putting hopguard on the hives more quickly

[justin]

i just put hopguard on my 50 strong doubles. i robbed them 3 days ago, we had frost 2 nights ago, it's been very dry, and they are really testy. while i was treating i started wondering if anyone is speeding up the process. what i was considering was splitting the boxes and laying 4 strips on the middle and closing it up. i've noticed with patties done that way they carry all the wax paper out the front so i thought maybe they would handle the hopguard the same way. it also seems to work for the commercial people using shop towels with other chemicals. not bieng lazy, just trying to be less intrusive when they are already angry. it's also the time of year when a robbing frenzy could start at any time. thanks justin

[ken rice]

I use hopguard and have been quite satisfied. I put it between the frames like suggested and noticed the bees really don't mind it.They actually walk across the strips spreading the solution.in a couple days you will see the shredded cardboard on the ground in front of the hive.Hey Justin,I have a daughter living in Kalispell. Didn't know what part your in.

[JRG13]

I dunno, people say you need to put them in and not on top. Did you notice your bees get more testy right when you put the strips in? I know mine do. Next time I do it, i'm pulling the two frames out, shaking off the bees then put the frames in holder box, putting the strips on then putting the frames back in. I've noticed bees that get slimed by the strips don't make it and I'm gonna make sure the queen is not around.

[ken rice]

I have not had any negative experiences as mentioned. However, Beekeepers and hives are all different.

[justin]

i put them in as recommended this time as well as this spring. in the spring they had no problems with them. right now they are supposed to be cross, and they were. they would have reacted the same way if i was giving them honey. my wife got stung 8 times, she's still going on and on about it. as packed with bees as they were (some just went from having 4 medium supers to none) and as much burr comb as they have built it was just a pain. having put on shop towels for other beekeepers and seeing how fast and easy that is i was just thinking about whether that would work with this product. i have 2 hives with sbb's and i put the boards in when i treated. a weaker hive dropped 80 and a strong colony dropped 46 in 24 hours. i know there is nothing scientific about those numbers. i just like seeing dead mites.ken, i live 50 miles west of missoula, between alberton and superior. a couple hours from kalispell. i have friends in columbia falls, and go through kalispell sometimes going to see them. thanks, justin

[ken rice]

Justin, I would bee interested to know if that would work just as well. I agree it would certainly make things easier and faster.

[cg3]

I got to experience the angry reaction. 14 of 18 took the strips OK. The other 4 went absolutely nuts. The 4 that reacted badly were my strongest hives. They seemed to go off the second the first strip made contact with the frames. Smell?

[ken rice]

Cg3, Hopguard has a very mild smell compared to Apilife and some of the others

[Ledge]

I have 4 hives, and treated 2 with hopguard. As others have noted, the instant I started lowering the strips over the box, they flipped out. Hundreds of bees coming at me defensively. To the point that on the first hive, I almost started to panic. That hive is far and away my hottest hive. They always get pretty defensive when I open them up. The other hive that I treated is generally quite gentle, and they reacted almost the same as the first. They were just quicker to cool down when I finished. I wonder what the specific reason is that it needs to be draped down over the frames versus just laid across the top? Fume distribution perhaps?

[JRG13]

I think it is the smell personally. A lot of bees go for the gloves where it's been covered with the residue. I just remember the first time I got a little nervous but the bees didn't really seem to be aggressive towards me. I took a sting to the wrist the second time, but I'm assuming it was just a bee taking flight, hit my wrist and stung on impulse. Ledge, people say it's more of a contact and not a fumigation treatment so you need bees to spread it around or get some on them to be effective.

[Katharina]

Funny never had that issue. I wonder if that has to do with the temperature when you apply the treatment. I'm in the mountains and apply them rather late. Temps are around or below 65 for sure when I put them. I also know a commercial beekeeper who puts the rest of the hopguard liquid onto his hive bars. This gives him usually another treatment after the strips are gone. He said it works just as good.

I'm working on testing Pike directly on the bars. This allows faster treatment, and less cost. All you need is a prescription from a vet and you can use it legally. I can't wait to get my hands onto this stuff.

[ken rice]

I have never had that problem either. Possibly during a dearth when the bees are more agressive to protect what they have. I have applied when the temps were in the 90"s. So i don"t think so much temperature.Katharina can you speek more on the pike you refered too. Thanks Ken

[Katharina]

PIKE is a product used to make dark beer. It is a hops extract. Basically the same stuff Betatech packages up and sells as Hopguard. It does contain 16% beta acids and 2% alpha acids. Here is a thesis that may be interesting:
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xm...pdf?sequence=1

[mmiller]

I also have seen the bees get a little testy when applying the hopguard. Not all hives and not every time but you sure know that they aren't pleased with it. They very quickly attack the strip or the gloves with residue on them. They don't in my experience come after me though.

[arcowandbeegirl]

I have applied two different rounds of hopguard to my hives ( I now have 6). This last time on the first and second applications the bees rushed to the strips and we smoked them to get them off the frame so that we could slide the strip down over the frame. I had on nitrile gloves and they didnt seem to be wanting to sting. The third application was different. I had bees in every hive crawling out on the top of the frames and they were stinging through my gloves and crawling up my sleeves. I was surely glad that was my last time to apply them!! I have not done a mite count post treatment yet. Some of this aggitation could have been due to two things, one is that it was in advance of tropical storm Isaac and the other is that I was hurried in my movements and that doesnt help. I needed to get the strips placed and extra supers off to reduce height and the danger of tipping over before the storm arrived.
I do know that the bees were are aggravated as when I dusted them with powdered sugar last year. They even came a long ways away to buzz around a woman that was walking around later in the morning. Usually they dont bother anyone, but they got stirred up. The temps here are still hot, lows in the 70's and highs in the 90's while we were applying the strips, and very humid!

[beepopnc]

I haven't been able to find anything that I can use to treat varroa in a TBH. I am looking for suggestions.

Can anyone tell me how thick (not wide) the Hopguard strips are??? I am thinking about using them with my infested top bar hives...if they are not too thick, causing them to create large gaps between the top bars.

[cg3]

They work fine in TBHs

[justin]

i decided against my original question. we have had cold mornings this week, so i got in there early and despite the forest fires everywhere i used my smoker (carefully). the hives were even more packed with bees but they were less angry. i got them down between the frames and fed 2/1 with fumadil. i cleaned up with lots of water, but as dry as its been it still set off a robbing frenzy. i am not enjoying the bees these last few weeks. at least the populations are good.