First Check After The Winter. Holy Cow!!!!!!!!

2712 Views 17 Replies 13 Participants Last post by JWPalmer, Mar 14, 2020

Clarkwestfied

Discussion Starter · Mar 8, 2020 (Edited)

So I went in after attending my bee club looking to control Verroa. I planned to put Apivar on now because I missed the January timeline to get it in.

The plan is to leave the strips in for 3 weeks, then 2 weeks airing out, then honey supers.

Well I went in today for the first full inspection. Holy cow!! The hive looks like it is booming in July. Healthy and exploding!

Tons of bees, at least 5 brood frames and tons of pollin. There is still at least 5-7 full deep honey frames.

I plan to split the hive, but I still can’t get a queen till the 2nd or 3rd week of April in my area.

The mild winter kept this hive super productive.

I hope adding a 3rd deep box deep will keep them from swarming. Also helps the startup with the split.

I was and still am in shock.

Anybody else have this happen this year? Or ever.

I was expecting a cluster up top, empty honey stores and low amount of bees.

Man was I wrong!

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

Grins

· #2 · Mar 8, 2020

Clarkwestfied said:
So I went in after attending my bee club looking to control Verroa. I planned to put Apivar on now because I missed the January timeline to get it in.

The plan is to leave the strips in for 3 weeks, then 2 weeks airing out, then honey supers.

Well I went in today for the first full inspection. Holy cow!! The hive looks like it is booming in July. Healthy and exploding!

Tons of bees, at least 5 brood frames and tons of pollin. There is still at least 5-7 full deep honey frames.

I plan to split the hive, but I still can’t get a queen till the 2nd or 3rd week of April in my area.

The mild winter kept this hive super productive.

I hope the deep will keep them from swarming.

I was and still am in shock.

Anybody else have this happen this year? Or ever.

I was expecting a cluster up top, empty honey stores and low amount of bees.

Man was I wrong!

Yep, surely has. You'll need to be very vigilant to prevent swarming. Some queens are great at making bee colonies and you may have one of those. An early build up like this hints your queen wants to populate the world (or just Jersey) with more colonies.
Lee

jonsl

· #3 · Mar 9, 2020

Yes, was a good year in Jersey. Have 2 hives that have 16 deep frames covered with bees already. Let's hope the weather holds up in March.

odfrank

· #4 · Mar 9, 2020

Your plan does not include reading and following the Apivar instructions properly which require the medication to be in for six weeks to properly control the mites.

JWPalmer

· #5 · Mar 9, 2020

Using the Apivar strips for less than the minimum prescribed amount of time is not the best call. It will kill some mites yes, but not all, and those exposed to a sub-lethal dose could begin developing resistance to amitraz. And it is expensive. In the same 5 week period, you could do 5 rounds of OAV and most likey achieve a better mite kill rate. This might also be a good time to use Formic Pro but I do not have experience with that product.

Clarkwestfied

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 9, 2020

I want tp use Formic Pro, but the temperature is still too cool for that product.

I ran this by a couple of people in the bee club my idea, and this my be my only option now.

It’s either that or leave it out and throw Formic Pro on when it gets warmer. I can then leave the supers in place.

Now that I’m writing it, I may do that instead

JWPalmer

· #7 · Mar 9, 2020

Sometimes just talking about something opens up other options.

mamm7215

· #8 · Mar 9, 2020

I use OAV through the winter and Formic Pro at the end of summer. Earlier if mite count is high. This early on without supers on I'd do a few OAV treatments as JWPalmer suggested. If you can't, you'd likely be better off waiting and doing the Formic Pro when it's a bit warmer.

J&J Bees

· #9 · Mar 9, 2020

That’s great Clark! We are finding about the same results and had about 3-4 frames of brood. The thing that puzzled us is we never saw the queen or any eggs. There was larva at different stages, lots of bees, but no eggs.

Clarkwestfied

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 9, 2020

J&J, Same thing in my colony. Any supercedure cells?

There were 2 when I went in

AstroZomBEE

· #11 · Mar 10, 2020

Why wouldn't you use formic pro? as long as the daytime highs are above 50 you should be good? especially in a booming hive that probably keeps the whole have at a solid 90 no matter what. I thought formic use was more regulated when it was overly warm outside.

Aaron

COAL REAPER

· #12 · Mar 10, 2020

why are you in a rush to treat? did you do a mite wash? in an effort to rotate treatments as you should, if you do apivar now and need a treatment come summertime then your options will be limited. unless mite levels are through the roof, i would hold off and use a formic product when appropriate.

WordWrangler

· #13 · Mar 13, 2020

Same here, I was hoping to split a double deep and requeen w/ a VSH queen from Hawaii. Two weeks ago, I didn't think I'd get enough expansion. Now I think I should put on a super

hoffmans

· #14 · Mar 13, 2020

I'm sure you have pollen coming in but I don't know what is producing nectar in your area right now. You might think about feeding since your colony is exploding. They need both pollen and *honey*/liquid feed or sugar cakes or something... just a thought....

unstunghero

· #15 · Mar 13, 2020

Clarkwestfied said:
So I went in after attending my bee club looking to control Verroa. I planned to put Apivar on now because I missed the January timeline to get it in.

The plan is to leave the strips in for 3 weeks, then 2 weeks airing out, then honey supers.

Well I went in today for the first full inspection. Holy cow!! The hive looks like it is booming in July. Healthy and exploding!

Tons of bees, at least 5 brood frames and tons of pollin. There is still at least 5-7 full deep honey frames.

I plan to split the hive, but I still can’t get a queen till the 2nd or 3rd week of April in my area.

The mild winter kept this hive super productive.

I hope adding a 3rd deep box deep will keep them from swarming. Also helps the startup with the split.

I was and still am in shock.

Anybody else have this happen this year? Or ever.

I was expecting a cluster up top, empty honey stores and low amount of bees.

Man was I wrong!

I would not do anything unless it needs doing(sounds simple huh?). Be careful if you are considering feeding syrup unless they are running out of capped honey. You want the colony to use their stored honey, this opens up frames that can be moved into the brood area which will give the queen room to lay and help with swarming.

Clarkwestfied

Discussion Starter · #16 · Mar 13, 2020

There is about 6 frames of capped honey still in the boxes.

I’m sure they will rip right through it once they start needing it.

AstroBee

· #17 · Mar 14, 2020

Clarkwestfied said:
I planned to put Apivar on now because I missed the January timeline to get it in.

Apivar in January? I didn't realize that anyone used Apivar at that time of year in NJ. Typically, Apivar is used late summer or early fall to allow the bees to get a couple of mite-free brood cycles in before winter sets in.

JWPalmer

· #18 · Mar 14, 2020

Apivar has instructions for use as a Spring treatment.

Hang Apivar strips in the hives in the spring and/or the fall if Varroa mite infestations have reached treatment threshold. Remove all Apivar strips 2 weeks before the honey flow starts

If one properly treated their bees going into winter, a spring application should not be necessary. My assumption is that the OP has already determined by doing a mite wash that a spring treatment is required.

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

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