Really enjoying your vids, so many don't have the guts to show their problems and mistakes! Personally these vids are eye opening for me. I've been thinking of getting some Russians and was glad to see yours were gentle. Your supplier kinda set you up for failure and it's cool to see your a man of action with a never say die attitude. That's kinda sorry to sell your old diseased comb and broke frames to someone, especially someone fairly new. Keep up the good work.
Yes, I've found that Russians are not much different from the Italians in terms of aggressiveness. They move quicker and always seem wound up, but they're no more aggressive. The Italians are sooo laid back. And no, I won't be buying anything from that supplier again! Thanks for watching.
I always find it handy to carry a few cut pieces of canvas a bit bigger than my boxes to lay over the top if I move them. It cuts down on the robbing. I also noticed that they always get testy after I use any type of mite treatment. I feel they hate the smell of it. They always try to sting me when placing or removing them, and they usually become defensive for a week or so while they are in place. Hope you get them under control. I now treat in mid June and early October for mites. I hate to find bees with deformed wings. Makes me feel like I let them down somehow. Good luck and thanks for the great mini documentaries, fun to watch.
In Greece we take for granted that our hives are constanly infected with varroa because some beekeepers refuse to treat them and varroa spreads to healthy/cured hives (e.g. when a bee with varroa lands on a flower on which another healthy bee is varroa can move to the healthy one) and for this reason we (the responsible beekeepers) treat them at least 2 times a year (January and August) with flumethrin or amitraz or thymol and menthol. Not sure whether varroa will become resistant to these substances but since little research has been made we have limited options. My opinion is that if you follow the full course of treatment and all mites die then there is little to no chance that they will develop resistance. P.S. We also use oxalic acid. :D
I`m Michael a beekeper from Romania. Your hive is week, infested with varroa mite, dispersed on too many frames, with no honey reserves! You must make treatment against varroa, feed with syrop and eliminate the empty frames(because the clauster is spread on too many frames and must by tight)! Don`t forget to restraint the entrance in the hive and to block the back entrance( lock the holes). Good luck!
Always treat (in august) no matter if you think you have varroa or not. Put strips between 2nd and 3rd boxes and spread strips apart. I would start feeding asap.
I'm curious if your neighbor's bees who are starting to rob yours were infected with the varroa and possibly they were the ones who carried it into your hive... That might explain why you were so heathy most of the summer then all of a sudden when you notice the major robbing going on in creeps varroa???
That is certainly possible. I've been bugging my neighbor to feed his bees more so they will stay away from my hives. This is an important reason to treat your bees for mites... People who DON'T treat let their bees spread mites all over the neighborhood. You have to be a good neighbor when you have bees.
The Plain Truth - I'm trying to document all aspects of what we do around here, but it is bee season. I shoot all kinds of things around the property and I'll get to editing and uploading other stuff when things slow down with the bees. I only have so much time and this channel is a hobby. The bee videos get the biggest response and I learn TONS of things from my great commenters. So I keep putting up bee videos. It's the thing I'm trying to learn about. It's also the thing I can get post about that receives almost real-time feedback. You don't have to watch the bee videos. They're pretty clearly labeled. Once the winter hits and I have more free time, there will be videos on a variety of other topics. And I don't want to let you down too hard, but the grape harvest was pretty lackluster and there will not be any winemaking videos this year. Sorry.
I have found bees for next spring two splits from an older beekeeper (I'll be 67). Bayer has an entrance treatment mtthod tat medicates each bee for Varroa as it enters the hive checking it out.
wow, that does look terrible. are you also checking those cells for AFB and EFB? I noticed some problematic looking cells and I hope you're testing. Thanks for sharing, not good at all.
i like apivar strips--quick strips are so temp specific,and hard on queens.Good luck.We just treat every hive every fall.Spot treat in the spring before supers go on.
I haven't finished your video part 1 and 2 yet, so maybe you already relise this. But if your bees are robbing, it means their's a significant durth on, and you need to feed syrup. For fall a 50/50 will keep them busy and help fill up those empty frames for winter stores!
