Good Housekeeping

Keeping the apiary clean and tidy is key to apiary hygiene and includes: –

• Being able to clean hands and tools between hives – to avoid cross contamination of disease between hives
• Having somewhere to put brace comb and wax – so it does not end up on the ground, where it can attract pests
• Having somewhere to put discarded wrappers or debris – to keep the apiary tidy
• Providing somewhere to put disposable gloves – for recycling
• Keeping vegetation down around and under hives – to reduce harbour areas for pests and disease and make it easy to tidy up debris.

What equipment do I take into the apiary?

Along with my homemade hive caddy, I take three plastic boxes.  The taller one is a plastic bin, fitted with a homemade wooden top, used for rubbish.  The smaller one is a plastic tub for collecting used disposable gloves, for recycling.  The other is my wax tub, for collecting brace comb.

In my hive caddy, I have a plastic spaghetti tub.  This is filled with a 1 to 5 solution of cleaning soda and water.  My hive tools are kept in this container allowing tools to be washed or changed between hive inspections.  A piece of foam is glued in the bottom to prevent the tools from cracking the base when they are dropped in. (yes, that actually happened!).  A couple of scotchbrite pads are kept in there too to help with removing propolis.

Other equipment taken into the apiary in my hive caddy includes: –

• Smoker – Masking tape is used on the bellows, which can be removed when it is dirty. The lit smoker is also a useful place to dispose of small pieces of hive debris.
• Gloves Tin – My preference is disposable powder free Vinyl medical gloves. I use a recycling service through TerraCycle UK Ltd which provide a disposable gloves recycling service.
• Small Blow Torch – Used to light the smoker but also useful for sterilising tools, tweezers and woodwork.
• Smoker Fuel – I mostly use untreated wood shavings or other natural materials, like pine needles, pinecones and twigs. I avoid cardboard, sisal string or hessian sacking, because of the chemicals they are impregnated with.
• Log book – This small bag contains my journal, as well as my phone/camera, marking pen and laminated emergency contact card (with post code, grid reference and what3words location)
• Bits Tin – Includes: cocktail sticks, tweezers, antihistamine tablets, matchsticks, marking kit, grafting tools, queen cage and x3 reading glasses.

Equipment Sterilisation Regime

Some of the pathogens which effect honeybees can be brought into an apiary on equipment.  For example, the notifiable disease American Foul Brood is known to be able to survive for years on used beekeeping equipment. 

Some simple disciplines can prevent this, including: –

• Using new beekeeping equipment in the apiary, where possible
• Annual sterilisation of hive parts, like brood bodies, floors and queen excluders
• Quarantine and sterilisation of second-hand equipment before bringing into the apiary
• Retiring equipment when it becomes difficult to clean

Click here to see our blog on equipment sterilisation.

Comb Replacement Strategy

Brood comb is the place that pests and diseases have the greatest opportunity to build-up over time, so a key apiary hygiene strategy is to replace brood comb on a regular basis.  In their leaflet “Replacing old comb”, The national bee unit recommend at least every three years.  Jason Learner of the national bee unit also has a good article “The need to change comb”, which can be downloaded from the NBU website, click here.

Others recommend the removal of all brood from every colony in an apiary, around early July, every year.  Ralph Büchler described this approach in detail in his presentation at the 2019 honey show.  Click here to see the video of his presentation on Youtube.

Click here to see our blog on assessing brood comb during the process of cleaning and sterilsation.

What comb replacement strategies can be used? 

There are a number of comb replacement startegies which can be used by the hobby beekeeper. Including:-

• Adhoc Frame Removal – In this method the darkest frames are moved to the outside edge of the brood nest and removed when the nest contracts in size. It is a slow and unreliable way of ensuring comb is always less than three years old.
• Bailey Comb Change – This is a recognised bio-technical method of dealing with some of the less serious brood issues. It can also be used to replace comb in a systematic way in a healthy colony.  A benefit of this approach is that no brood is lost during the process.  The NBU article by Jason Learner also gives a description of the Bailey Comb Change.
• Shook Swarm – In this approach all of the bees are shaken into a new hive, with sterilised comb or foundation. The brood is lost but it is fast way of getting a colony onto fresh comb.  Click here to see the national bee unit leaflet on shook swarming.

Which method the hobby beekeeper uses is less important than having an approach and building it into the beekeeping calendar.  It is also worth considering that the biggest impact on apiary hygiene will be achieved by carrying out comb replacement on all hives in the apiary at the same time.

Hygienic Bee Husbandry

Avoiding cross-contamination between bees and comb, across apiaries and between colonies within an apiary, is also important to maintaining good apiary hygiene. 

Some simple disciplines to support this include: –

• Avoid drifting and robbing – this can be achieved by pointing the hives in the apiary in different directions and keeping entrances small.
• React quickly – if a colony shows signs of issues, carry out one of the recognised bio-technical or approved treatments before it has a chance to affect other colonies. Also consider treating the other colonies in the apiary.
• Avoid bringing in bees from other apiaries – when this cannot be avoided, quarantine them.
• Don’t move frames between colonies – it can be tempting to “balance up” colonies in an apiary but as a hobby beekeeper it can be better to keep strong colonies strong and fix the problem with the weak colony.
• Raise your own Queens – having the aim of being self-sufficient in bees and queens reduces the risk of introducing disease into an apiary.
• Buy local bees – local bees will be more adapted to the local conditions and they reduce the risk of the transfer of diseases and pests from other countries or counties.
• Select for hygienic behaviour – when selecting which colonies to produce queens or nucs from, choose the one which is the healthiest.

