[squarepeg]

Russian queen.

well, it's clear that i am not working with russians.

generally speaking, i do not observe the level of uncapping that you and @Kellyb have been posting.

i think i can see a few recapped cells as well, which is something i do observe with mine, but again, not anywhere that number on a single frame.

 

[Clayton Huestis]

Went and did a random sample today of the nuc yard.

Mite washes:

#28- 0
#47- 1
#48- 2
yellow- 1
tan (all mediums)- 5

Based on the sample some colonies have some degree of resistance. Others have almost none. No DWV observed. All these colonies have NOT been treated this year. With the degree of resistance observed I would expect many of these colonies crash on a 3 year cycle. My assessment:

2/3's of my colonies are 1x to 3x's more resistance than common stock. Without heavy testing it is impossible to separate these. (I'm in the process of converting my apiaries to all medium one size box)(I have tested many configurations over the past 5 years, this is the most profitable and yet works with my shoulder injury)

1/3 of my colonies have no resistance (or very low). These need to be requeened. The last colony above is such a colony.

 

[Kellyb]

View attachment 97926

Colony has frame after frame of uncapping. Russian queen. (Breeder: David Coy)

Did you happen to do a mite wash on this colony?

 

[Clayton Huestis]

Did you happen to do a mite wash on this colony?

Not yet. In a different bee yard. All the colonies sampled today were not Russian. I'd like to sample a good amount of my russian colonies. Trying to get the honey crop off so time is an issue atm.

 

[mayimchaim]

well, it's clear that i am not working with russians.

generally speaking, i do not observe the level of uncapping that you and @Kellyb have been posting.

i think i can see a few recapped cells as well, which is something i do observe with mine, but again, not anywhere that number on a single frame.

I have a couple colonies with little to no uncapping but a lot of efficient brood removal. They mite wash low.

 

[Clayton Huestis]

Russian colony #42 - 0 mites This colony has had almost no uncapping all season. It is very strong.
Russian colony #41 Didn't bother to wash as she has swarmed, need to check if it has requeened on 9/1

Both will remain TF this season. Unfortunately, I accidently treated my other Russian colony in this yard. (Sorry TF forum).

I will try to get a sample from my heavy uncap/ recap colony on 9/1 and one other russian colony.

 

[Kellyb]

well, it's clear that i am not working with russians.

generally speaking, i do not observe the level of uncapping that you and @Kellyb have been posting.

i think i can see a few recapped cells as well, which is something i do observe with mine, but again, not anywhere that number on a single frame.

There is definitely a seasonal pattern to the Russians behavior. In my observations the best colonies will do this earlier in the season first on drone brood than worker brood. Mite levels don’t seem to matter much. They will uncap but I don’t see a ton of removal. As the season advances into the dearth they get more serious and instead of just uncapping they remove everything completely, so I see brood frames with lots of holes in it. The best colonies will do this on pupae that have just been capped - they don’t wait long and they get really OCD about their brood after the spring flow.

They will also do this if I try to donate them a capped brood frame from another colony - they’ll immediately go to work and remove most of it, and mite load in that donated frame doesn’t seem to matter.

 

[Clayton Huestis]

Did you happen to do a mite wash on this colony?

Ok took two washes of russian colonies:

Russian colony #7- 0 mites (colony with heavy uncapping/ recapping) (potential breeder)
Russian colony #21- 2 mites (very light mite damage seen) (I applied the thing that violates the forum rules) (colony has partial resistance but not enough)

 

[squarepeg]

don't worry about it clay, i have relaxed quite a bit from how ol' sol used to be, besides the rules allow mentioning treating when "it is employed as part of a plan in becoming treatment free."

congrats on the superb mite counts!