You have to worry about verroa with every type of verroa resistant bees on the market. As even the most highly resistant bee stocks have only been documented decreasing verroa populations by up to 40%. As the brood numbers increase all spring and summer, so does the verroa populations; then as the verroa numbers are at their peak and brood population declines in fall. So the high verroa population has decreasing brood stocks for reproduction, and those verroa populations can effectively concentrate on the dwindling brood numbers. Which can wipe out all the fall brood leading to a winter time hive die off. Im guessing based on the fact there's no brood in there, the Russian bees shut down brood production, till they can get the mites under control. That may be one of their verroa resistant strategies, is in the fall at peak verroa populations, to shut down brood production, and eliminate any verroa hiding or reproduction places, untill the bees have controlled the seasonal outbreak.
Well, the MAQS was the nuclear option. Treatment ends tomorrow and I will get up there and condense the boxes and start feeding heavily. Hopefully they can get their stores up and the queen will get stimulated to lay some eggs. There's still enough time to get a brood cycle in before winter. I don't think it was MY bees robbing. My other two hives are PACKED with honey. This russian hive actually has enough frames to fill a box, but spread out between two boxes. I'm going to condense down to a brood box and a honey box above and give them direct syrup in the hive. Also reduce entrances! Thanks for your comments!
Yes that was chalkbrood - an interesting fact is that the chalkbrood fungus is what Terramycin was developed from ...so you will probably never see AFB/EFB in that hive ...although I think I would have gone for the nasty frames while they were empty, but you will be able to do that after the treatment :)
Yup. Treatment is over today so I'll be going in tomorrow and condensing that hive down to two boxes and taking out all that junk comb. Then feeding heavily!
Thanks for this! I had the same thing as your Russian hive happen to my "walk-away split and therefore you don't have to test" hive. Nothing is varroa-proof :(
Just a suggestion, but do you happen have an open feeder? If so, during a time of low nectar flow I have heard that it is a good practise to bring along an open feeder and set it near, but outside of your bee yard as a distraction for robber bees. That way, the bees go for the feeder (easy source) rather than robbing any hives (harder source) while you are inspecting/dismantling your hives. Even a sheet pan with a thin layer of sugar water would do as a distraction.
No open feeding for us. We have bears. The robbing is mainly during inspections. It's not a huge problem day to day. From this point forward, they will have syrup on so hopefully that will also deter the manic robbing when I open a hive. Thanks for the suggestions!
Heh. I guess I wasn't clear. I meant a portable open feeder. Bring it out while you are working the hives during a dearth, and collect it up on your way back out. Unless you happen to have ninja bears lurking in the bushes just waiting to pounce.. LOL In that case, you have my sympathies, and you are on your own...
We have bears in Australia too. You have my sympathies. But ours are kinda cute and only eat eucalyptus leaves. So no problem. Love your channel and it makes me realise how good we have it here with a sub-tropical climate, nectar all year round, no varroa mite, no snow. (Oh, and no D. Trump)
Adding a comment, my supplier does use and advertise new frames with NUCs. Sorry you had a bad experience there. The left hive might have issues recovering. Sad state of affairs there.
I've read the following somewhere. There are 2 kinds of beekeepers: Those you have mites in their hives and know about it and those who have mites in their hives and don't know about it. Which also brings me to the thought: Why test for mites? The bees will definitely have them, so one has to treat the bees anyway. So why go through the trouble of checking for mites - just treat them, no matter what.
Bens Bienen I'm beginning to think this way. This is only my second season and my first time with 'varroa resistant bees'. Next season will be different.
mite away says to treat spring and fall. i have a vent box on top of mine i leave on all year sort of like vivaldi box just empty. i bet your 2014 queen swamed and has a hive nearby
The Russian hive in this video was infested. I saw mites all over the bees. I happened to have a single MAQS treatment on hand to be able to treat immediately. MAQS also happens to be the total nuclear option to kill off a mite population fast. 7 days and it's done. Very effective. The other two hives had minimal varroa and the Apivar is a gentler treatment. It also takes longer, so it was not the best option for the infested Russian hive on the left. I wanted to kill off the mites as fast as possible so I can condense that hive and start feeding right away. MAQS is a bit risky if not used properly and it a pretty harsh treatment on a hive so I didn't want to put the other, less infected hives through it.
Robbing happened in the last video as well. Were they your neighbors bees again? Different hive I think but twice in 2-3weeks. A little to frequent too?
Yes, that is what I was told. RHBA Certified Russians. But seeing the quality of the nucs I purchased, who knows. Never buying from that supplier again.
As soon as I see chalkbrood, I requeen. When I deal with suppliers of queens, I find out if the queens have been bought in or whether they are open mated or instrumental insemination. I've had manky frames like that in the past, but the bees have always been good and I have been given a choice of nucs and been able to inspect them with the supplier.