What does it look like in the apiary?

This photo, provided by Master Beekeeper Stuart Roberts, shows the equipment set up on a shelf in my apiary ready to inspect 10 hives.

Simple Apiary Hygiene Summary

The purpose of this blog is to show a simple approach to apiary hygiene for hobby beekeepers.  This included some suggested housekeeping practices, equipment hygiene and bee husbandry disciplines, which hobby beekeepers may find useful.

With some simple equipment and good practices hobby beekeepers can achieve a high standard of apiary hygiene, by making it part of their beekeeping routine.  The aim is not to be brilliant at one aspect of it but to make many small improvements across all the aspects of apiary hygiene.    

If you have found this useful please share with others who will be interested.  If you would like to receive future posts, please subscribe on the homepage.

The post Simple Apiary Hygiene for Hobby Beekeepers appeared first on NorthumbrIANbees.

This is the last blog in a series of three, which together aim to show a simple setup and methods for the cleaning & sterilisation of equipment, for use by small-scale beekeepers.  The focus of this blog is the recovery of wax and frames. 

Click here to go back to the first blog in the cleaning and sterilisation series. “Part One – Equipment”.  Click here to go back to the second blog in the cleaning and sterilisation series. “Part Two – Assessing brood frames”.

Recovering frames using boiling cleaning soda solution

Submerging frames in a boiling cleaning soda solution for two minutes is a cleaning, as well as a sterilisation process, against chalkbrood and nosema.  Cleaning soda is a skin irritant and the water is boiling, so I wear marigolds and eye protection.  The boiling solution produces a vapour which I avoid breathing in, using an extractor.  Like the ones used in bathrooms and kitchens.

Equipment and materials

The cleaning soda (sodium carbonate) is readily available at supermarkets and discount stores.  Often for less than £1 per kg.  The solution is 1:5 cleaning soda to clean water.  I add 5kg of cleaning soda to 25L of water in the water boiler.

When I had fewer hives, I used my Burco boiler for sterilising frames and recovering wax.  The Burco is not tall enough to submerge national frames.  This meant that frames were double handled to dip both ends, and it could not be used at the same time for wax recovery.  After much searching, I found the boiler below on Amazon. It can take 6 national brood frames, fully submerged and has temperature control up to 110 degree C.

Submerge in boiling cleaning soda solution

After six frames have been scraped, to remove as much of the wax and propolis as possible, they are bundled together with string or tie-wraps.  The bundle is submerged in the boiling solution and held down with a piece of stone cobble.

After two minutes, the frames are removed, with some vigorous sloshing.  Most of the time the frames come out with all the propolis removed but occasionally it may need some encouragement with a piece of Scotchbrite and then more sloshing.  After a few batches the mixture will turn from the nice white solution it started as, to a mucky brown colour.  This is just the boiling cleaning soda solution doing its job, of cleaning frames, by dissolving the propolis and wax, from the frames.

Rinse in clean water

The bundle of frames is then submerged in a tall bin of clean water and sloshed repeatedly, to remove the cleaning soda solution from the surface of the frames.  This water can quickly become discoloured and I replace this water after a few bundles to keep it clean.

Dry thoroughly

The bundles of frames are then left on the floor to drip dry.  Once they are drip dry, they are put in a warm place to fully dry out.  They are stored in empty cleaned and sterilised brood boxes, once completely dry.  Fresh wax is put into these frames just before they are needed.  

Recovering wax using a Burco boiler setup as a Bain-Marie

This is simply a recovery process.  It does not remove all the debris from the wax and the temperatures involved are not high enough to guarantee destruction of the spores of the key honeybee pathogens.  However, it does produce nice discs of wax which can be refined later to make wax based products, or used in a wax exchange scheme, like the Thorn’s one. 

Wax processing equipment

The bain-marie set up, consists of a burco boiler, with a circular cake stand in the bottom.  This provides a 20mm gap between the heated base and the bottom of the stock pot, which sits inside the boiler.  Both the boiler and the stock pot are two-thirds full of clean water.  The stock pot needs slightly more water to avoid it from floating off the cake stand.  The thermostat is set to 75 to 80 Degree C and the lids of the stock pot and burco are kept in place.  The lids are only removed to add wax.

Melting the wax

When comb for recovery has been cut out of its frame, it is broken up and put into the stock pot.  It will slowly melt.  This will leave the floating debris on the surface, the soluble debris in the water, the heavy debris on the bottom of the stock pot and some debris between the water and wax.

Removing surface debris

At the end of the session a small sieve is used to scoop out the cell cases and surface debris.  A lot of wax can be removed from this debris while the wax is still molten, using a chef-style stir-fry motion over the stock pot.  The ball of debris left in the sieve is then tipped into a bowl of water.  I put these in with the waste to be burned. 

The boiler is then switched off and the lids are replaced.  It is then left overnight to cool slowly.

