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  • Apivar Strips & winter feeding

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #13026  by JoJo36
 09 Aug 2022, 19:02
Advice please??!!
I want to feed my bees 2-1 syrup to fill up the super above the brood box for winter and want to know if its okay to use the Apivar strips whilst feeding the bees sugar syrup at the same time??!!
The super would then be placed under the brood box for winter and spring time the box would be empty to start over again??!!
I did this last year but another beekeeper said he was advised not to do this as the wax would be affected??!!
Its a dilemma, treat for varroa but bees need feed??!! :shock:
 #13027  by NigelP
 10 Aug 2022, 08:04
Sounds very similar to what I do to my bees, although I usually have super on underneath.
Any wax contamination is going to happen regardless of feeding or not.
 #13028  by JoJo36
 10 Aug 2022, 11:25
Thanks Nigel!
Well I've heard conflicting reports on Apivar saying it will taint honey and wax too and that those supers shouldn't be used for human consumption??!!
I spoke to Thornes yesterday who said as long as sugar syrup emptied over winter by bees the super should be perfectly fine to use for normal honey collection??!! However some beekeepers from my local area say you shouldn't use these supers again as they are in effect contaminated??!!
Why isn't there one straight answer in beekeeping??!! :shock: :cry:
 #13029  by NigelP
 10 Aug 2022, 18:46
JoJo36 wrote:
10 Aug 2022, 11:25
However some beekeepers from my local area say you shouldn't use these supers again as they are in effect contaminated??!!
Why isn't there one straight answer in beekeeping??!! :shock: :cry:
Because too many beekeepers enjoy the "power" of seemingly being knowledgeable and passing on incomplete and inaccurate information. Ask them which peer reviewed papers have documented that these "contaminated" supers are dangerous to consumers. You'll get a big errr ummmm..
(Clue....there aren't any). But there are many papers documenting that pesticides can be detected in wax. The technology is very sensitive. A paper published a few years ago on pesticides in Belgium beeswax found many common pesticides and veterinary treatment residues present, another paper found some that were currently illegal under EU law. But nothing that was at a level that consumers of cut comb needed to be worried about.
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/250556/1/Pesticides_Belgium_STOTEN_2020_Published.pdf

There is too much rubbish talked about beekeeping by beekeepers. Starts talking about Buckfast bees in most associations and riots ensue. Yet many are totally ignorant of the various Buckfast strains and lines that Brother Adam developed and many bee breeders continue to maintain today.
Recently on an facebook forum someone stated quiet venomously that bee brushes could only be used once.....
On same forum fights almost developed over wired super comb vs unwired for centrifugation.
I only use unwired thin and was told you simply cannot centrifuge this as it will break up and was talking rubbish.
Nearly 1900lbs of honey from thin unwired this year and yet to see breakout.....I think some beekeepers will argue the sun is blue and defend it fervently....

Lesson learnt long time ago.....there are no absolutes in beekeeping. But many beekeepers see things as black and white, yes or no answers. They are dangerous as they influence the next generation into the same old thinking.
Be careful who you take advice from.
 #13030  by JoJo36
 10 Aug 2022, 21:26
Ha ha, good point Nigel!!
Everyone has different opinions and it is for us as individuals to decide what advice to go with!! :)

I do value your advice as you really seem to look into things meticulously before forming an opinion which I like!

There are plenty other local beekeepers I know who have been doing a similar thing for years!

Thanks again:)
 #13031  by AdamD
 11 Aug 2022, 09:45
There was a lot of research done in the USA a few years back to try to identify Colony Collapse Disorder where they looked at residues in wax and although I might be wrong, I don't recall there was a need to make any changes there where old brood comb is irradiated and used time and time again.

I have a bee brush - I've only used it once because I have no need to use it! (Thinking about it, I am not sure where it is).
 #13033  by NigelP
 11 Aug 2022, 15:46
AdamD wrote:
11 Aug 2022, 09:45
I have a bee brush - I've only used it once because I have no need to use it! (Thinking about it, I am not sure where it is).
:D
Different beekeepers different usages (or should that be brushages :)) .
My three brushes get used a lot, mainly for clearing supers manually in out apiaries when I'm short of time. Also used for brushing bees off frames when making up nucs. Most get shaken in, but I find if I cover the lid leaving only the final open seam between last frame and end of box open and I brush bees down to that open seam the bees rapidly disappear downwards into the nuc.
I once tried using a goose wings as a bee brush but the bugger bit me and flew off hissing.
 #13034  by MickBBKA
 11 Aug 2022, 17:48
I use 2 large goose feathers taped together at the quils. I find they don't bite or hiss at all after using 3 inch Eley Lihtning Steel.
 #13035  by JoJo36
 12 Aug 2022, 05:29
I've used my bee brush quite a bit and found it useful for clearing supers, however after a while the bees got annoyed, so I decided on buying some clearing boards and that has made life a bit easier for me!!
I use a heat gun for preparing frames for extraction and a scratchy comb thing, I think that the hot knife looks good but would waste too much honey in the process of removal??!!
 #13036  by Alfred
 12 Aug 2022, 07:45
I like a chicken sandwich but find the feathers get stuck between my teeth.

I made a batch of clearer boards from old chipboard furniture - just a deep square tray fitted with two or three Rhombus escapes
Left on overnight they work a treat with big clumps of bees hanging underneath
Left on too long the younger bees will find their way back in once the one way traffic has died down,but these are so few a brush with a glove gets shot.

For extraction we had a tall flower vase of hot water with a pair of serrated bread knives
Alternated- you then have a clean hot blade for each frame.
I tried the heat gun and it didn't work out,
The bees still have to repair the comb and the melted capping has to be nibbled off and drops through the floor
I'd rather have it in the uncapping tray so it can be recycled