My friends hive didn't survive for whatever reason. The 2 deeps are still pretty full of capped honey they were treated with Check Mite Sep. Oct. is that honey fit for human consumption? Says something on the box about being able to add honey supers if treating with Check Mite.If not should we freeze some of the full frames to get rid of bad bugs and then introduce them into the new hive come spring? Is there any reason why you would not want to start the new box off with lots of comb already drawn?
Check mite is a nerve toxin (Organophosphate). They have been outlawed for every other use but were temporarily (it's been a while now) approved for putting in a bee hive. Myself, I would not eat it. Of course I also would not put anything in a hive that I would not want in contact with my food...
I'd guess I'd save it an use for starting up a captured swarm this spring. I'm trying to go without any chemicals in my hives but don't fault those who use them.
O.K. Guys I may have the same situation except hopefully my bees will be alive what about the full frames any reason not to start off in spring with the top deep already full of honey or half full anyway I'm pretty sure my bees are not going to empty them out in the next 2 1/2 months.
Quote from: bellavista2 on February 01, 2010, 01:29:31 AM
My friends hive didn't survive for whatever reason. The 2 deeps are still pretty full of capped honey they were treated with Check Mite Sep. Oct. is that honey fit for human consumption? Says something on the box about being able to add honey supers if treating with Check Mite.If not should we freeze some of the full frames to get rid of bad bugs and then introduce them into the new hive come spring? Is there any reason why you would not want to start the new box off with lots of comb already drawn?
1. Dispose all of your poisons properly including the contaminated frames from the deadout.
2. Start over ( No treatments )
3. Godspeed
The above is just a suggestion, it is what I would do. If you continue to use Checkmite or other poisons for that matter, you'll just keep killing your bees. I am not suggesting that the checkmite is the culprit in your Friend's loss, but I bet it helped in their demise.
BH
I guess it's a crapshoot with or without medication I know one of my hives got mites so bad they would not have made it without help.
>I guess it's a crapshoot with or without medication
That depends. Bees die from many things, but mites are no longer a problem for me.
As a last resort I went ahead and called my bee guy I hate to bother him since I'm a hobbyist. He said he wouldn't eat the honey either but sees no problem using it for bee food in the spring.He saw no reason to freeze the frames as the mites will die off anyway without bees and he wasn't worried about any other critters. I think he told me before and I guess I forgot the lightweight mite treatments apiguard check mite and so on no longer work in our area.He treated my hives with some stronger meds and I did the second treatment with apiguard. I guess I have a box of worthless apiguard now. He again reiterated that if the commercial beekeepers around here didn't all medicate they would be out of business. The water level in Shasta lake rose 43 ft. this week it now has a shoreline of 271 miles 365 when full.
Hi Bellavista2,
If you want to stay with chemicals there are less drastic but effective treatments for varroa, formic acid (Mite Away II) being one. Check Mite II is really nasty stuff for humans as well as varroa, I shudder to think what it must do to people eating honey contaminated with it. You might want to consider rotating the current frames out of the hive to get rid of the Checkmite that will be contaminating the wax combs.
That said I think your hive should be fine for a new package and if you want to keep all your frames while starting to reduce the Checkmite load imme diately you could cut the wax out of every other frame, leaving half an inch at the top, and let the bees draw the combs with fresh wax. Something to think on and for others to comment on.
I'm a little surprised by your perspective on going medicationless. It can be done successfully and several members here have done it. I found it reduced my costs by about $20 per hive per year. Going foundationless took another $5 per year per hive off the bill and reduced my startup costs by almost $50 per hive (50 sheets of foundation at $1 per sheet). Highly recommend you look into this. There are many here who can guide you on your way.
SH
Hi slaphead Thanks for the info. Its not so much my perspective, we have the largest queen producers in ca.right in my backyard. They also make there living renting hives to the almond growers now I would guess if they could get by without medication they could save a small fortune.I kinda wonder if having that many bees in the area could contribute to spreading the diseases around. I just read some of Michaels home page articles and yes raising bees in that manner that would be a great savings of time and money. +There's few things as pretty as clean white uncontaminated beeswax