Cleaning the wax

The next morning the wax will have set and has normally shrunk back from the sides.  This leaves a nice disc of wax floating in the water, which can be simply lifted out.

The underside of the disc usually has a layer of foam-like debris.  This can be scraped off using a wallpaper scraper, chisel or hive tool. 

At the end of the process you are rewarded with a nice disc of recovered wax, but don’t expect a lot!  I normally get 2 to 3 kg per season, but I’m selective about which wax to recover. 

The decision to sterilise frames using 80% Acetic acid

80% acetic acid is a dangerous substance.  It dissolves concrete, steel and human skin on contact.  The vapour is colourless but can damage the lungs, if inhaled.  It is harmful, if swallowed.  It is also flammable and can even be explosive in the right conditions!  Click here for a safety data sheet for 80% acetic acid.

The good news is that it is great at killing many of the common pathogens, although the National Bee Unit state that there is no evidence that it is suitable against AFB and EFB.  It is easy to obtain online and having a supply of sterilised drawn comb can be a big boost to your colonies.  But, as a small-scale beekeeper, you need to decide if these benefits are worth the risks involved with handling such a dangerous substance.  Just having it in your house is a hazard and it is something that should be in a locked chemical cupboard not just kept under the kitchen sink.

When I sterilise with 80% acetic acid, I follow some simple rules

• It’s done in a well-ventilated area, where it won’t be disturbed by people, particularly children or animals (wild or pets)
• I try to buy what I need and use it, but store it under lock and key, when neccesary.
• I follow the same process each time and leave it in a well-ventilated place, where it won’t be disturbed by people or animals.
• Full specification personal safety equipment is worn, safe working practices are followed and the amount of time the top is off the bottle is kept to a minimum.

Here is the safety equipment I use when handling 80% acetic acid: –

• Acid proof rubber gloves
• Full face mask with filters for use with acetic acid vapour
• Wellies and protective clothing

How to treat frames with 80% acetic acid

The frames for treatment with 80% acetic acid are collected in an empty brood body.  This brood body sits on a 500mm x 500mm piece of plywood, inside the base of a wheelie bin liner.  As the brood body becomes full, further brood bodies are stacked on top, to take more frames.

At the end of the session, an empty brood body is placed on top of the stack.  Then the joints between the brood boxes are covered over with masking tape, to retain the vapour inside the brood bodies.

An acid proof tray or dish is placed on top of the frames.  In this dish, but draped over the edges, is an absorbent cloth.

The next stage is when all the safety equipment is put on and it gets serious.  The National Bee Unit guidance is for 120 ml of 80% acetic acid per brood box full of frames.  With all the safety equipment and precautions in place, the 80% acetic acid is poured onto the cloth in the dish.

The top is put back on the bottle, and with the safety equipment still on, a Perspex crown board is placed over the top and sealed with masking tape into position.

The wheelie bin liner is pulled up over the brood boxes and taped into position onto the crown board. 

A roof is then put in position.  The whole set up is left for a week or more until the 80% acetic acid has evaporated and done its work.  How long the evaporation takes will depend on the ambient temperature.

The Perspex crown board allows periodic inspection, to see if the 80% acetic acid has evaporated.  When the process is complete the setup is dismantled again, wearing the safety equipment.  It is then allowed to air in a well-ventilated area, away from people and animals, for a few days before using them.

Summary – Part 3 – Recovering Wax & Frames

This blog is the last in a series of three and describes simple methods of recovering wax and frames, which can be used by small-scale beekeepers.

Click here to go back to the first blog in the cleaning and sterilisation series. “Part One – Equipment”.  Click here to go back to the second blog in the cleaning and sterilisation series. “Part Two – Assessing brood frames”.

I use this approach to cleaning and sterilisation of hive frames and equipment as part of an integrated approach to keeping healthy bees, by regularly removing darkened comb and providing clean comb on which they can raise their brood.

Although it is not the most exciting part of the beekeeping year, a good cleaning and sterilisation regime can make a big difference to the success of the coming season.

I’m not promising that this approach will make it any more exciting, but you will get through it faster and easier, with a bit less mess!

If you have found this useful please share with others who will be interested.  If you would like to receive future posts, please subscribe on the homepage.

The post Cleaning & Sterilisation for small-scale beekeepers – Part Three – Recovering Wax & Frames appeared first on NorthumbrIANbees.

This is the second blog in a series of three. Together they aim to show a simple setup and methods for the cleaning & sterilisation of equipment, for use by small-scale beekeepers. The focus of this blog is the assessment of brood frames.

Click here to go back to the first blog in the cleaning and sterilisation series. “Cleaning & sterilisation for small-scale beekeepers – part one – Equipment”

How effective are our simple sterilisation methods against AFB & EFB?

We know that we are legally required, by the Bee Diseases and pest control order 2006, to inform the Bee Inspector immediately, if we suspect any of our colonies have EFB or AFB. As responsible bee keepers we also check our bees regularly for the signs of foul brood diseases. Particularly AFB and EFB. Click here to see the National Bee unit leaflet on foul brood diseases.

It is clear, that the cleaning and sterilisation methods described in the National Bee Unit leaflet are intended for routine cleaning and sterilisation of equipment and not designed to sterilise equipment that is known to have AFB or EFB.

