The Honey Factory

[Egghead_Jr]

The overpriced label name products are weak. Apivar OK most of the time. Formic Pro or Mite Away are also poorly designed.

The bottom line is they don't have a proper dosage therefore instruct you to keep them on the hive much longer to get some sort of efficacy from the meager dosage.

Amitraz kills mites period. Tac Tic and Bovitraz for livestock have been discontinued for distribution in the US. It's very effective and why there is a market for people to bring it into the United States. Appling in hives kills the phoretic mites. It needs to be reapplied a second time due to evaporation to cover the full 15 days of bees (drones) under cappings. Yet the anemic dosage in the slow release polymer strips require you to keep them in for three full brood cycles? Charging you a premium for this monopoly of anemic dose.

Formic acid kills mites under cappings. That's the beauty of this mite treatment. Formic Pro and Mite Away are not strong enough to do that unless you treat in hot weather and that's not recommended. Here is a acid that is so volatile it permeates wax in less than a half an hour to kill mites at a high enough concentration. The monopoly of this approved product provides you with a low dosage and requires you to keep it on for a full capping cycle as they know it's only killing the mites in the dispersal phase. So you are paying more money to use the foil wrapper it comes in and slow down the gasing even more so it doesn't kill so many bee larva the bees supercede the queen. A proper dosage applied in a flash treatment of 17 to 24 hours will kill 95% of the mites under cappings. The duration is short so not as many larva are killed and the bees don't supercede the queen.

Monopolies and overpaying for inferior products is the American way. At least at the EPA.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

The overpriced label name products are weak. Apivar OK most of the time. Formic Pro or Mite Away are also poorly designed.

The bottom line is they don't have a proper dosage therefore instruct you to keep them on the hive much longer to get some sort of efficacy from the meager dosage.

Amitraz kills mites period. Tac Tic and Bovitraz for livestock have been discontinued for distribution in the US. It's very effective and why there is a market for people to bring it into the United States. Appling in hives kills the phoretic mites. It needs to be reapplied a second time due to evaporation to cover the full 15 days of bees (drones) under cappings. Yet the anemic dosage in the slow release polymer strips require you to keep them in for three full brood cycles? Charging you a premium for this monopoly of anemic dose.

Formic acid kills mites under cappings. That's the beauty of this mite treatment. Formic Pro and Mite Away are not strong enough to do that unless you treat in hot weather and that's not recommended. Here is a acid that is so volatile it permeates wax in less than a half an hour to kill mites at a high enough concentration. The monopoly of this approved product provides you with a low dosage and requires you to keep it on for a full capping cycle as they know it's only killing the mites in the dispersal phase. So you are paying more money to use the foil wrapper it comes in and slow down the gasing even more so it doesn't kill so many bee larva the bees supercede the queen. A proper dosage applied in a flash treatment of 17 to 24 hours will kill 95% of the mites under cappings. The duration is short so not as many larva are killed and the bees don't supercede the queen.

Monopolies and overpaying for inferior products is the American way. At least at the EPA.

Also I have read with the Apivar and maybe, not sure, the Formic Pro the mites can become resistant. Breeders are working as are the bees on strains that are mite resistant. If I was still pollenating with 20 hives I would go with gassing but with no more than 4 I'm going with ease and convenience. As far as the EPA, I never put much stock in what they have to say.

 

[Sally PB]

Whenever I have to deal with comb that has been cut or ripped out of a frame, I take that comb that has brood in it and use rubber bands to hold it in place on a frame. Wrap the band so it runs from top to bottom and forms a bit of a wall for the comb to rest in. The bees usually build more comb to attach it to the frames.

Pardon my ignorance. Are you talking about frames with plastic foundation? That's all I have. I can't picture what you're describing using a plastic foundation.

Bees won't draw comb on poorly waxed foundation. Get wax on those frames or you will have a mess. Take the wonky comb and ball it up to rub on the plastic foundation. It's a quick fix in the field.

I'd heard that plastic foundation had crappy wax from the manufacturer, so I was going to rub some of the (very little) wax I had that I melted down. As I rubbed, I realized I was rubbing off wax from the manufacturer, so I stopped.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Pardon my ignorance. Are you talking about frames with plastic foundation? That's all I have. I can't picture what you're describing using a plastic foundation.

If you have all plastic frames, it won't work. It works with wood frames. Beekeepers that are doing cutouts will cut the comb to fit the frame and rubber band it in. Its messy and some of the comb becomes poor quality for brood rearing.

I'd heard that plastic foundation had crappy wax from the manufacturer, so I was going to rub some of the (very little) wax I had that I melted down. As I rubbed, I realized I was rubbing off wax from the manufacturer, so I stopped.

Reputable companies like Acorn and Premier do a great job coating foundation with quality wax. I use Acorns extra heavy waxed foundation and bees draw the foundation with no problems. Foundation purchased off of Amazon or Ebay can have poor coverage or paraffin wax mixed in.

 

[Sally PB]

The frames I just put in the hives are mediums, wood frame, plastic foundation (waxed) from Mann Lake. They came with the medium supers I bought a couple months ago.

Anyone have opinions on these?

 

[Apis mellifera]

The frames I just put in the hives are mediums, wood frame, plastic foundation (waxed) from Mann Lake. They came with the medium supers I bought a couple months ago.

Anyone have opinions on these?

Great! Most beekeepers are using wood frames with plastic foundation. When you have brood frames that are about 5 years old you can start culling by popping out the old foundation, clean up the frame and add a new sheet of foundation. Honey frames you can just reuse every year. I write the year on my frames. I did hear that the quality of Mann Lake frames is slipping a bit but are probably just fine.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I received a new honey super from Hoover-Hives today. It needs assembly which will have to wait a couple of days due to a duckling issue here but the quality of the wood looks fine to me. Everything on that box is coated in wax, the box itself, the frame-parts and the plastic foundation. And to my nose that wax foundation smells like bee's wax… We'll see what the bee's opinion will bee.

Leaves me still with two options:

1. Remove the full honey super for harvest and replace it with the new, empty box
2. Add the second honey super to the top of the hive and harvest both supers in two months or when full.

What would you do?

 

[R2elk]

I received a new honey super from Hoover-Hives today. It needs assembly which will have to wait a couple of days due to a duckling issue here but the quality of the wood looks fine to me. Everything on that box is coated in wax, the box itself, the frame-parts and the plastic foundation. And to my nose that wax foundation smells like bee's wax… We'll see what the bee's opinion will bee.

Leaves me still with two options:

1. Remove the full honey super for harvest and replace it with the new, empty box
2. Add the second honey super to the top of the hive and harvest both supers in two months or when full.

What would you do?

I would add two supers now.

Three supers will usually get me through a season. I add all 3 as soon as it is warm and there are lots of blooms. I remove them all and do the processing in the fall.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I would add two supers now.

Three supers will usually get me through a season. I add all 3 as soon as it is warm and there are lots of blooms. I remove them all and do the processing in the fall.

Unfortunately i don't have a third super (yet). But i will follow your advice and add the second one - after i have assembled it, after i have done physical therapy with my rescue ducklings, after..., after...
I bit off more than i can chew this year…

 

[R2elk]

Unfortunately i don't have a third super (yet). But i will follow your advice and add the second one - after i have assembled it, after i have done physical therapy with my rescue ducklings, after..., after...
I bit off more than i can chew this year…

If your first super is 75% or more full, I would not waste any time getting another super on there.