Our Blog

The NADIR of Queen Laying

5/11/2017

At a recent lecture on overwintering of bees a chart was presented that clearly pointed out that queen laying steadily declines from its high point up the beginning of DECEMBER???? Then it starts to recover again.
After that the boss starts laying again so that the hive is stronger in January and February and so on. If this is correct, and I have no reason to disbelieve the lecturer, the best time to treat for Varroa would seem to be in 3/4 weeks time????

Thoughts anybody.... Michael Hughes

9 Comments

alan forskitt

5/11/2017 20:56:52

I saw an item on the internet recently which stated that LASI in Sussex, UK discovered that hives had the least brood in mid December measured over three winters. Given our geography, I suspect that mid to late December is probably a good time in the south of Ireland with a slightly longer window the further north and inland you are.

Jacqui Glisson

5/11/2017 21:05:08

I remember asking Mary Coffey this question some years ago when we had a really mild winter.
If I recall correctly she agreed with late December , early January and suggested we wait until there had been 3- days of cold weather.
The queen would have stopped laying and the unhatched brood would be old enough not to be damaged.
Hope I am not misquoting her.
On a similar topic I was at a lecture on biological method of varroa control using a broodless period.
I might just put my notes up on the site later for people to have a look.
It was a really interesting non chemical approach to varroa treatment

alan forskitt

5/11/2017 22:00:46

Any notes on natural, biological or non chemical treatments will be gratefully accepted. Thanks

Jacqui Glisson

6/11/2017 20:59:18

Seems I wasn't quite right with my quote from Mary Coffey.
She has graciously corrected me.

I will just quote her reply " all my field trials and data presented from these is based on treating colonies between the 1st December and Christmas. Even if the weather is mild, the pollen available is limited and the light intensity limits the time bees can fly, thus while there may be some brood present, it is possibly at the lowest before Christmas. Once the year turns, if the weather remains mild, snowdrops and early flowering shrubs will provide a valuable source of pollen and thus encourage egg laying...so in short I have always recommended treating in December rather than delaying until January as mentioned in your blog. Obviously a cold spell before treating is a bonus."

Thanks Mary

Tom Carr link

5/11/2017 21:00:38

After three weeks of frost is a good time to treat; laying would have stopped and all brood would have emerged, at least that happens in a wooden hive but in a well insulated poly hive with a solid poly floor it needs to be distinctly colder to get the same effect. Trickling can only be done once in the lifetime of the bee, as it is not well tolerated. Vaporising with a varrox or similar can be repeated as that constraint does not apply then. I asked elsewhere if anyone used a fogger; that is the best method especially for anyone with more than a few hives.

Jacqui Glisson

6/11/2017 07:53:47

Alan, we will be doing an online journal for our members and I will post the article there.

Alan Forskitt

6/11/2017 16:47:01

That will be great to see. Looking forward to it, thank you.

Gearóid Ó Fathaigh

6/11/2017 09:33:51

The advice I got was to do vaporising/fogging about three weeks after the first frosts of about -1/-2; which should happen at start of winter. As Alan Forskitt mentions, polyhives are probably a different case. The vapor is very toxic to breathe however; so I'm wary of the procedure!

Jouke de Ruiter link

6/11/2017 20:53:00

Indeed Gearoid. That health risc is the reason why I continue to trickle. Pulled a lot of dronebrood just before harvest. No mites seen. But I will continue with the treaments. Thymoil based after harvest and oxalic acid trickling in mid winter.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

The NADIR of Queen Laying

Leave a Reply.

Jacqui Glisson

Archives

Categories