Scales, strings on matchsticks and sunken, perforated capping are easy to see on heavily contaminated comb, but how would you know if you had 1000 or 10,000 spores of AFB in a frame of brood comb, that is not showing any of these signs?

AFB spores can lie dormant for decades and EFB is known to be endemic in UK colonies. However, for many of the sterilisation methods suggested, no evidence is presented on them being effective against undetectable, dormant AFB spores or EFB in its vegetative state.

So, the small-scale beekeeper must assume that the simple methods available to them, for comb sterilisation, will not be effective against undetectable levels of AFB or EFB.

What precautions can we take to reduce the build up of pathogens in brood frames?

To be proactive about the presence of all pathogens and to prevent them from building up, I work with the following assumptions: –

• If any frame shows signs of nosema, chalkbrood, sacbrood or simply has heavily darkened comb, it is assumed that AFB or EFB could be present at an undetectable level.
• It is assumed that any frames with undetectable levels of AFB or EFB, will not be sterilised by any of the methods available to small-scale beekeepers and will be destroyed.
• Only frames and combs that are clear of any signs of chalk brood, nosema and sacbrood are recovered. The assumption that the sterilisation methods will be effective against these pathogens, at an undetectable level.
• To prevent pathogen build-up, brood comb in colonies is replaced regularly. By using brood comb replacement, bailey comb change or shook swarm, at least every two years.
• Frames are inspected individually rather than using techniques which recover frames and wax without inspection of every frame.

This approach will inevitably mean that fewer frames and less wax is recovered from the cleaning and sterilisation session. However, it also means that more used comb is removed. As a result, pathogens have less opportunity to build up in brood comb.

How do I categorise brood frames ?

As brood frames are taken from the brood bodies and nucs, they are assessed into one of the four following categories: –

• 1 – Destroy the frame and its wax
• 2 – Keep the frame, destroy its wax
• 3 – Keep the frame, recover its wax
• 4 – Keep the frame and its wax

Destroy the frame and its wax

These are the frames which have heavily blackened wax, darkened or misshapen woodwork and any which have visible signs of chalkbrood, sacbrood, Nosema or insect frasse. The aim is to take these frames out of action by putting them immediately into a bin bag. This avoids them contaminating any other equipment and the sealed bag will be burned.

The frame above shows brood cells which have become blackened by being used repeatedly over the course of one or more seasons. Other issues with this frame are the insect frasse that can be seen in some of the cells and the bloom of brown spore-like dust covering most of the darkened cells. This frame and wax will be destroyed without any further handling or processing.

Keep the frame, destroy the wax

The next classification of frames is those where the wax is heavily blackened, but the frame is in reasonable condition. There may be no signs of pathogens, but the aim is to take heavily used wax out of action, because this is where the pathogens build up over time.

The photo above shows a heavily used comb that has been folded over and snapped to show the lining of the cells, which are built up over time from successive brood rearing.

The frame above shows brood cells which have become blackened over time. The wax is cut out of the frame and bagged for burning. The wooden frame is scraped clean, then cleaned and sterilised in boiling cleaning soda solution.

Keep the frame, recover the wax

The next classification is those frames which have woodwork in good condition and wax which has been used to produce brood but is brown rather than deeply blackened and does not show any signs of any pathogens.

The photo above shows comb which has been used to produce brood but is not heavily blackened and shows no signs of pathogens. The wax will be cut out and put into the bain-marie, to recover the wax. Each frame will be scraped clean and processed in the boiling cleaning soda solution.

The photo above shows how the wax is cut out of the frame on the cleaning table with a narrow wallpaper scraper. The table needs regular scorching to ensure no cross contamination takes place between frames.

Keep the wax and frame

The final category of comb is those which have not been used to raise brood, or may have been only lightly used for brood rearing and show no signs of deformation or pathogen. These frames are kept intact and placed in the brood box for treatment with 80% acetic acid. The frames below are examples.

These frames are very valuable to the hive. Many manipulations suggest adding “sterilised drawn comb” to the brood area because they can save a colony a lot of time and effort, making a massive difference to the build-up of a colony.

The big consideration with sterilising these frames is the suggested use of 80% acetic acid, which is a dangerous chemical for use by hobby or small-scale beekeepers.

Summary – Part Two – Assessing Brood Frames

This blog describes a method of assessing brood frames and ways of reducing the potential build-up of pathogens in comb.

The pathogen photographs in this post were taken from brood frames provided by the National Bee Unit to NDB advanced course students. This was done in a bio-secure laboratory. It provided experience of examining confirmed cases of AFB & EFB, as well as the opportunity to make reference slides of the causative agents.

The next blog in the cleaning and sterilisation series is. “Cleaning & Sterilisation for small-scale beekeepers – Part 3 – Recovering Wax & Frames”.

If you have found this blog useful please share it with others, who may find it interesting.  If you would like to receive future posts please register on our home page.

References

• Honeybee Veterinery Medicines – Nicolas Vidal-Niquet
• National Bee Unit – Foulbrood Disease of Honey Bees

The post Cleaning & sterilisation for small-scale beekeepers – Part Two – Assessing Brood Frames appeared first on NorthumbrIANbees.

