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Third year in the North Carolina piedmont, four hives, and the yellowjackets have hit their stride. During the day the guards handle it fine — I watch them tackle a wasp …
Supers came off my five colonies in Devon last week, all extracted, so Apivar is going in this weekend for the first time — I've used thymol the last three autumns and wa…
Found my weakest colony dead this week — the one I'd been watching since the queen went patchy in July. Post-mortem: maybe two hundred dead bees, a little scattered cappe…
September in Provence means the yellow-legged hornets have found my apiary again. The secondary nests are at full strength now and the hawking has started — hornets hover…
Every spring this forum fills with dead-out posts, and most were decided in September. So here's my list from 22 years and a lot of scraped bottom boards, in order: 1. Va…
Annual tradition, third year running: the end-of-season wash thread. Post your pre-treatment count, what you treated with, and your post-treatment verification wash so we…
Fourteen years in Tuscany, and after watching fluvalinate and coumaphos become expensive placebos across much of Europe, I treat rotation as non-negotiable. My current lo…
Quebec, five hives, well, four now. Found a dead-out this week — colony had been dwindling since July and finally gave out, and by the time I opened it yellowjackets had …
Finished a full Apiguard course on my worst hive (of five) here in the Willamette Valley and did my verification wash yesterday, three weeks after the second tray went on…
Six seasons in Flanders and first time using Apiguard (formic every other year until now, fancied a change while temps suit thymol). First tray went on two weeks ago, sec…
Wasps have gone from background noise to constant siege at my Perthshire apiary this week. Fascinating and grim to watch the difference between colonies. My two strong do…
Pulled the second Apiguard tray last weekend after the full four weeks, waited a few days, then did my recheck wash yesterday. Pre-treatment I was at 8 per 300, now I'm a…
Skåne, 8 years. I've been informally mentoring a neighbour two villages over — second season, two hives, lovely guy, completely allergic to monitoring. His position: "the…
Georgia, 22 years, and this is my first season running oil trays under screened bottoms on all eight hives instead of just the worst two. Since folks ask about SHB every …
Not looking for a flame war, genuinely trying to think this through. A guy at our association — decent beekeeper, not a crank — hasn't treated for varroa in three years a…
Texas, four hives. Yellowjacket pressure is ramping up like it does every August and I want traps out BEFORE they get bad, not after. But last year I used a homemade soda…
Third year, four hives in the North Carolina piedmont. Put Formic Pro (2 strips, full dose) on my worst mite hive Saturday evening. Daytime highs have been 84-86F, so ins…
G'day from the other hemisphere — while you lot argue about dearth feeding, I'm staring at four clustered hives in a Victorian winter. Fifth year, but this is my first pr…
Ontario, second year. My July nuc (5 frames, maybe 3 covered in bees) is under siege — yellowjackets patrolling the entrance all day, diving on returning foragers, and to…
Eight years in Skåne, and every summer the same claim resurfaces at our club: regress your bees to 4.9 mm small-cell (or go foundationless for 'natural cell') and varroa …
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