Thank you. I learned that if you don't really shake them up, the varroa don't dislodge as they should and you really miss varroa infestations. We do need to look more into the survival of shaken bees. I'm glad this video was helpful to you.

There is a whole bunch of wait and see going on. The live and let die doesn't always work, 100% of the hives in Pakistan were lost due to parasitic mites and that includes feral or managed hives. It's a game of roulette... it's a poor parasite that causes the complete destruction of its host. BUT, genetics are definitely the future if we want honey bees to remain viable. I'm glad we have some very good people working on that.

@@FrederickDunn The genetics aspect of is why I will not buy package bees. I don't want to bring in something to my area that wasn't here before. I'm holding with trying to catch a local feral swarm. I don't know of a beekeeper within several miles of my property and the few bees I started seeing last summer, after 2 summers of not seeing a honeybee in my yard, are getting my hopes back up of catching a swarm off of them. Time is running out this year though. I'll start open feeding pretty soon if the rain doesn't start coming, the worst part of the summer is still ahead.

@@FrederickDunn sickening!

@@tommychew6544 Once you have a good line going in your area, I highly suggest that you continue working with them unless they prove that they aren't making it. It's taken me since 2007 to get my stock to this point of low treatment and high survival, with infrequent genetic boosts from the BeeWeaver Queens. Lots to learn and observe here. I hope your bees will adapt and improve under your management.

I am definitely including the drones in my counts this year. I think we'll see more nearer the end of summer.

I hope you find good news in all of your hives :)

@@FrederickDunn It's a win - Win, no matter what I discover. In every path, I get to learn and do something new!

I am going to have to visit with John at the next Hive Live Conference... I just may have to take a hard look at that extractor! Thanks.

Wow, thanks!

Thanks! Same to you and yours!

Thank you!

Same to you!

Thanks, Karen! :) It's so nice to see a comment from you :)

You are so welcome :)

Thank you :)

I keep those protable vacs with me so I can collect the strays as I close up, makes it easy. They are the Shark UltraCyclone Pro Cordless Handheld Vacuum, with XL Dust Cup... they have never killed a bee for me, and are super handy. I keep one on charge and take the other with me. When you're through, just open the compartment and let them out. :)

@@FrederickDunn That is so clever Fred! Thanks for sharing your tips, best practices with us!

After that shake you know those bees aren't lasting very long. I like your idea and see how accurate the sugar shake really is

Just giving it more thought. If mites are embedded in and under the bee . Wouldn’t they be shielded more from the shake and the bees that don’t survive the shake re-introduce mites back into the hive?

Hi Timothy, if the shake isn't vigorous enough you don't get an accurate count. If you want to know how effective your sugar shaking method is, perform your sugar shake and then keep the same bees in the jar and add your alcohol or Dawn Ultra solution and complete the wash to see if there were risidual mites remaining on the bees. With lighter shaking or just leaving the bees to dust themselves you'll find that the follow up wash most often shows that you missed mites. These are practical tests we each need to do so you know if what you're doing is releasing the mites or not. Done this way, your sugar shakes will be very accurate and some of the bees can live for weeks after. Dawn Ultra Free and Clear is the cheapest method, but if you get your queen in there... she's not shaken, she's dead. I've never had that happen but I watched a top level keeper kill his queen in a demonstration. (';'). If you do the pracical testing I describe here, you'll arrive at the proper amount of agitation to get the mites off.

Glad you enjoyed it

I think those mites are up to something! Stay vigilant, I'm glad you're doing counts and thanks for sharing.

They will live several weeks, so putting nurse bees back on the hive makes it easier for them to return to their house-cleaning duties. All options are available of course. Washes with Dawn Ultra etc are always quick and easy but if your queen ends up in that mix she's dead. Some of the most capable beekeepers have killed their queens during mite-washes.