Although it is not the most exciting part of the beekeeping year, a good cleaning and sterilisation regime can make a big difference to the success of the following season.

This series of blogs describes a simple setup and methods for cleaning and sterilising beekeeping equipment, using hardware and chemicals that are readily available to small-scale beekeepers, with between approximately five and thirty hives.

This first blog, of three, covers the setup of equipment, as well as cleaning and sterilising brood bodies and polystyrene nucs.

The National Bee Unit “Cleaning & Sterilisation” leaflet is used as a base for the methods described in this blog.  Download it by clicking here.

What equipment do I use for cleaning and sterilising?

Working through the hive parts, nuc boxes and frames at the end of a season is messy and hard work.  I wanted to come up with a setup that would enable me to get through all of my end of season cleaning & sterilisation tasks in a single weekend session. This involved arranging the equipment to minimise handling of equipment, quickly containing high risk comb, allowing for as much concurrent activity as possible and allowing the work to be done at a comfortable height.

The photo above shows the set up that I use for cleaning and sterilisation of equipment.

From left to right are: –

• Plastic crate – containing a solution of diluted bleach solution for sterilisation of polystyrene nucs and hive parts. Complete with weights to keep them submerged.
• Blow torch – propane cylinder, regulator, hose and torch.  The blowtorch kit was from Amazon.
• Cleaning table – A simple plywood working surface clamped to a work bench. I bought this from the middle isle of Lidl. The worksurface has a beading edge and a hole, through which debris can be scraped into the bin below.
• Bin – lined with a polythene bin liner.
• Tall water boiler – containing a 1:5 ratio of cleaning soda and water.  Tall enough to accommodate brood frames and fully submerge them in the solution.  This was on offer on Amazon.
• Rinse bin – containing clean water and tall enough to rinse cleaning soda solution from brood frames from the water boiler.
• Burco Boiler – set up as a bain-marie, containing a stock pot supported on a metal cake stand, with both two-thirds full of water. This will be used to recover wax.  Burco boiler & stock pot were from Amazon.
• Brood body – set up on a plywood base, inside a wheelie bin liner. This will be used to collect frames for sterilisation using 80% acetic acid.
• Extractor – above the cleaning soda boiler I have an extractor to take away the vapour from the cleaning soda water boiler.

What is the difference between cleaning and sterilisation?

Cleaning involves the removal of debris by physical or chemical means, which could harbour, attract or feed pests and disease.  Sterilisation involves killing any pests or disease which are still be present after cleaning.  Some processes achieve both, but it is important to recognise those which only do one or the other.

Cleaning polystyrene hives

As the frames are removed from my polystyrene nuc boxes and become empty, they are first put on the cleaning table and as much of the physical wax and propolis debris is removed carefully with a narrow wallpaper scraper.

The wooden float from the built-in feeder is recycled in my kindling box and I make a new one from 1cm square strip wood. The float gets impregnated with sugar syrup during the season and can become a great place for mould to grow over winter.  They are replaced each year.

The plastic entrance disc is removed for cleaning. They get dipped in the boiling cleaning soda solution for a couple of minutes, then are scrubbed and rinsed in cold water.

The polycarbonate crown board sheet is scraped clean. After scraping, the main body and the roof, can be lightly jet washed to remove external grime.  Powerful jet washers are more than capable of blasting holes in the polystyrene, so I take care to remove the grime, without damaging the hives.

Sterilising Polystyrene hives

After cleaning the next step is to sterilise it in the tub of bleach solution. I bought this 60L tub from Amazon. It has blanked off handle holes. There is also a lid available, but I use a shallower tub as a lid. This is also handy for storing tools and other bits and pieces.

The advice from the National Bee Unit is that a 20-minute exposure to a 0.5% concentration of Sodium hypochlorite kills AFB & EFB spores. I buy the 5L container of strong Domestos, which contains 4.5% of the active ingredient, Sodium hypochlorite. The 5L of Domestos is added to 45L of clean water in the tub and stirred.

Bleach is a skin and eye irritant and is harmful if swallowed, so I wear marigolds and eye protection.

The first time in the solution, the nuc box is submerged feeder side down. It is surprising how much weight is needed to keep the nuc submerged. I find that a 5kg and a 7.5kg weight together is just enough. After 20 minutes the nuc is removed and turned over for a second 20 minute dip. I put the crown board and roof underneath it this time. On the second dip the feeder is at the top. Once the second 20 minutes is complete, the body, crown board and roof are rinsed with water (lightly with a jet waster) and put to one side to drip dry.

Once completely dry and ready for storage the new float is put in the feeder and the clean door is re-fitted.

Cleaning wooden brood bodies

As wooden brood bodies become empty, they are first put on the cleaning table and as much of the physical wax and propolis debris is removed with a scraper. I use an old, sharp chisel, which is cleaned regularly by dipping it in the boiling cleaning soda solution.

The hardest part of this is removing propolis from behind the runners and around the top and bottom surfaces of the body. Any brace comb comes off easily. The aim is to remove all the debris and have nice clean, smooth surfaces.

Sterilising wooden brood bodies

The body is then scorched. I bought the blow torch kit from Amazon, which included the torch, hose and regulator.

