My most recent hobby

That looks so cool! Have you been stung a lot?

 

That sounds like fun. Our neighbor has a hive, too. But I think they have to get the new colony every year.

 

We started with 2 hives about 4 years ago and the learning curve is fairly steep. Challenges include varroa mites, over-wintering colonies in Michigan, and losing 2 hives to a bear.

 

That's wonderful! I have always wanted to start bee keeping, but unfortunately never had the time to actually take care of a hive. Perhaps one day I'll be coming to you for advice.

 

Wow! I picked up beekeeping again in 2018 after having given it up in 1980 to travel the world for 38 years. If you are successful, you may doubling your number of hives annually without buying any new bees. Just make sure to get the right type: docile and industrious! It halves the workload and doubles the fun.

 

Hi Kelly--we lost a hive last year to mites after successfully over-wintering them at our cottage in northern Michigan. They were active and seemed fine but 2 weeks later were all dead. It was only then that we saw evidence of mites. We are trying apivar strips this year. What approaches are you taking?

The two hives that we lost to the bear were also up north; now we have a hive at our home in central Michigan where we can keep a close watch. The bear is a regular in the northern neighborhood each spring and fall. We did not see the bear, but it looked like a tornado had hit the hives, with frames spread over a 20 foot radius and a large paw print in a nearby flower bed. That hive is now protected by a solar powered electric fence.

 

Thanks Kelly, We are just getting ready to install the Apivar strips. I have a friend here who uses vaporized oxalic acid and does not seem to have mite problems.

We also have used beetle traps, but thus far they do not seem to be an issue.

It is a fascinating hobby. One of our hives swarmed and that was quite a sight.
David

 

I appreciate all of you doing great work with bee keeping. I consistently plant pollinator friendly gardens and watch what I am spraying. Actual bee keeping it not for me. Seems fascinating though

 

If all fails to reduce the varroa pressure, you run a substantial risk of not getting your hives safely through winter. In that case an old-fashioned acaricide which is also used to dip sheep against scab is a last resort, but try not to let it go that far and try the other solutions first.
After removing the last honey crop we prepare our bees in Northern Europe for winter by feeding them sugar as a replacement for the removed honey. You would put a newspaper page between brood chamber and super and would make three brush strokes of 12% Amitraz on the newspaper. Brush strokes of about 2 inches long and don't overdo it with too much of the solution. Keep a white sheet of paper below the hive and do a daily mite count both before, during and after treatment. The mites tend to drop down quickly after application of Amitraz and the important thing to watch is too see at which count it stabilises after application, about a week later. The daily count should drop below ten with one brood chamber.
If your bees do not fully recover after this quickly, it may be wise to unite them with another hive as their chances on their own look grim.
Use gloves and don't breathe the stuff. Google and read up on the product.

 

Amitraz is gradually being banned in the EU, but you can still get it on EBay. A liter of the 12% solution sells at about 70 $US. That should see you through for many years with many hives, so pricewise it is definitely the better option.