, eggs, sealed and unsealed brood were very much in evidence although definitely fewer eggs than on previous checks.

There was some more activity in the Super with 4 "half" frames now drawn out (rather pathetically shown on photo). Again, we moved them further out leaving new, undrawn frames above the heat of the brood nest to soften. We still have not put the Queen excluder on as very few bees (never mind the Queen) seem to show the slightest interest in going up there!