I was told these nucs had "been inspected" right before I got them, but when I opened them up, there was weeks worth of brace comb and old brood. I know now to open and inspect nucs AT THE SUPPLIER before I take them. This was my first nuc purchase. Live and learn, I guess.
Vino Farm You could end up bringing back diseased bees without inspecting and I know of a supplier in the UK who is no longer in business because of it.
They know hive left is weak. It's why they are so frequently robbed. They probably won't even make it to winter. Need to condense them to a single box if they are gonna have any chance. Jus' IMO
I will condense them as soon as the 7 day treatment is over. I was planning on going down to two boxes because they have one box of honey and enough brood frames for another box. I'll keep a close eye on them. It might only be one box by the time winter hits.
Is there enough brood in the strong russian hive to set a frame of brood into the weak hive. It'll boost the weak hive right away. Then feed them as much syrup as you can get into the box.
What really dents my smoker is that many NUC sellers are unloading their worst comb/brood frames while making a profit from the bees. It's irresponsible and indicates another beekeeper who lacks ethics and is driven nearly exclusively by $$$. Have you considered cutting comb sections out and sending it in for chemical contamination evaluation? That will really open your eyes also. You have a great apiary and it's terrible that other bees are coming in, even bought by you, that contaminate the lot. I wish I knew a better way and wish you didn't get those terrible looking nuc frames is all I can say. That's a seller to avoid.
I've removed the worst of the comb from the hive. At this point,I don't want to pursue it any further, other than never buying bees from that apiary again. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the quick reply, You'll have all winter to evaluate your apiary practices going forward. I wasn't suggesting that you do anything about the seller, but for your own information getting those lab results. I am still shocked by your mite load. truly terrible
Unfortunately your winter bees that have been emerging are riddled with viruses due to the lack of varroa treatments. I hope they make it through the winter, but these viruses are known to shorten the lifespan of winter bees.
I guess it is another example of "caveat emptor". I think you should condense down to 1 or 2 hive bodies, after the treatment. Also, lessons learned for all of us. Never assume you do not have to worry about varroa. Thanks for the Video!
If you’re treating one hive, it’s a good idea to treat all hives, especially with robbing going on. Knocking down the entire Varroa population in your yard at once will help.
Open feeding is risky for us because we have bears. I really don't want to attract bears anywhere near my yard with syrup out in the open. I prefer the internal feeders. The robbing only gets intense when I open that hive up. Day-to-day I don't notice a lot of robbing.
Yes, of course. I'm not entirely blaming the supplier... I just know the Russians had many problems this season and it all started with those nucs. This could be a continuation of the problem or something entirely different. Hard to tell.
all bees everywhere will get varroa also reduce the entrance holes down to three only s robbers can only get in three spaces ans the hives bees only have to defend 3 entrances less hardship, they going through enough already, good luck
Hi Mate, I live in Melbourne Australia, the and Australian government is working with beekeepers here to combat Varroa when it arrives in Australia. I have done a lot of research on Varroa and Honey bees, and it is a problem with all species of Honey bee there is no know bee that is resistant to Varroa some like the Russians have been seen to cope better with Varroa but these numbers are taken from a total no of hives per species vs total loss for that species not at individual colonies that have Varroa. Treating although not ideal is the only defense at the moment. Cheers
I learned my lesson. And I'm never dealing with the same supplier again. I have no problem treating, I and I didn't think these bees would be immune, but I did not expect to see the level of varroa I saw. Thanks for watching. Best of luck keeping varroa out of Australia!
I think maybe the fault is 50 / 50. Your fault for trusting a complete stranger, seller's fault for being a selfish jerk and selling you the worst of the worst.
I don't think it was malicious, but he definitely was not forthcoming about the condition of the nucs. I will not be buying "russian Nucs in Massachusetts" from that supplier again.
I think you should name who you got the nukes from! Especially if they try and con you off with "you don't have to worry about varroa with these bees"... What bollocks!
I won't do business with them again, for sure. He didn't market these bees as "varroa proof" but he did say they would take care of the varroa with their behavior. Oh well.
