March 24, 2025
WVBA
7:06 Rich called the meeting to order
Apivar 2.0 is now registered in the U.S. A faster working version of Apivar, no honey delay.
Rich mentioned some books—Dead bees don’t make honey by Theresa ? And Boisterous Buzz Runners by Tom Seeley. He does not recommend Dead bees don’t make honey. Good ideas include get local bees, encourage more propolis, space colonies further apart, make distinctive designs on hive bodies and IPM.
He recommends “the Honey bee solution to Varroa,” by Steve Riley ? He explains what to look for to find if your colony is resistant to varroa mites by monitoring the bottom boards monthly, counting mites and seeing if the bees are pulling out pupae from mite infested cells. You can find more information at the website ?????? And his YouTube channel—national meetings of Britain.
Randy Oliver has a different way he recommends to make Robbing screens. Club member Bob Hawley made one. It has a bottom entrance, not a top entrance.
Randy Oliver did a study on Apitablets, a thymol feed. He found it to be ineffective.
Rich passed out a handout on identifying tropi mites.
Anna announced a new meeting feature—Member Spotlight!
Terry Holm is the first victim. Terry started beekeeping in Sisters. She moved her first hive at night in a pickup. She has bees in Stayton, Elmira and ???. She harvested 240 pounds of honey last year with the “help” of her young grandchildren. She runs 8 frames on the recommendation of Rich, who was her mentor. She is a mentor in the OMB program, her favorite book is beekeeping for Dummies and she Likes ABJ. Her least favorite thing is varroa and how to treat and manage them. The biggest challenge is when you don’t see eggs in your hive and what to do about it. This happened to her early on in her beekeeping career, and she bought queen, later finding out her colony was not queen less and made her first split.
Anna announced a Facebook live broadcast by Geoff Williams of Auburn University about colony losses in the US.
Rich called Dewey up to announce the annual PNW survey. There is a “shortcut” change to the survey, and not as many management questions need answered.
In Oregon there has been an almost 60 % yearly loss level amount commercial beekeepers. Sideliners did not fare much better. According to his survey so far among backyards the losses are 25%. Among the club so far loss levels are only 9%. The survey is available at PWNhoneybeesurvey.com. He has a flyer with information of how to get to the survey.
Laura asked how much of commercial losses are due to the shifting of coloneis to the almond pollination circuit and the need for quick plentiful brood without regard to queen quality.
There are several factors that can be possibly causing high colony losses. These high colony losses are unique to North America. Some colony losses are covered by “elap” policy.
Mutation of DWV virus and poor nutrition are suspected.
Break at 8:00
8:15 rich called the meeting back to order and announced
Bee day is Saturday April 9th
Rich passed out the swarm sign up list
Ellen took the podium.
She spoke on recent research on two different miticiedes: formic pro and OA Vapor.
Ellen started as a grad student at OSu and then worked for BIP sampling varroa levels of thousands of colonies. Varroa has remained a consistent presence in colonies throughout the terms of her studies, from 2017 to the present. Varroa numbers can creep up even in the spring and monitoring the levels is crucial.
Varroa mites are the top contributors to colony losses. It is always one of the top reasons of self reported losses.
High mite loads are a strong predictor of colony losses.
Managed colonies are ore likely to survive who winter if beekeepers treat their colonies at least 6 times annually with miticides.
Formic acid study—what is formic pro?
It is a gel strip with the active ingredient of formic acid that stays stable over time.
It is a brood treatment so needs to be placed in the heart of the hive at optimal temperatures.
It is very important to take heed of the proper temperature threshold especially during the first three days of the treatment. You need proper ventilation—remove entrance reducers and seal the screened bottom boards. Monitor your mite levels before and after treatments. Formic pro has two applicaiton options—a shorter duration treatment of two strips at once is preferred at OSU.
Formic pro can be applied with supers on.
Queen loss is rare, bearding occurs—a strong reaction to a strong product.
Larval damage (dead larvae on strips or bottom board are seen). Possibly brood is abandoned, fall out of cells. Sometimes queen cells and no eggs. Possibly egg laying has been delayed due to pheremone disruptions.
OSU tested brood survival using an overlaid acetate sheet on brood frames. Circled eggs and two different stages of larvae and treated with formic or left as control. A lot of eggs and young larvae died. Not so much older larvae. Brood break was about three to five days.
Brood breaks are in themselves a means of varroa control. A 12 day brood break is optimal against varroa.
Does a 3-5 day brood break help against Foulbrood or chalk brood???? OSU is looking into it.
Does formic pro kill mites under the caps? Yes!!!! Effcicacy of 90-97 percent.
OA-another organic acid applied differently and works with different mechanism.
Dribble or Vapor
The label is 1 gram per brood box.
Must use proper specialized ppe. Can be applied with honey supers on, most effective when broodless.
OSU capped brood study—2022-23 always had capped brood
23-24 dec 27 to jan 24 no capped brood
And this year dec 5-19.
Did three applications of OE cause a brood break?
The 8 gram dosage (well over the label amount) yes.
1 gram per brood box is insufficietn. Higher dosage keep levels in check but may increase colony brood loss.
Control strategies—treatment free—treat on a schedule— treat based on IPM principles.
Higher does OAV is most appropriate for beekeepers following an IPM strategy.
Todd asked if anyone knows how oxalic acid works—in dribble acidifying the sugar syrup. For vapor unknown.