September YV Bee Group Meeting

1.30 for a 2pm start

2pm - Whats happening in my hive? 

Speaker: Bernhard Dichtl -  (YVBee group member and VarroaMate)

Getting Ready for Varroa: Building Your IPM Toolbox

The coming season will likely be a challenging one, and many of us will find mites in our hives. This talk is about putting together a proper toolbox for integrated pest management. Rather than leaning on one or two treatments, a beekeeper who has a variety of tools ready, and knows how to deploy and rotate them, will be far better placed to keep hives healthy and thriving.

What we will cover:

- Queen confinement in plastic isolation cages to generate brood breaks and a phoretic treatment window

- Three ways to trap mites in drone comb and how to pair it with oxalic acid or heat treatment

- Mite trapping in worker brood using metal frame cages or brood nest partitioning

- Maximising Varroa Controller (heat treatment) efficacy by combining it with oxalic acid

- Formic acid and the Nassenheider evaporator, and how German beekeepers put it to use

The presentation will cover both the biological foundations of individual approaches and demonstrate how to put those into practice.

Join us and keep up to date with local conditions that effect your hive, connect with other beekeepers, share resources, improve your apiary skills and learn more about honeybee ecology.

Non members are welcome too. Meetings are held at ECOSS, 711 Old Warburton Road, Wesburn, in the ‘Coop’ (past the old house, over the green, down the bottom). Gold coin donation appreciated.