Bad news, for these bees and you. Sadly as far as I know there are now varroa resistance bees. There are bees that can deal better with varroa, also varroa resistance can bee local (except for a few Beekeepers I spoken to in Cuba and Sicilia, Italy). I don’t know how far from you you sold these Russians but is is possible the environment is to different from wehere the came from. Chalkbrood is something what happens when the brood becomes to cold, I think the chalkbrood happened when you changed the whole brood pattern. I don't know how MAQS work and what they say how to use it, but in The Netherlands the winterbees will be born from Juli till October and in November you have your winterbees. So you have to kill your mites between half July and half September to get good healthy winter bees, that have enough protein fat in there body to live for 6/7 months. If you don't have healthy bees the bees will handle the queen to lay until they have the minimum of winter bees, the problem is, bees that feed larvae will die, not flying will kill the bees (yes of course the wings get broken) but feeding larvae cost a lot of energy and the don't have protein fat in there body, also bees that have illness throw varroa will not live that 6/7 months and the colony will die. In the Netherlands we evaporate formic acid in half July after the last Lime honey and sometimes in September if needed. If we use Thymovar we use it 6 week, 2x1 time from half July till 6 weeks later.
I know this timing is horrible. It's all I could do at this point. I am hoping to quickly knock down the mite population, reduce the hive down to two boxes and start feeding syrup. I have learned my lesson for this year. This won't happen again next year. I know there is a chance this hive won't make it, but I want to try to do what I can. They still have time for a brood cycle before winter arrives. There is actually a good amount of honey and a LOT of pollen in the hive. I should have dealt with the mites a month ago, but I didn't know how bad it was. My error. Thanks for your help.
You need to know where and how your supplier got those bees from. Everyone is saying they have italians oir russans or carniolan bees, but how pure is their type/race of bees. If the bees that they are selling was open mated, then your purity is gone or can not be warranted a pure breed since they may be bread with somebodies else bees/drones from a different race and DNA. you sure can not tell what you got by just looking at it. Only artificial insemination can provide a better line/ protocol of purity. Bees here in the US are heavily mixed bees with other races and real pure breed do not exist. buckweat bees may be one of the purest bees around here until now, since they are engineered bees at a island. Just wait till they start selling them heavily at commercial level and til they get open breed at the main land like most of the other bees. The bees from my supplier last year where no good and as a new beekeeper I did not know that all I had to do was to replace the queen. So last year was a flap all season long and the bees died. This year and the same supplier, I bought a nuc from. It had plenty of brood so I did not dig into it when I got it. the problem this year was that the nuc did not have any queen and I did not realized it until 2 weeks later after I got my nuc and after all brood emerged and no egg and no larvea and no more brood was there when I checked on the bees. Meaning that there was no queen in that nuc when I picked it up. I went with an different supplier to get queens and so far the queen is laying very good and the bees work themselves very good. Problem right now is that my bees are 1 month behind A good supplier and where they get there stock means a lot.
Really enjoying your vids, so many don't have the guts to show their problems and mistakes! Personally these vids are eye opening for me. I've been thinking of getting some Russians and was glad to see yours were gentle. Your supplier kinda set you up for failure and it's cool to see your a man of action with a never say die attitude. That's kinda sorry to sell your old diseased comb and broke frames to someone, especially someone fairly new. Keep up the good work.
Yes, I've found that Russians are not much different from the Italians in terms of aggressiveness. They move quicker and always seem wound up, but they're no more aggressive. The Italians are sooo laid back. And no, I won't be buying anything from that supplier again! Thanks for watching.
I always find it handy to carry a few cut pieces of canvas a bit bigger than my boxes to lay over the top if I move them. It cuts down on the robbing. I also noticed that they always get testy after I use any type of mite treatment. I feel they hate the smell of it. They always try to sting me when placing or removing them, and they usually become defensive for a week or so while they are in place. Hope you get them under control. I now treat in mid June and early October for mites. I hate to find bees with deformed wings. Makes me feel like I let them down somehow. Good luck and thanks for the great mini documentaries, fun to watch.
In Greece we take for granted that our hives are constanly infected with varroa because some beekeepers refuse to treat them and varroa spreads to healthy/cured hives (e.g. when a bee with varroa lands on a flower on which another healthy bee is varroa can move to the healthy one) and for this reason we (the responsible beekeepers) treat them at least 2 times a year (January and August) with flumethrin or amitraz or thymol and menthol. Not sure whether varroa will become resistant to these substances but since little research has been made we have limited options. My opinion is that if you follow the full course of treatment and all mites die then there is little to no chance that they will develop resistance.
P.S.
