I'm sure they were in the car somewhere, though I only put them on if the bees get titchy.

Thanks, Hank. Much appreciated.

Well spotted, Grant. I’m blessed with mild winters here and have never remove the queen excluders. The queen only stops laying for a week or two if ever. There’s usually brood on the middle three or four frames and the remaining frames are filled with some pollen and mostly honey. They cluster on the coldest nights (rarely subzero), when I’ve checked with my IR camera. Daytime, it’s business as usual, bringing in nectar and pollen.

Thanks, Anton. I talked with a lot of Victorian apiarists at the VAA conference. The VDOs that were there are high calibre beekeepers. You're in good hands. I know they're saying Varroa isn't in VIC and QLD yet, but I think that's a fantasy. You'll be seeing the first detections in Spring. Alcohol wash for detection is next to useless. I'll make more effort to produce videos. Life's been full on lately. I'm a Varroa Response contract trainer for NSW. There's quite a few workshops to get through. Cheers, Mike

Thanks, Benny. It's good to see them all active even when it's not so warm. Bringing in pollen and nectar.

Thanks for feedback and support, Keith.

Thanks for watching. It would likely work in Alaska, protecting the bees from the harsh winter conditions. I know of beekeepers air conditioning the bee house, so the bees don’t struggle in the cold. There’s a number of AŽ hive suppliers in the US with Langstroth sized frames.

@@AussieMikesBees I am looking into it!! I think it’s a wonderful method to keeping bees in Alaska!!

Yes, good advice. The free one day varroa training workshops offered to all beekeepers include various forced brood break methods. There’s huge parts of Australia that have nectar flows and brood year round, so we’ll be including forced breaks in the mix. At least, us hobby beeks will.

I'm on an Croatian island in the adriatic sea between Italy and the Balkan peninsula. Here too l have brood all year but no flow in couple of the summer months. It's the same 35- 40c like there but no humidity. It's then when I cage over 100 queens for 25 or more days. It can be less with a different method but we realised that queens come out without problems and l don't have to feed... and that is the time when l have a lot of new young queens made in spring to replace the old caged ones anyway.. actually it's the ideal time to go on vacation. When i come to release the queens the brood box is full with pollen and bee bread where was brood.. the hives are full of bees that never fed nobody.. fat long living bees at the end of summer. And they are really ready to raise a lot of healthy fat winter bees. So it's not just caging for varroa. It's all the other things you get with it too. With my father l'm in beekeeping over 50 years and in my opinion the cages as bad as they may sound are the best way to keep bees healthy. You still don't know how lucky you are down under. Now when you finally got varroa the rest of the world has all this experience to share. I strongly suggest to watch Ralph Büchler...

Thanks again. That’s very interesting about the other benefits to queen caging. I’ll definitely study it more and apply it to my bees. I’ve found the Ralph Büchler videos and started watching from the first. Yes, we are very lucky here. Without viruses yet, we have time to learn from all of you that have dealt with Varroa for decades. My wife and I are heading to Europe next year during your summer. We’re planning to stay in Croatia for a week or so. Maybe I can visit you and your bees.

Maybe we could arrange something. But I'm on an outer island so you probably need two days for it. Island Vis. My father has his hives above a beach with a bar/disco and any beekeeper who passes can't resist. They see him in shorts, dark as he can be, 80 years old and working bees in the middle of the day. He has friends all over Europe thanks to those hives. And that's how he learns if something new comes out. He made hand made cages before they were available to buy, thanks to an Italian friend. Anyway I sub. to your channel now. Just watched professor Božić . We'll be in contact...

Thanks for commenting. There have been bees with deformed wings, but so far the lab results are all negative for DWV. If your friend had confirmed he found DWV with lab tests, it would have raised the alarm nationwide. It’s a notifiable disease here. It probably is here somewhere, but with no real consequence until varroa reaches it.

@@AussieMikesBees yes, wax moth larva can't spread it.. maybe on 10 bees and then the adult bees catch it and it's done. If it still exists Ivan Brndusic had some very old videos on YT showing it. But I'm not sure if it is still there. He's an old beekeeper in New Zealand. I found him. Brndusic has two channels.. my mistake he was talking about bald brood and the possibility of deformed wing virus... the videos are still there 15 years old on the channel he doesn't use anymore.. with a bee on a flower in the circle. The other one has his face. Hahaha. Good luck to all of you, and l hope you learn about it before you get it

Welcome Alan. I hope I can offer more content that’s useful to you. I’ll be at the AAA conference in Perth next month. Maybe we can catch up, I’d like to learn about the WA beekeeping experience from a local.

Interesting question. Do you mean reading glasses or safety goggles? I haven’t seen glass safety goggles. All mine use plastic lenses.

Thank you for the reply..i mean reading gasses... Once i try it but the glass breaks Kindly recommend a solution to do that I have 50watt fiber laser marking raycus source

Thanks, mate. I appreciate the support..

Yes it is, but I’ve learned a lot. I’ll do better next time.

@@AussieMikesBees Just remember to use steel wool as a gasket. It works every time.

That’s why you catch all those swarms, Rodney.

