Apiguard

I also have MAQS, but they smell so strong I chickened out and went back to Apiguard

Thymol

Is it just me, or does anyone else like the smell of Apiguard?

Winter of our content

Both hives now tucked up for the winter. Apiguard is on, and each hive has a deep brood box with a full super above it (and one hive has another partially full super above that). All that remains is finishing the Apiguard treatment, and wrapping with chicken wire against woodpeckers.

Varroa and hubris

Treated both hives for varroa using Apiguard. The first trays went in two weeks ago, and I felt all smug to have started the treatment while the weather remained warm. Of course, the temperature promply sunk (it's around 16C and pouring with rain as I write).

Pic from http://www.vita-europe.com/

Ask two beekeepers, get three answers.

You see, it would all be so much easier if (a) I remembered what I had already learned and (b) beekeeping was more science than art.

Max (apiary warden) and the bee inspector (David Rudland, I think) noted that the bees had particularly bad infestations of varroa. Part of the problem was that I had put the Apiguard trays on top of the crown board rather than on top of the brood box. This, I am told, makes it less effective. I know pefectly well that the Apiguard should go on the brood box. D'oh.

The second part of the problem was that some beekeepers think it makes no difference - it's purely whether the bees actually take their medicine, not whether it's on the crown board or brood box.

Ask two beekeepers, get three answers.

Tainted honey

Pic of two weeks' worth of Apiguard take-up.

When I mentioned at the recent WBKA meeting that the Apiguard had been in the hive, there was a kind of collective intake of hushed breath and clenching of buttocks. It is a Bad Thing to leave the Apiguard in the hive while the bees are making honey, as the thyme extract taints the honey.

Ah well. Incompetence will triumph...