We also use oxalic acid.
:D
I love your videos, I am a brand new beekeeper and I am learning a lot from you and others. 👍 Keep up the good work!🐝
I`m Michael a beekeper from Romania. Your hive is week, infested with varroa mite, dispersed on too many frames, with no honey reserves! You must make treatment against varroa, feed with syrop and eliminate the empty frames(because the clauster is spread on too many frames and must by tight)! Don`t forget to restraint the entrance in the hive and to block the back entrance( lock the holes). Good luck!
Always treat (in august) no matter if you think you have varroa or not. Put strips between 2nd and 3rd boxes and spread strips apart. I would start feeding asap.
I'm curious if your neighbor's bees who are starting to rob yours were infected with the varroa and possibly they were the ones who carried it into your hive... That might explain why you were so heathy most of the summer then all of a sudden when you notice the major robbing going on in creeps varroa???
That is certainly possible. I've been bugging my neighbor to feed his bees more so they will stay away from my hives. This is an important reason to treat your bees for mites... People who DON'T treat let their bees spread mites all over the neighborhood. You have to be a good neighbor when you have bees.
The Plain Truth I'm always looking for helpful advice.
Me too, I wish you would talk about wine making and grapes and something that matches "Vino Farm" how did it become all about bees all the time?
The Plain Truth - I'm trying to document all aspects of what we do around here, but it is bee season. I shoot all kinds of things around the property and I'll get to editing and uploading other stuff when things slow down with the bees. I only have so much time and this channel is a hobby. The bee videos get the biggest response and I learn TONS of things from my great commenters. So I keep putting up bee videos. It's the thing I'm trying to learn about. It's also the thing I can get post about that receives almost real-time feedback. You don't have to watch the bee videos. They're pretty clearly labeled. Once the winter hits and I have more free time, there will be videos on a variety of other topics. And I don't want to let you down too hard, but the grape harvest was pretty lackluster and there will not be any winemaking videos this year. Sorry.
Oh, I see, bees get more views I can't blame you there and hope you get a better grape harvest next year
I have found bees for next spring two splits from an older beekeeper (I'll be 67). Bayer has an entrance treatment mtthod tat medicates each bee for Varroa as it enters the hive checking it out.
wow, that does look terrible. are you also checking those cells for AFB and EFB? I noticed some problematic looking cells and I hope you're testing. Thanks for sharing, not good at all.
How did that hive do
i like apivar strips--quick strips are so temp specific,and hard on queens.Good luck.We just treat every hive every fall.Spot treat in the spring before supers go on.
greg grider agree
I don't raise bees but your uploads are interesting. I've warched about 10 videos or so. Seems like you're doing a great job, from what I gather.
Thanks for watching!
I haven't finished your video part 1 and 2 yet, so maybe you already relise this. But if your bees are robbing, it means their's a significant durth on, and you need to feed syrup. For fall a 50/50 will keep them busy and help fill up those empty frames for winter stores!
You have to worry about verroa with every type of verroa resistant bees on the market. As even the most highly resistant bee stocks have only been documented decreasing verroa populations by up to 40%. As the brood numbers increase all spring and summer, so does the verroa populations; then as the verroa numbers are at their peak and brood population declines in fall. So the high verroa population has decreasing brood stocks for reproduction, and those verroa populations can effectively concentrate on the dwindling brood numbers. Which can wipe out all the fall brood leading to a winter time hive die off. Im guessing based on the fact there's no brood in there, the Russian bees shut down brood production, till they can get the mites under control. That may be one of their verroa resistant strategies, is in the fall at peak verroa populations, to shut down brood production, and eliminate any verroa hiding or reproduction places, untill the bees have controlled the seasonal outbreak.
Well, the MAQS was the nuclear option. Treatment ends tomorrow and I will get up there and condense the boxes and start feeding heavily. Hopefully they can get their stores up and the queen will get stimulated to lay some eggs. There's still enough time to get a brood cycle in before winter. I don't think it was MY bees robbing. My other two hives are PACKED with honey. This russian hive actually has enough frames to fill a box, but spread out between two boxes. I'm going to condense down to a brood box and a honey box above and give them direct syrup in the hive. Also reduce entrances! Thanks for your comments!
