Here is a sample of my harvest. Light honey is basswood followed left to right by poplar/basswood and by basswood/sumac. Other picture is of 24 hour mite drop after formic acid treatment.
(http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/8531/dsc00097ns2.th.jpg) (http://img451.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00097ns2.jpg)
(http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/1367/dsc00049bh2.th.jpg) (http://img469.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00049bh2.jpg)
Sonnybee. That is some pretty nice looking honey, you should be proud!!!
It looks like you have quite a high number of mites. It is good that you are doing the formic acid treatment, it will surely help your hives. Post a picture of the entire board sometime when you get a chance, I would like to see the entire surface. Formic acid surely does a work and a wonder with mite kill. YOu plan on leaving the pads in for at least 21 days, right? Have a wonderful day, best of this great life. Cindi
Cindi, when I checked again the bottom board was pretty much clean. I didn't see any thing back in the hive. I guess that maybe the bees brought the mites outside the hive. Yep, fifteen more days with the pads.
Take care,
Sonnybee
hey sonnybee, where you at in wv? i haven't had much trouble with any mites for awhile. hope you're not near me with all those mites. :-P i'm not trying to tell you what to do, but you need to be less concerned with treating for mites and more concerned with keeping bees that are mite resistant. i went out and got some wild bees in the woods after the mites hit me hard when they arrived and they do a good job. you need to go out and do some beelining. i don't care what the breeders say, imho you can't beat some wild bees that's survived out on their own without any treatments or interference from man.
Hey Old Timer, I am located in the north central part of the state in Gilmer county. I used to go camping near your area in a private camp ground on Big Draft Road. I have two feral/survivor colonies at another location that have survived for about 20 years on their own. I doubt that they would have made it another year. When I found them they were out of stores and winter was approaching. Two other hives that I have are supposed to be kind of resistant to mites. They are or were Buckfast and West Virginia Queen cross. The other hive, the strongest, is Italian. Take care, Sonnybee