@@FrederickDunn good point about the queen. I just have a hard time believing those bees really lasts more than 72 hours

The Dawn Ultra Free and Clear (no alcohol) is the most thorough mite drop solution I've found, and you mentioned Randy Oliver, he's the reason I made that switch. With the shaking, if it's not really vigorous it's almost not worth doing as many mites remain on the bees. I'll talk about that on Friday during the Q&A as there are other questions related.

Definitely... if all of the layens frames had wax foundation in them then that comb wouldn't be so dynamic. I actually don't mind it at all since these aren't headed for any automatic processing.

Yes, lots of ways to see how they are impacted. Dr. Robyn Underwood said they may still live a couple of weeks but it's not as harmless as we've so often thought. I haven't done any testing or observations on that here.

@FrederickDunn if they live a couple weeks, I'd say that's not too lethal. My attention span wouldn't allow me to monitor them for that long! I just do the OA treatment followed by a check of the mite drop so it doesn't really apply to me.

update,saw your info in the description info once i looked further,thanks,was having trouble editing my comment,?

Yes, just after the 5 minute mark, there is a classic example. Varroa have been or are currently active in this colony and it needs attention.

Thanks Enrico!

@@FrederickDunn You ' re welcome 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Same to you Peter!

G’day Fred and TWTB Fellowship… Happy 4th to y’all… be safe. Another gr8 video Fred… very educational. Maybe one of your IT Team could note all those videos essential to newbeeks and put the link under “The Way Frederick Dunn Does Beekeeping”… 🍻 Johno

Hmmmm... I like the idea of cutting those wax foundation sheets in half, also becuase they are VERY Expensive. I have a box of that on the shelf. Thanks for sharing! I think that could indeed solve that sagging issue.

Hi Fred. Nice Lang Hive Setup. Why use Commercial Foundation Comb ??? Not good for the Bees. Here in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 All my Hives use / have Natural Comb the Bees make and need. Healthier all around. What's not to like ? 👍 Especially Warre Hives : As they use Top Bars of Timber (Cut Down from creaky old Frames.) 😉 Although I'm moving these to Frames too. . . My Langstroth and UK Nationals Bees are all in : Regular Deep Brood Boxes for all the Hive. Even for Honey Supering uses Deep Frames. In my Horizontal Hive the Bees are on Jumbo Deep Frames mainly re Brood. All with Tight Horizontal Wiring and a Dribble of Melted Natural Beeswax under the Top of the Frame : Means the Bees can draw out Worker, Drone Comb as required. They do attach to the Sides and the Bottom of the Frame, with plenty of Bee Communication areas dotted about. Nice. This Year I have made my own Warre Hive and associated "Frames" to fit. Makes any Bee work (or Inspections !) much easier. Top Bars in WH are often all well waxed in. Nothing budges in these Boxes. 🤭 So Yes, if you can go all Hive wise with No Foundation ! The Better. It's getting Expensive. Has more residue of Chemicals in it now than ever before : As more Wax Exchanges take back more used Wax, (I think it will get worse.) 🥴 Bees really are "Wax Makers" in early Spring and Summer. Let them make it to the Max by Checkerboarding New undrawn Frames between lasts years ones. That way you always have plenty of good healthy Wax for the Bees to use. Crushing and Straining is Madness ! Drawn out Wax is worth its weight in Gold. Use it wisely in the Hive that made it. (To Reduce VM /Disease pathways !) Keep it Stored away from Mice and Wax Moth. Cool Dark is best. And by doing this, your way ahead, next Bee Season ! Bees will make Honey Faster when Comb is their already. Not wasting valuable food and time on building that Foundation out. 😕 Have a go at lovely yummy Naturally Drawn Honey Comb (with no crunchy midline of Foundation Wax) in their ! Just Saying. Your own Wax is way healthier to your Bees and you too. It takes 3lb of Feed to draw out 1lb of Wax. So refrain from Crushing or Damaging it. 🤞 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Happy Beekeeping 2023 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

I’ve used Dr. Leo’s foundation in 1” increments at the top of the frame and they work wonderfully. I usually mix in a full sheet and partial sheets. I leave a full sheet at the end during the heat of summer and leave the divider board at the unused end. I believe that helps them cool off the hive. The worker bees hang out in the unused area.