Yes that was chalkbrood - an interesting fact is that the chalkbrood fungus is what Terramycin was developed from ...so you will probably never see AFB/EFB in that hive ...although I think I would have gone for the nasty frames while they were empty, but you will be able to do that after the treatment :)
Yup. Treatment is over today so I'll be going in tomorrow and condensing that hive down to two boxes and taking out all that junk comb. Then feeding heavily!
Thanks for this! I had the same thing as your Russian hive happen to my "walk-away split and therefore you don't have to test" hive. Nothing is varroa-proof :(
How do you know that the robber bees didnt introduce the verroa?
Just a suggestion, but do you happen have an open feeder? If so, during a time of low nectar flow I have heard that it is a good practise to bring along an open feeder and set it near, but outside of your bee yard as a distraction for robber bees. That way, the bees go for the feeder (easy source) rather than robbing any hives (harder source) while you are inspecting/dismantling your hives. Even a sheet pan with a thin layer of sugar water would do as a distraction.
No open feeding for us. We have bears. The robbing is mainly during inspections. It's not a huge problem day to day. From this point forward, they will have syrup on so hopefully that will also deter the manic robbing when I open a hive. Thanks for the suggestions!
Heh. I guess I wasn't clear. I meant a portable open feeder. Bring it out while you are working the hives during a dearth, and collect it up on your way back out. Unless you happen to have ninja bears lurking in the bushes just waiting to pounce.. LOL In that case, you have my sympathies, and you are on your own...
We have bears in Australia too. You have my sympathies. But ours are kinda cute and only eat eucalyptus leaves. So no problem. Love your channel and it makes me realise how good we have it here with a sub-tropical climate, nectar all year round, no varroa mite, no snow. (Oh, and no D. Trump)
Where did you get your mouse guard to fit an 8 frame hive?
Adding a comment, my supplier does use and advertise new frames with NUCs. Sorry you had a bad experience there. The left hive might have issues recovering. Sad state of affairs there.
I've read the following somewhere. There are 2 kinds of beekeepers: Those you have mites in their hives and know about it and those who have mites in their hives and don't know about it.
Which also brings me to the thought: Why test for mites? The bees will definitely have them, so one has to treat the bees anyway. So why go through the trouble of checking for mites - just treat them, no matter what.
Bens Bienen I'm beginning to think this way. This is only my second season and my first time with 'varroa resistant bees'. Next season will be different.
Bens Bienen agree
there is many schools of thought on this. Especially when looking at it from a long term biological/genetic standpoint.
mite away says to treat spring and fall. i have a vent box on top of mine i leave on all year sort of like vivaldi box just empty. i bet your 2014 queen swamed and has a hive nearby
Thomas Butcher agree
Where abouts did you buy that style of bottom board where you can slot in a screen and the plastic?
It's called a "Screened Bottom Board" or a "Mite Inspection Board" and every major bee supplier will carry them!
@@vinofarm thanks
Checking bottom board is not a good way to check for mites. Alcohol wash or sugar roll.
Wow... yep not a good find. Just curious as to why you went with some Apivar instead of all Furmic acid?
The Russian hive in this video was infested. I saw mites all over the bees. I happened to have a single MAQS treatment on hand to be able to treat immediately. MAQS also happens to be the total nuclear option to kill off a mite population fast. 7 days and it's done. Very effective. The other two hives had minimal varroa and the Apivar is a gentler treatment. It also takes longer, so it was not the best option for the infested Russian hive on the left. I wanted to kill off the mites as fast as possible so I can condense that hive and start feeding right away. MAQS is a bit risky if not used properly and it a pretty harsh treatment on a hive so I didn't want to put the other, less infected hives through it.
Always test. Mites is like blood pressure in humans. Silent killer. You don't know until you check.
Robbing happened in the last video as well. Were they your neighbors bees again? Different hive I think but twice in 2-3weeks. A little to frequent too?
I'm starting to think they're my Italians. It happened again yesterday.
Are they the certified russian bees?
Yes, that is what I was told. RHBA Certified Russians. But seeing the quality of the nucs I purchased, who knows. Never buying from that supplier again.
As soon as I see chalkbrood, I requeen. When I deal with suppliers of queens, I find out if the queens have been bought in or whether they are open mated or instrumental insemination. I've had manky frames like that in the past, but the bees have always been good and I have been given a choice of nucs and been able to inspect them with the supplier.
I was told these nucs had "been inspected" right before I got them, but when I opened them up, there was weeks worth of brace comb and old brood. I know now to open and inspect nucs AT THE SUPPLIER before I take them. This was my first nuc purchase. Live and learn, I guess.