This is a sterilisation process. The purpose of the heat is to kill any pathogens on the surface and embedded into the wood, as well as in any nooks and crannies. All the surfaces are given enough heat to discolour them. The joints, corners and any cracks are given particular attention to get some heat into them, to kill anything lurking inside.

Once the woodwork has been scorched, I rub down the internal surfaces with some rough sandpaper, to remove the thickest areas of any charring. I also take this opportunity to make any woodwork repairs and give them an external coat of paint.  I use Cuprinol Shades range on my beehives.  It is easy to get and is one of the more bee-friendly paints.

Summary – Cleaning & Sterilisation – Part one

This blog describes a simplified setup for use by small-scale beekeepers with between approximately five and thirty hives. It is based on the advice given by the National Bee Unit in their leaflet “cleaning & sterilisation”.

This blog has covered the equipment used and how to set it up, as well as the cleaning and sterilisation of wooden brood bodies and polystyrene nucs.

Click here to see the next blog in the series. “Cleaning & Sterilisation of equipment for small-scale beekeepers – Part Two – Assessing Brood Frames”.

If you have found this blog useful please share it with others, who may find it interesting.  If you would like to receive future posts please register on our home page. 

The post Cleaning & Sterilisation for small-scale beekeepers – Part One – Equipment appeared first on NorthumbrIANbees.

In this blog I would like to describe a simplified integrated pest management approach, for managing varroa mite, which can be used by the small-scale beekeeper throughout the year.

It is based on the approach recommended by the National Bee Unit, in their leaflet, “Managing Varroa”.  Click here or on the image below, to find and download the document from the National Bee Unit website.

Managing Varroa in Autumn

At this time of year, any honey supers will have been removed and bee numbers within hives will be falling.  I prefer to use a Thymol based treatment, like Apiguard, during the early Autumn.  It is manufactured by Vita Bee Health, who have some useful information and videos on their website.

It costs about £5 per colony and I bought mine from Bee Equipped Ltd, through Amazon.

Why use Apiguard?

• Thymol is a naturally occurring substance.
• Thymol has been shown to have a positive effect on other conditions too, like Chalkbrood and Nosema.
• It is not a pyrethroid.  Varroa mites have been shown to develop a resistance to pyrethroids.  This happens because the small percentage of mites that survive are the ones which have a higher tolerance to the chemicals.  The effect of regular use of the same pyrethroid is that successive mite generations become more and more resistant.  This does not happen to the same extent with hard chemicals, like Oxalic and Formic acids or with Thymol based treatments.
• I find it simpler and safer to use than some of the acid-based treatments.

How do I apply Apiguard to the hive?

A shallow eke is very useful.  They are easy to make from a single 1.8m long piece of 32mm x 18mm planed stripwood, four 40mm screws and four dabs of PVC glue.  I have tried shallower ekes, which were only 18mm in height, rather than 32mm, but found that the workers started to build brace comb between the top of the frames and the crown board.  They don’t appear to do this with the 32mm ekes.

Apiguard comes in a small foil tray, with a foil lid.  Find the corner with the small pull tab and pull the tab until the lid is almost removed, but still attached at the opposite corner.  There is often almost as much gel on the lid as there is in the tray.  Keeping it together helps when clearing up, as well as keeping the batch code info with the tray.

The opened tray is then put directly above the brood frames, under the crown board.  If after 10 days the gel has been removed by the workers, the second application is placed in the hive.  If there is still some of the first application left after 14 days, the second application is put in the hive anyway.  It is expected that the Apiguard treatment is in the hive for four to six weeks in total.  Once the second application has been removed by the workers, the trays and the eke are removed.

Apiguard and Supers

Any risk of tainting honey with Apiguard residue, or the wax that will be used to collect it, should be avoided.  The certain way to achieve this is by using Apiguard once supers have been removed.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate state in their “Summary of Product Characteristics” sheet for Apiguard, that the following Special Precautions should be taken: –

• Do not treat during honey flow to avoid potential taste tainting.
• The treatment can be performed immediately after the removal of the supers.
• Do not use the product when the maximum daily temperature expected during the treatment is lower than 15°C or when the colony activity is very low or when temperature is above 40°C.
• Combine weak colonies before treatment.
• All colonies of an apiary should be treated simultaneously.

The manufacturers state that it is preferable not use it with honey supers on the hive, any honey collected at this time can be fed back to the bees and any supers left on the hive should be above the treatment.

How does Apiguard work?

It’s not the vapour that does all the work dispersing the thymol throughout the hive, but the workers removing it.  The workers will use their mandibles to take bits of gel to remove it from the hive, will walk in it and get it on their bodies.  Within a few days it will be trailed throughout the hive and mixed with the food shared through trophallaxis.  The whole nest will have traces of thymol, which then comes into contact with the mites.

Managing Varroa in Winter

During the winter, normally between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I prefer to treat colonies with oxalic acid solution, using the trickling method.  Oxalic acid is particularly effective when there is no brood.  This is because any mites will be on the bees rather than in capped cells.  Click here or the image below to see my post “Simple Oxalic Acid trickling method for the management of Varroa“, which explains the process I use.

Managing Varroa in Spring

The first inspection of the season allows a full inspection for pests and diseases to be carried out.  Click here or on the image below to see my post “First Colony Inspection of the Season“.

