An excellent result of Apivox Varroa Eliminator project - new project for environmentally friendly control of Varroa mites.

 I can't help but share some encouraging information. Today we managed to make alcohol washes from SIX experimental families that were in hives of a new design (3rd modification) for the second year without any treatment during this year. The results of mites infestation at the end of October ranged from 1% to 5%. This is an excellent result! After the last brood comes out, we apply jet (or it is also called trickling) treatment with oxalic acid diluted in sugar syrup. And I think that by spring families will arrive with 1-2% mite infestation, and spring treatment will reduce this percentage. This is all especially gratifying against the backdrop of SIX control families that were also not treated during this season. As of today, only TWO of them have survived, and it is not yet clear whether they will survive until winter. The rain prevented me from finishing the wash. But we'll check it out. So the effect of using a new hive (using 12 families in the experiment) is clearly positive. Besides! During sampling, a visual inspection of the bees in the colonies was, naturally, carried out. The result of the observation is that in the experimental colonies there were NO bees with deformed wings. In families that underwent spring treatment with “heavy” chemicals and a couple of acid treatments, but lived in ordinary hives, such bees are observed on the honeycombs. What is especially valuable about these observations is that all this was done by a professional beekeeper and queen breeder, and not an amateur! And his conclusion about the results of using the hive is very positive. He called it the “lazy hive” because he climbed into it only 4 times during the entire season. And at the same time, he took a couple of Dadant body-boxes of honey. And till now the bees are alive and well. So this is our first practical success. In addition, a training course on “sustainable beekeeping in a lazy hive” will be completed soon. It remains to make drawings of a new model of the hive, since the previous ones are outdated. In addition, we have technology specially developed for the Mediterranean climate.

 

Do you have a desire to join our project? ;)))  We will be glad to participants as much as to any support and assistance!

The response of bee colonies to the installation of frames with partially opened honey from the point of view of acoustic control.

Setting up food frames during the autumn fall season naturally activates the bees. But how does this happen and how does it affect the diagnostics of the Apivox Smart Monitor device. Now you can see it quite clearly.

In the figure you see two stages of diagnostics of two families that were in approximately the same situation - there was not enough food left.

Before installing frames with last year's honey, diagnostics were carried out in the General State Control mode. In both cases we see that in-hive works (1) of greater or lesser force takes place. In family No. 1, in which there are much fewer bees than in No. 2, there are visible two signals: a signal of emergency heating (4) and of active heating (5). The fact is that the hives do not have top insulation. Essentially the bees are on open air. The heat is not retained in any way. This is the reason for the heating signals.

After frames with honey were placed in the families, and some time passed, we see a sharp change in the picture. A powerful signal of work on honey collection appeared (2). That is, bees develop honey reserves, transport and process honey. In Readiness for Honey Harvest mode, we also see confirmation of their work - the graphs are white and are located mostly at the bottom of the screen (3), which indicates active work on collecting honey and moving it closer to the nest. Most of the active bees took up this work. Precisely the majority, since all our readings are relative and always speak not about all the works in the hive, but about the most active ones, the sounds of which rise above the general background of the hive.

How to carry out control if there is no canvas and insulation over the frames

Many beekeepers now use transparent plastic canvas instead of the usual canvases and pillows. Under normal conditions, it is impossible to carry out monitoring using Apivox Smart Monitor device if there is no opaque canvas. The light falling on the bees excites them and the sound background of the hive changes dramatically. Here is a technique on how to do this to get reliable results. Just remember that you need to minimize any extraneous sounds in any way. Including your own speech!!!!