Vino Farm You could end up bringing back diseased bees without inspecting and I know of a supplier in the UK who is no longer in business because of it.
They know hive left is weak. It's why they are so frequently robbed. They probably won't even make it to winter. Need to condense them to a single box if they are gonna have any chance. Jus' IMO
I will condense them as soon as the 7 day treatment is over. I was planning on going down to two boxes because they have one box of honey and enough brood frames for another box. I'll keep a close eye on them. It might only be one box by the time winter hits.
Is there enough brood in the strong russian hive to set a frame of brood into the weak hive. It'll boost the weak hive right away. Then feed them as much syrup as you can get into the box.
smokeydops sgree
do you work with screen bottom board and dadant hives ?
What really dents my smoker is that many NUC sellers are unloading their worst comb/brood frames while making a profit from the bees. It's irresponsible and indicates another beekeeper who lacks ethics and is driven nearly exclusively by $$$. Have you considered cutting comb sections out and sending it in for chemical contamination evaluation? That will really open your eyes also. You have a great apiary and it's terrible that other bees are coming in, even bought by you, that contaminate the lot. I wish I knew a better way and wish you didn't get those terrible looking nuc frames is all I can say. That's a seller to avoid.
I've removed the worst of the comb from the hive. At this point,I don't want to pursue it any further, other than never buying bees from that apiary again. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the quick reply, You'll have all winter to evaluate your apiary practices going forward. I wasn't suggesting that you do anything about the seller, but for your own information getting those lab results. I am still shocked by your mite load. truly terrible
The Plain Truth agree
Approximately how many stings would you get in re stacking like that?!
Zero that day. I got two today opening one hive. I've had about 7 or 8 stings this season. ONE last season.
Sorry man. I had the same exact problem with my hive 2 weeks ago and the last 10 bees froze 3 nights ago-hive done-SUCKS!
Btw, they will jump over to the next hive and the next, etc.
Also maybe the robber bees can hone in on WEAK bee colony due to verroa and that is why that hive took a hit.
Unfortunately your winter bees that have been emerging are riddled with viruses due to the lack of varroa treatments. I hope they make it through the winter, but these viruses are known to shorten the lifespan of winter bees.
Yes. We will have to wait and see.
I guess it is another example of "caveat emptor". I think you should condense down to 1 or 2 hive bodies, after the treatment. Also, lessons learned for all of us. Never assume you do not have to worry about varroa. Thanks for the Video!
That's the plan. After the treatment, they will go down to two boxes.
Yup
If you’re treating one hive, it’s a good idea to treat all hives, especially with robbing going on. Knocking down the entire Varroa population in your yard at once will help.
Watch part two!
Please check out Lookout Mountain Honeybees on Treating for varorra mites.
open feed away from your hives will stop the robbing...live and learn, don't kick yourself !!
Open feeding is risky for us because we have bears. I really don't want to attract bears anywhere near my yard with syrup out in the open. I prefer the internal feeders. The robbing only gets intense when I open that hive up. Day-to-day I don't notice a lot of robbing.
Didn't think of the bears !! Thanks for the reply !
Baltimore_Dave agree
Its possible that the robbing bees brought the mites
Yes, of course. I'm not entirely blaming the supplier... I just know the Russians had many problems this season and it all started with those nucs. This could be a continuation of the problem or something entirely different. Hard to tell.
all bees everywhere will get varroa also reduce the entrance holes down to three only s robbers can only get in three spaces ans the hives bees only have to defend 3 entrances less hardship, they going through enough already, good luck
Hi Mate, I live in Melbourne Australia, the and Australian government is working with beekeepers here to combat Varroa when it arrives in Australia. I have done a lot of research on Varroa and Honey bees, and it is a problem with all species of Honey bee there is no know bee that is resistant to Varroa some like the Russians have been seen to cope better with Varroa but these numbers are taken from a total no of hives per species vs total loss for that species not at individual colonies that have Varroa. Treating although not ideal is the only defense at the moment.
Cheers
I learned my lesson. And I'm never dealing with the same supplier again. I have no problem treating, I and I didn't think these bees would be immune, but I did not expect to see the level of varroa I saw. Thanks for watching. Best of luck keeping varroa out of Australia!
Russian bees are resistant because they clean themselves, however, they are not immune and you usually want to check just to be safe.
Always test.
The mites could have been carried over by the robbing.