You still have to shake them quite a lot in order to free the mites, but having a double jar setup would definitely be a less messy method for sure. Is there one that you recommend?

Nearly all of my colonies have been derived by BeeWeaver stock on some level, but this hive has requeened itself a couple of times.

Dr. Umberto is a good friend. But the sugar shaken bees can live weeks after a sugar shake treatment. I will agree that some of the shaken bees may die from the agitation within that 24-48 hour period. The alcohol wash is 100% kill instantly. So, with alcohol washing they are definitely done. With the sugar shake, some will live a week or more. If one of my viewers misses the queen and she's in that alcohol wash... poof. done. However if the queen ends up in the sugar shake mix, she can live long enough to be superceded once the resident nurse bees realize that she is injured. This is a good topic for debate. Did Dr. Boncristiani state that 100% of the sugar shaken bees are dead within that 48 hour period? If so, then we have conflicting data from other entomologists who've made those observations. You can do a deeper dive here: www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/10/4458

@@FrederickDunn no it was not 100%. I was just pointing out that most people, at least I believe, are under the impression the sugar shake does not kill bees-it does. It injures them-most of them at least. But I most certainly agree it’s safer if the queen is shaken accidentally. Thx.

Hi Rick, I explained that during the demonstration. If you put the sugar in the jar first sometimes there are clumps and when you shake the jar those clumps really pound the bees and you'll see some dead ones. If the sugar is really dry and you're sure it's not clumping then definitely faster and neater to put it in the jar first. Putting the sugar through the streen breaks it up and dusts the bees a little better in my experience. Try both and see what you get.

I would open the entrance all the way on large colonies. Or, you can also add a queen excluder then vent the top a little. I'll be talking about this a little on Friday.

@@FrederickDunn Sorry Frederick I was not clear. Last time I did the sugar roll all my sugar clumped in less than 2 minutes because of high humidity. Is it still reliable ? Thanks for the humidity tips didn't know that either.

crush and strain, or cut-comb. I wish I could put them through the extractor.

Thanks, same to you!

Because DWV is so strongly associated with varroa mites the focus is almost always on mite control/irradication. Because it occurs in brood, once mites are down you should see those physical symptoms go away. If you don't have high mite numbers, then you won't see this kind of wing damage.

Thank you. You calmed my nerves. I gave them one more treatment of oxalic acid after Formic pro. Still saw a few mites.. I had no mites and then robbing started. I battled that and 2 weeks later the mites started to show. And then a few bees with DWV. set the hives up for winter now. Hopefully all will be well by spring.

Just standard confectioner's sugar will be fine. The finer it is, the better it seems to work. Try to keep it very dry, if the humidity starts clumping it up I'd get a new pack. In this video I can see that this sugar is getting to the end of its usefulness.

Hi Frank, I've historically done mite washes with the Dawn Ultra, and the Alcohol washes. If you do the sugar rolls correctly, the results are very close if not the same. Sugar shakes and alcohol washes are both effective methods for counting varroa mites in honey bee colonies. In a study published in the journal Apidologie, researchers found that the two methods produced similar results, with a correlation coefficient of 0.92. This means that there is a strong relationship between the number of mites counted by each method. The advantage of sugar shakes is that they are less time-consuming and less harmful to the bees than alcohol washes. However, sugar shakes can be less accurate than alcohol washes, as some mites may not be dislodged from the bees during the shaking process. Ultimately, the best method for counting varroa mites will depend on the individual beekeeper's preferences and needs. If accuracy is paramount, then alcohol washes may be the best option. However, if time is a factor, then sugar shakes may be a better choice.

I'm not sure what you're saying here? Look Up? What does the terrain have to do with it? Please provide more information, thank you.