August 2022 HCBA Meeting - Summer Time Varroa Treatment with Randy Oliver
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2022
- 9:45 Presentation starts
Varroa continues to be the number one problem for beekeepers. In our own operation, we’ve successfully managed varroa, without the use of synthetic miticides, since 2001. We do so by understanding the biology of the mite. I present important biological concepts to help beekeepers to plan effective mite management strategies tailored to their own operations. @Humboldt Beekeepers
Excellent presentation! I look forward to the results of Randy's tests on the three mite treatment options.
Excellent video and very timely 👍 thank you
define safe - prefect.
when your flow is ending and you want to draw combs add some 1/2 to 1 sugar syrup and they'll keep drawing combs, if you add a new box of foundation take out the frame and put a frame of brood in its place, the bee's will come up to cover the brood and draw out the combs beside it.
I'm curious at how fast the OA/glycerin would breakdown on just a pad (titrate). Is the pH remaining constant or is there a change over time? Vegetable glycerin is neutral between 6-8 pH. I can't find the pH for OA. It would look like over time the glycerin would move OA towards neutral and that may stop the effectiveness of the OA. Making pads up ahead of time may be ineffective. By the time they are applied their ability to treat the hive may have been diminished because of a pH change. Temperature can also have an effect on the rate of change with the pH. Are they using deionized water or distilled water? If distilled is it being checked for consistency? Different sources can cause a variation. Thanks for the posting and all the effort being made to find a solution.
Do they lick oxalic acid off their bodies
I usually get it off them after kissing each of my bees goodnight
Why are there no comments. This was very good
You are right. When I saw the Randy Oliver report of July 22 it was very educational and yet there was a derogatory comment by an idiot who was obviously ignorant of any science behind beekeeping. That comment was removed, I was pleased to see and rightly so.
Some beekeepers are experimental and will use the new methods when they see others have had miraculous success. The Argentinian biologists who started their experiments in 2015 are not slouches by any means but are astute scientist as Randy Oliver noticed.
Does anyone stop to think that such a cleaver professional that Randy Oliver is, would give any possible excellent idea a second glance if he did not think it was worth pursuing.
Surely if it were not worth his attention he would not spend a vast amount of his time as he does with his experimentations. Those efforts are recognised by many other professional beekeepers.
I am amazed by his outgoing nature in helping all of us on You Tube.
I would think that an accolade of some description is in order for him? Sincere thanks to Randy Oliver.
If you change the hive environment by changing its design features you can be varroa treatment free. You just need to make an environment that reduces the varroa replacement value over each generation. This is not so hard. Forget chemicals. Honey bees in Cuba and South America have apparently learned to deal with it. The reason is likely to be that the climate is hot and humid, both factors of which can benefit the bees against varroa in their own way.
The propensity for varroa to die away in a humid hive was found out by accident when a laboratory hive was accidentally left at a higher humidity than others and that one lost its varroa. The precise mechanism of varroa destruction by humidity remains a mystery, but with a very small creature it probably drowns it.
The standard vertical bee hive entrance at the floor level of a thin walled vertical hive with ventilation at the top causes a cooling stack (or flue) effect internally. This cools the hive in winter and takes away its humidity all year. If, in a standard vertical hive the bee entrance/ventilation was placed at the top of the brood nest (under the queen excluder in summer) a VIBEZ (Ventilated Integrated Bee Entrance Zone) is formed giving a “bucket” of humid air in the brood nest below.
Wrapping the brood boxes of a thin walled vertical hive with aerated concrete blocks is also a major benefit for the bee’s thermoregulation duties, particularly in winter.
The temperature of the brood nest is important in the fight against varroa as it affects the pupa hatch period and therefore the time available for the varroa to mature in the cells. The temperature over the time of day and position in the brood nest affects the pupa temperature.
Below 29C. and above 37C. the pupa die. At 35C. it takes 10-11 days to hatch. At 31C. it takes 14-15 days to hatch.
If you are already committed to the thin walled vertical hives as most are, consider making those modifications to test their efficacy.
If you are not committed, the ZEST DIY hive is functionally free of varroa in so far as it does not need treating for it. It has many other advantages in cost, effectiveness and benefit to the bees and bee keeper. It is made from aerated concrete blocks which have 39 times more Resistance (R) to the passage of heat than a thin walled wood hive.
It also has top entry. If you want to know more about varroa free hive design go to the ZEST web page, and read the free E-Book going to pages 21 to 24 and 50 where the mechanism for being varroa free is explained. There is a U-tube that you may also want to view titled “Build your own bee hive-heathy bees-zest hive”.
Humid air rises and does not sink. So no bucket is there? Not sure you explanation makes sense.
@@alfie2932 The ZEST hive is the only one I know of that has just top entry and it averages about 20% more humid compared with a thin walled National hive, which has a "stack" or "flue" effect with its bottom entry and top ventilation. The bees seal this up causing condensation. Try it. Humid good. Water bad. Perfect sense.
@@williamsummers6438 I think the ZEST hive has a lot going for it, except the top entrance.
I don't have top ventilation in my hives, only a small bottom entrance. As humid air rises, the humid area is at the top.
My point, is that humid air rises, and ZEST hive has top entrances - so all that humidity and heat is lost out through the top entrances. It doesn't as far as I understand create a 'bucket' of humid air. This is because humid air rises, it does not fall.
My hives, with only a bottom entrance, not top ventilation and lots of top insulation should be hotter and more humid at the top. (I have not done any formal testing).
@@alfie2932 On page 21 of the free E-Book for the ZEST hive with top entry/ventilation, the ZEST is much more humid. Just try top entry/ventilation over the winter in other hive types. It is an easy test to do. That alone may not be sufficient to do for the varroa, but it may be a good start.
@@williamsummers6438 I understand you keep saying it's more humid. I'm saying it does not seem possible with a top entrance.
Humid air rises and will go right out of your top entrances.
Simply stating "ZEST Hive is more humid because of top entrances" doesn't mean it is true. You've offered no explanation and instead keep repeating the same phrase.
Even in your ebook you state: "The ZEST method of top, cross, trickle ventilation is enough to remove any high
humidity air and prevent condensation forming"
So you're removing the humid air by top entrances.
When you are saying in order to keep varroa in check we want a humid environment, and it seems the top entrance is great for removing humid air?
I like the ZEST hive is great - but I simply think a bottom entrance is far superior to the top entrance, especially when looking at maintaining high humidity. With a bottom entrance the humid air which rises is not removed.
what a mess