I think maybe the fault is 50 / 50. Your fault for trusting a complete stranger, seller's fault for being a selfish jerk and selling you the worst of the worst.
I don't think it was malicious, but he definitely was not forthcoming about the condition of the nucs. I will not be buying "russian Nucs in Massachusetts" from that supplier again.
there is no end to your bad luck
well hello Mr. Optimistic
It's kind of a theme for us here. Someday when life gets easy we are not going to know what to do.
rebiceman100584 agree
Bees are weakened by mites. Population looked low. Your maq might be too late
Kris Papas agree
Use Varroa traps, All year.
I think you should name who you got the nukes from! Especially if they try and con you off with "you don't have to worry about varroa with these bees"... What bollocks!
Anybody who claims to be selling varroa-proof bees is either stupid or lying. Either way, don't do business with them.
I won't do business with them again, for sure. He didn't market these bees as "varroa proof" but he did say they would take care of the varroa with their behavior. Oh well.
I think Africanized Bees are varroa-proof! =P
lmao yea people will tell u anything to sell u somethin
Lol @ 6:25
(7
Thats not a Bee seller...thats a rip off con man!
4:59 GO communism! cyka
Bad news, for these bees and you. Sadly as far as I know there are now varroa resistance bees. There are bees that can deal better with varroa, also varroa resistance can bee local (except for a few Beekeepers I spoken to in Cuba and Sicilia, Italy). I don’t know how far from you you sold these Russians but is is possible the environment is to different from wehere the came from.
Chalkbrood is something what happens when the brood becomes to cold, I think the chalkbrood happened when you changed the whole brood pattern.
I don't know how MAQS work and what they say how to use it, but in The Netherlands the winterbees will be born from Juli till October and in November you have your winterbees. So you have to kill your mites between half July and half September to get good healthy winter bees, that have enough protein fat in there body to live for 6/7 months. If you don't have healthy bees the bees will handle the queen to lay until they have the minimum of winter bees, the problem is, bees that feed larvae will die, not flying will kill the bees (yes of course the wings get broken) but feeding larvae cost a lot of energy and the don't have protein fat in there body, also bees that have illness throw varroa will not live that 6/7 months and the colony will die.
In the Netherlands we evaporate formic acid in half July after the last Lime honey and sometimes in September if needed. If we use Thymovar we use it 6 week, 2x1 time from half July till 6 weeks later.
I know this timing is horrible. It's all I could do at this point. I am hoping to quickly knock down the mite population, reduce the hive down to two boxes and start feeding syrup. I have learned my lesson for this year. This won't happen again next year. I know there is a chance this hive won't make it, but I want to try to do what I can. They still have time for a brood cycle before winter arrives. There is actually a good amount of honey and a LOT of pollen in the hive. I should have dealt with the mites a month ago, but I didn't know how bad it was. My error. Thanks for your help.
you should watch the fat bee keeper
First! 😁
You need to know where and how your supplier got those bees from.
Everyone is saying they have italians oir russans or carniolan bees, but how pure is their type/race of bees.
If the bees that they are selling was open mated, then your purity is gone or can not be warranted a pure breed since they may be bread with somebodies else bees/drones from a different race and DNA. you sure can not tell what you got by just looking at it.
Only artificial insemination can provide a better line/ protocol of purity.
Bees here in the US are heavily mixed bees with other races and real pure breed do not exist.
buckweat bees may be one of the purest bees around here until now, since they are engineered bees at a island. Just wait till they start selling them heavily at commercial level and til they get open breed at the main land like most of the other bees.
The bees from my supplier last year where no good and as a new beekeeper I did not know that all I had to do was to replace the queen. So last year was a flap all season long and the bees died. This year and the same supplier, I bought a nuc from. It had plenty of brood so I did not dig into it when I got it. the problem this year was that the nuc did not have any queen and I did not realized it until 2 weeks later after I got my nuc and after all brood emerged and no egg and no larvea and no more brood was there when I checked on the bees. Meaning that there was no queen in that nuc when I picked it up.
I went with an different supplier to get queens and so far the queen is laying very good and the bees work themselves very good. Problem right now is that my bees are 1 month behind
A good supplier and where they get there stock means a lot.
They probably aren't pure Russian
Dude. Again with the spoiler titles. :(
Sorry dude. Any suggestions?
"October 8 beeyard check"? I know it's weak. You're right, the title thing is tough.