Powder Sugar

[Parke County Queen]

When I first started doing this, I did every box separately. I went to a state meeting where Jerry Hayes was supposed to talk. He couldn't make it, so his assistant came. He told us that you don't have to do every box. Just do the top one and use 1 Cup. He also said it is better to do it every three days. Working full time and taking care of my mother, I don't really have time to do it that often. Just curious to see what others do. All boxes or just the top? How often?

The next morning, I also throw some hot water under the hives to get rid of the sugar. I don't want any more ants than I already have. I don't know if this is necessary though.

[D Coates]

I do it every 3 weeks. I do it at the same time that I remove the one frame of capped drone brood from each of my hives. I've had good luck with this so far. It seems to be a 1-2 punch that keeps the mites off balance from getting to critical mass. However if you do it like this, you must be VERY consistant about removing those drone frames before they hatch (24 days). It normally takes a couple days for the dead drone to be removed and another couple days before the queen loads the frame with drone brood. I always check a portion of the removed drone brood frame for mites and find very few if any varoa mites. If you leave the drones in there to hatch you're making a varoa nursery.

For applying the powdered sugar I made a frame that fits around the hive body with a screen covering the opening (screen covers the entire open top portion or the hive). It also has a 1 inch lip all the way around to keep the sugar from falling off while brushing. I set it on top of a opened hive. I dump 2 cups of powdered sugar over the screen and brush it back and forth with a bee brush until it has all fallen into the hive (make sure to get the corners). I then remove the frame and brush the powered sugar that's in the top of the hive frames into the gaps between the frames. I don't break down the hive but I do remove any empty or unoccupied supers I may have in there. If the supers are active I leave them on so those bees get the treatment as well.

I takes about 3 to 5 minutes per hive and I have my 8 year old do some of it while I'm overseeing it or doing something else. Like I said it's working for me but I'm a relatively new beekeeper (2-years) with 5 hives.

[Ravenseye]

I too use drone frames. They work reasonably well but timing is everything. I keep a log on when a frame went in and then I calculate when I need to really check it again. Sometimes, she won't start laying in it for awhile so you kind of have to watch what's going on.

I don't sugar every box, but I do sugar the two hive bodies separately. I've heard people say that you only have to sugar the top and let it trickle down, but since I'm pulling boxes to check the drone frame, why not sugar the frames of each box at the same time. I don't usually bother with the supers unless I have a fully capped box that has a lot of bees. Then...they get it!

Right now, I'm sugaring once a week. That's all my schedule will allow although I would like to do it more often. I'll do that until after I harvest. Then, I'm switching to formic acid.

[kbee]

I usually only do the top hive bodies about every three weeks. I also made a screened frame to go on top and use a wide paint scrapper to get the sugar on the bees.