One of the key aims of this inspection is to classify each colony into one of the three categories: –

• Promote – The healthiest, calmest, strongest colonies
• Maintain – Healthy, reasonably calm, reasonably strong colonies
• Demote – Weaker or defensive

Click here to see my post “Bee Breeding – Why I put Characteristics before Ancestry“, which explains more about this classification of colonies.

Spring management for Varroa will differ depending on each category.

Promote

These colonies are not treated.  They managed to get through the same winter as the rest of the colonies and are thriving.  They may just be lucky or may have hygienic behaviours or developing resistance, either way they are “keepers”.  These colonies will be used to raise queens and drones.  They will not be merged with any other colonies to avoid any cross contamination.

Maintain

These colonies are not treated either.  They are healthy though, did OK through the winter and are building up OK.  They may get merged to produce stronger colonies.

Demote

The healthy but defensive colonies are not treated either ! They will be merged, requeened and/or used to provide bees and stores for Apideas/nuc, with new queens.  They are not unhealthy, just a bit grumpy!

This leaves the “weak” colonies.

How do I manage Weak Colonies?

The first thing to do is to try to quarantine these colonies from the others and avoid transferring bees or frames, through manipulations, drifting or robbing.

I apply the following logic to managing these colonies: –

• You can’t make a weak colony into a strong one by treating it!
• If you can tell what the problem is, there is probably a lot more of it than you can see, and the colony probably has other issues too.
• If you can not tell if there is a problem, it’s still weak, assume something is causing it.
• Pests and diseases build up in the brood comb, so treating the bees alone will not solve the problem
• Never waste resources from a good colony on a weak colony, keep the strong ones strong.
• Don’t let weak colonies steal your time in the apiary, look after strong colonies first.

So, my approach for weak colonies is to give them a chance to build up on fresh comb, by doing either a bailey comb change or a shook swarm, depending on the severity of the problem.

Bailey Comb Change

Used for less severe cases of varroa, nosema or chalkbrood.  The colony could also be re-queened with better stock, if spare queens are available.  A thymol-based product could also be used, but you don’t want a colony that only survives because of constant treatment and attention.

Shook Swarm

This is a more drastic approach because the brood will be destroyed, along with the pathogen or pest.  Oxalic acid trickling would also be effective to deal with any mites which have escaped on the backs of bees, but you also need to decide if the colony is worth saving or if the apiary is better off without it.

The picture above, on the left shows the start of a shook swarm.  (There should a queen excluder between that floor and brood body!)  The one on the right shows a hive going through a bailey comb change.

Managing Varroa in Summer

The summer months are about dealing with swarming, ensuring space for brood and stores and allowing the colonies to forage as much as the weather allows.  All colonies are checked for signs of varroa during routine weekly inspections.

No apiary wide treatment is planned during the summer.  An underlying aim of the summer period is to add space to the brood nest with fresh comb.  This can be in the form of drawn sterilised comb or foundation, in additional brood bodies.  The plan is to be able to ensure that by the end of the season the brood nest is established on this new comb.  The old comb can be taken away when the colony shrinks in size in the autumn.

How do I use Drone Brood to manage Varroa in summer?

By placing a super frame on the outer edge of each brood body, colonies will tend to draw out the lower part of this frame with drone comb.  Because of the longer development time of the drones in their capped cells, the varroa mites prefer drone cells over worker cells.  This comb can be routinely removed from the “demote” category of colonies.  This prevents poorer quality drones emerging, as well as removing many of the varroa mites.  In the better colonies, this comb can be used for testing for the presence of mites.  Again, removing this comb, if required, will remove a significant proportion of mites.

If a large colony is found to have a major varroa infestation during the summer, the same logic would apply on dealing with weak colonies in spring.  The colony would probably also have deformed wing virus or other problems too, which are also best fixed with a move to new comb.  This would give the colony a chance to re-establish on fresh comb before winter.

Keeping Records

It is a legal requirement to keep records of any medications used on honey bees.  The national bee unit website outlines the information you are required to record.  They also provide a form which you can use to record hives, dates, batch codes and best before dates.  Click here to see the National Bee Unit “Veterinary Medicines for Bees” webpage“.

I record this information in my journal and take a photo with my camera of the lot code info on the pack.

Summary

In this blog I have tried to describe a simplified integrated pest management approach, for dealing with varroa mite, which can be used by the small-scale beekeeper, throughout the year.  It is based on the approach recommended by the National Bee Unit, in their leaflet, “Managing Varroa“.

• Autumn – A Thymol-based treatment, like Apiguard, is put onto all colonies in the apiary, at the same time, after the surplus of honey is taken from the hives.
• Winter – Oxalic acid trickling is done, using a product like Api-Bioxal, on all colonies in the apiary, between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
• Spring – Colonies are assessed and the healthiest, calmest, strongest colonies, are promoted and not treated. Weak colonies are quarantined and moved to fresh comb.
• Summer – Drone comb removal is used to check and reduce varroa levels.

This approach tries to encourage hygienic behaviour and resistance towards varroa mite, but also recognises that beekeepers have some husbandry responsibilities to help their bees cope, in the short term, with the onslaught of issues they face.

If you have found this interesting please subscribe to my blog and/or share on Facebook.

