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sept 1st

16K views 52 replies 27 participants last post by  PewHeretic 
#1 ·
Hope all you guys have the honey off and the bees treated, it's time for fall feeding and the last couple of brood rounds before winter are critical, how we put them to bed is how we wake them up in Jan. Good luck to all this fall.
 
#9 ·
Perhaps feeding on fall flowers!! No syrup for my girls, atleast not yet. Goldenrod and fall flow is going to be killer for us this year. We just recieved 3 inches of rain, the plants are looking beatiful. I am expecting a very good harvest, overall a very good year for me in Louisville, the mild summer kept the queen laying and populations very large.

No treatments for me!
 
#11 ·
No treatments for me!
Well Hallelujah!!

No treatments for me eather, all year so far!

As for the bees, we had Apivar installed by August 9th.
Not sure just how the late summer weather / fall weather will cooperate with our timing model, but would like to pull the strips with the last feeding.
It will be interesting to sample hives later on and determine if oxalic will be in order this year.
All in all, Oregon beekeepers are very happy with the condition of the bees at this time.
This is not the time to be cheap and cut corners.
All of the good work happens RIGHT NOW! Well, most of it anyway.
By the way, I purchaced bulk pollen sub from a certain company :rolleyes: and there was a light layer of mold all over.
Have you ever had that happen? If so, were you concerned?
 
#17 ·
I learned long ago that commercial beekeeping is about turning a profit... the bigger the better. Burns375 if you let any bees die because of mites let it be on 10 percent or less of you whole bee outfit. Keep them isolated and breed off of your survivors. If you treat now you will have a great hive come out of winter. That equals a nice pollination check from the almond growers. Then lots of surplus bees for bee sales. Splits, bulk bees, frames of brood, an increase in your own hive numbers, and or stronger hives for that summers honey flow thus a potentially larger crop. Your business model is clouded by your desire to keep chemicals out of your hives, but in reality they gather from plants that are sprayed with ag chemicals or plants that are seed treated thus your hives already have chemicals in them.
 
#24 ·
If you treat now you will have a great hive come out of winter. That equals a nice pollination check from the almond growers. Then lots of surplus bees for bee sales. Splits, bulk bees, frames of brood, an increase in your own hive numbers, and or stronger hives for that summers honey flow thus a potentially larger crop. Your business model is clouded by your desire to keep chemicals out of your hives, but in reality they gather from plants that are sprayed with ag chemicals or plants that are seed treated thus your hives already have chemicals in them.
So let's add some more chemicals and try to control mites, and put the ladies to bed for winter :scratch:
 
#18 ·
Well now Sept 1st is very different from year to year. And this year some bees think its July !! Was not counting on it but some yards made a 2nd crop this Aug.
Also bees are night and day different from last year at this exact time.
Bees in general are mite free and healthy as could bee.
I say that is due to ample moisture and late spring.
 
#19 ·
Did my first application of OAV on August 31, will do another one on September 6th and the last one on September 13th. I put pollen sub on Sept 2nd as hives are heavy but pollen is getting scarce. Lots of capped brood and eggs in the few hives I checked and good populations!

Although an alfalfa flow is starting I am feeding the smaller splits still to keep them going. Will pull the honey supers in about 2 weeks and then let them have the last bloom next month to store for winter, as it stands, the second deeps are packed right now and they are putting it away in the supers.

Looking forward to the last honey harvest and pollination in the spring!! Hope everyone has a good survival rate!
 
#21 ·
Man, nice to hear some honey being made late in the year, shoot where I live I'm surprizes any time it happens. :)

Also interesting about most of you talking about the low mite counts, sure which we had a better handle on why that is, anyhow good luck to all.
 
#25 ·
Fortunately for us mite levels seem to be fairly low for this time of year. We should be 2 weeks into our late summer thymol program but high temps have put treatments on hold plus the boss has been playing hooky. Time will tell what this all means I guess.
 
#32 ·
I am using Thymovar this year , I have my honey all off and I will also be doing an OAV later on towards fall . I have lots of pollen stores in most hives . what do you all consider an ample supply 2 frames 3 frames ? (Deeps of course)
Also do any of you use Formic , if so when are you doing it ?
I can't get nutra bee here in NS , I will be using Bee pro Ultra instead , I would have bought nutra bee if I could have found it . unless someone knows a secret place to buy it in canada ?
 
#34 ·
grease patty for mites??? Seems someone is not on the same page...... I think Keith's point was whatever your methods, time to pull that honey and start winter preps. which for most of us is spot on.....

Fields, Your not doing squat... letting your bees manage their own is not beekeeping... its behaveing and luck... no worries if that's your choice, more power to you, but don't dulude yourself into thinking your magic.....
 
#35 ·
grease patty for mites??? Seems someone is not on the same page......

Fields, Your not doing squat... letting your bees manage their own is not beekeeping... its behaveing and luck... no worries if that's your choice, more power to you, but don't dulude yourself into thinking your magic.....
Yes, grease patties for mites, read up on it,,so I am only doing squat if I treat?, and some call this treating. Call it what you want gmcharlie, and no I don't think I am magic, just putting the ladies to bed for winter does not involve anything else for me. Well besides mouse guards, oh and I say abracadabra in the spring!
 
#37 ·
No one here was referring to Trach mites... which was my point.. you can't test for those without a microscope and a lot of skill. my point was your throwing rocks and you have little to no clue what your talking about. You can keep bees all you like, anyway you like. but its not polite to harass others about what they do when you have no idea what your talking about........
I personally TRY not to do that.....
 
#40 ·
I was not referring to Trach mites either, or throwing rocks I believe it was you who did that, by claiming that I am not doing squat. Anyway, grease patties with wintergreen oil helps control Varroa mite populations in late fall and winter.
 
#44 ·
As far as I know, grease patties work by grease getting distributed around the hive on bees making it difficult for tracheal mites to get through the hairs surrounding trachea of the bees not yet infested.

Also as far as I know, grease patties w/ or w/out wintergreen oil have no effect on varroa mites. They probably don't do any damage.

Hopefully you aren't putting any Terramycin in your grease patty mix. Because that has been shown to promote resistance in AFB because of its slow release.
 
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