Category Archives: 2016 Survey

“more on varroa treatments and times”

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I would like to see more on varroa treatments and times, and when hives died, my two large ones were early spring 2016, one was varroa and other I think queen was gone.

Response: After I have chance to summarize and report data I seek to find those responses  that might need further explanation or more information. More on varroa treatments and timing is one of those. In interim you can find some good information on this in the Honey Bee Healthy Coalition Tools for Varroa management (http://honeybeehealthcoaliton.org/varroa) Download is free. Thanks for your comment.

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“grass seed farm” herbicides

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Local “grass seed farm” herbicides seem to be my biggest killer of hives. I see a heavy loss of worker bees after each spraying of mostly herbicides and/or pesticides that surround my farm and then watch general decline of the colonies until collapse overtakes them. I am moving most of my hives out of the Valley of Death to the Coast Range foothills and hope to get better survival rates this season. Keep up the good work and thanks for the survey.

Response: Pesticide sprays can be really tough on colony health. Hopefully the foothills site will be more forgiving.  Thanks for your comment.

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Posted in 2016 Survey, Q & A

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aggressive and unmanageable bees

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I’d like to see a section for free-form comments. I had bees that were extremely aggressive and unmanageable–I’d like feed-back from others who had this problem.

Response: You found it here in the comment section at end. We get reports from time to time of defensive bees. No easy way to deal with such a colony.  We suggest requeening or elimination of the colony if necessary s our best options. Both are tough choices. Thanks for sharing.

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Oxalic acid

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

How was the oxalic acid applied and how often?

Response: Oxalic acid is our newest material (tool) for varroa control. You are correct that this question on the survey needs further definition as to drip or fumigation – we do ask when applied – but it is lumped with the other acids now in the survey. I will separate these questions in future surveys. Thanks for your feedback.

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20/20

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I’m sure my bee left their hive in the fall because of the Varroa mite, I will be treating this year, I had two hive that made it through winter but died off when we went through three weeks of rain. I should have feed them more. I already had one of my hive come back and I plan that more will follow.

RESPONSE: High varroa mite populations are apparently one of the reasons bees abscond (leave) their hive late in the fall. I say apparent because there is no experimentation to “prove” that assumption. Colonies do have a tough time in the spring and can perish when the weather takes a turn for the worst. Sorry you both of them. Better spring weather helps them recover.

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