The post Simple Varroa management for small-scale beekeepers appeared first on NorthumbrIANbees.

This blog describes a simplified method of applying oxalic acid, using the trickling method, which can be used as part of an integrated approach to the management of varroa.

Why do I prefer trickling to vapourisation?

Pure oxalic acid is horrible stuff.  If you inhale it, ingest it, or even absorb it through the skin, serious internal injuries can result.  Including the creation of salts which can crystalise in your kidneys or brain!

Vapourisation uses the vapour of pure oxalic acid.  The solution used for trickling is approximately 4% oxalic acid in a sugar syrup solution.  This solution is much less toxic to the beekeeper.

Research has shown that vapourisation is more effective than trickling, at killing varroa.  (click here to see the Sussex university web page on varroa control).  Vapourisation achieved 97% versus Trickling at 93%.  In addition, the bees appear to do better with vapourisation.  Colonies were reported to have 20% more bees four months after treatment.

Despite this knowledge there are three key reasons why I prefer the trickling method: –

• It significantly reduces my risk of exposure to pure oxalic acid crystals, dust or vapour.
• It is simple and quick to do by one person looking after 20 hives.
• The equipment is very portable, readily available and inexpensive.

Making up the oxalic acid trickling solution is a 2-step process

Api-Bioxal is an approved oxalic acid based treatments for varroa.  It comes in a 35g sachet.  The instructions for making up the syrup are on the back of the packet.  Here is my method for following them.

Step 1 – make up the sugar syrup solution

Making up the syrup solution

1. Put an empty, clean milk carton on a set of digital scales
2. Zero the scales
3. Add 308g of water into the carton (instructions say 308ml but it’s the same thing for pure water at 20 degree C, at sea level!)
4. Zero the scales
5. Add 308g of sugar to the water in the carton

You will now have 500 ml of 50:50 sugar syrup solution.  Actually, it’s more of a mixture than a solution at the moment, so put the cap on and shake it until the sugar dissolves in the water and allow it to stand.  The syrup is stable without the oxalic acid crystals, so you can make up the syrup either on the same day you plan to use it, or well in advance.

Make sure you take a note of the lot code and expiry date of the Api-Bioxal for your records.  You can find out more about the legal requirement to keep records of treatments on the national bee unit website by clicking here.

You are now ready to go off to the apiary, with your unopened 35g sachet of Api-Bioxal, your milk carton with 500ml of 50:50 Sugar solution and a clean 60ml syringe.  Don’t forget your gloves and mask.

Step 2 – adding the Api-Bioxal to the syrup

The Api-bioxal is best added to the sugar syrup immediately before it is used, at the apiary.  The instructions on the packet show that the shelf life of the solution, once the crystals are added to the syrup, is only 24 hours.   This can be done by snipping off the corner of the sachet and pouring it directly into the sugar syrup solution in the carton.

This is the only time that you have the possibility of coming into contact with the pure oxalic acid crystals, so use gloves and a mask and be careful.  Make sure to cut just enough off the corner to allow the powder to pour into the carton without any of it escaping down the side or being blown away in the breeze.  Safely dispose of the empty sachet, with the little piece you cut off.

With the cap screwed back onto the carton give it a shake to dissolve the oxalic acid in the syrup.

Planning for Oxalic Acid Trickling

When my hives were fed in the autumn and set up for winter, (click here to see my blog on winter hive preparation), the aim was to have enough stores in the brood bodies to see the colonies all the way through the winter.  Fondant is only added late in winter if the stores in the brood bodies are running low.  Trickling becomes much more difficult if a block of fondant was stuck directly on top of the frames at the start of the winter!

Oxalic Acid Trickling Method

Lay the carton on its side, with the neck elevated, so that the solution does not flow out.  The 60ml syringe is just the right size to go through the neck of the carton.  You are now ready to do some trickling!

The instructions for using Api-Biaxol are clear.  5ml of solution should be applied per seam of bees and that a maximum of 50ml of solution should be used for each colony.

With a little practice it becomes easy to judge the rate to apply the solution with the syringe.  It is more of a controlled dribble than a squirt!

I don’t feel obliged to use all the 5ml per seam or 50ml per colony.  If there are only 6 seams of bees, I’ll only trickle these seams and if two of them are only half the width of the frames I’ll only use half the amount in those seams.

My breeding strategy has given me near native bees, which form small clusters and are efficient with stores over winter, so I don’t want to punish them by drenching them with solution.

Summary

This blog describes a simplified method of applying oxalic acid, using the trickling method, which can be used as part of an integrated approach to the management of varroa.

Despite the research showing that trickling is 4% less effective, there are three key reasons I prefer it: –

• It significantly reduces my risk of exposure to pure oxalic acid crystals, dust or vapour.
• It is simple and quick to do by one person looking after 20 hives.
• The equipment is very portable, readily available and inexpensive.

Pure Oxalic Acid is a very toxic substance and needs to be handled with care.

Api-Biaxol is an approved treatment for varroa and it is a legal requirement to keep records of its use.  Api-Biaxol is easy to get online.

If you have found this interesting please subscribe to my blog and/or share on Facebook.

The post Simple Oxalic Acid trickling method for the management of Varroa appeared first on NorthumbrIANbees.