Sure. Email me [email protected]

While Apis cerana is good at coexisting with Varroa destructor, it’s not much good for anything else. Difficult to manage, low honey production, prone to absconding and a spicy disposition. I’ll stick with my Europeans thanks.

Hey Joe, thanks for watching. The idea of the trapout is to force the bees out over time. The wire mesh funnel act as a one way valve. It's easy for the bees to find their way out, but they con't find their way back in. They can see and smell the hive entrance through the mesh, but the opening in the funnel is far away. The foragers gather around the base of the funnel and will eventually hopefully be enticed to move into the nuc box. As each new generation of foragers come out of the funnel there are fewer bees left inside. With no food coming in, the queen stops laying and eventually heads out with the rest of the colony. In the mean time, if all goes well, the nuc box will be filled up and the queen can get to work straigh away. Its a slow process, but there's no damage to the wall or tree. The bees will make every effort to find a way back in, as you've seen in these videos, so it might take a few visits to seal off any newly found holes. Rodney Middleton uses steel wool as a gasket to seal around an uneven surface. I'll do that next time. Cheers, Mike

Thanks, they just changed the laws here in Ga. USA that prevents a beekeeper from doing cutouts without a contractor style license. But trapouts should work, they license guys are charge thousands. I think I can help the average guy with this method.

Thanks Joe, That’s the first time I’ve heard of such a law. There’s a range of cutout situations that go from handyman level to trade level. My most common cutouts involve cutting a section of Gyprock (plasterboard or Sheetrock?) to expose the comb. Care has to be taken to avoid cables and pipes, but otherwise very simple. I always stipulate that I only remove the bees and they need to engage someone to repair the hole in the wall. Brick removal is more difficult. I have a tool that allows removal with no damage to the bricks, but they still need someone else to set them back in. The repairs are the expensive bit. I guess the law is the law, though. So you can become the Georgia trap out master instead. Mike

Thanks for watching. For the cleaner, only a small compressor is needed. It's only function is to stop residues contaminating the lens. As long as there's an airflow over the lens, the vaporised material can't touch it. If you get a laser welder, you'll need more specialised equipment. I only have a cleaner, so I've not looked into the welding side.

Thanks. I’m much more confident with a cutout, but the client insisted on no brick removal. We’ll see how it goes. Cheers

Yes, good advice Rodney. I'll do that next time. I'm reluctant to remove these ones to fit steel wool but if they find another way in I might have to.

They sure are. I'll drop over in a day or two to see if they've found another hole.

Mine is a continuous wave laser.

@@AussieMikesBees Thank you! still thinking about wich one to choice. im going in China this weekenbd for that

Depends on your application. CW is like a sledge hammer. You can blast alot of deep rust using loads of power. It'll eat into the substrate too. It is possible to more gentle surface cleaning, but it doesn't have the fine tuning available in pulsed. Also pulsed machine can be much smaller for a similar effect. If you're going onsite to clean moulds or soot off bricks, remove paint from sheet metal then I'd go for pulsed. If you'll have a workshop where people bring their stuff to you for rust removal, maybe CW will do. I'm sure the manufacturers will steer you in the right direction. Enjoy the trip.

Thank you for the advices and explications! ill try to find the good one at a good price. If you pass by Tokyo someday let me know, i hope my laser cleaning company will be already on the good way

Thanks, I appreciate your comment. I’m hoping to do an update every week or so.

Thanks, Rodney. That’s a clever idea. I’ll do that next time. Have a great spring!

@@AussieMikesBees They won’t chew through it. I use it a lot for cutouts to seal their entrance and spray it with a rubberized automotive undercoating to make it permanently keep them out. Thanks Mike!

Thanks

Hey Pascal, thanks for watching. You’re best to contact AccTek for details. There are different models with a range of specifications to choose from. Mine was about US$7K plus shipping. They’ll arrange freight to your nearest port, then you deal with customs and last leg freight through a customs broker. It’s not difficult and way cheaper than buying a European or US machine.

@@AussieMikesBees Thanks 🙏

Thanks, Clinton. Yes, Randy’s scientific curiosity and real world bee lab is inspiring. Proven methods that take too long to catch on. I’ve even heard government scientists criticise his work. It would be good if they just reproduced his methods to see if his results also repeat. That would be actual science instead of just criticism.

Thanks, Alan. Yes, it’s rock solid. I don’t use it every day, but it’s never lets me down. I have no problem recommending Acctek.

Thanks, David. It depends on where you are. There’s a good AŽ movement in the US with local manufacturers , but not in Australia. I’m changing over to AŽ hives, but modifying to Langstroth deep sized frames. That way it fits the standard gear we have. Shipping from Slovenia is very expensive now, so I’m gearing up to manufacture here. Another advantage with the bee house concept is the very long life of the equipment. Some of the hives in the video are over 30 years old and good as new. The apiaries are passed down through generations.

Happy to talk. 0418441951

Thanks for watching, Jason. I bought mine from Acctek www.acctekgroup.com/laser-cleaning-machine/ through Alibaba.

My pleasure! Thanks for watching.

Hey Jake. The downside of buying Chinese at low prices is there is no training. The best teacher is experience and doing loads of trial and error taking notes on settings that work. I know people can fine tune these machines really well. I don't use mine everyday, so I've been surpassed by others that bought their's after me and you will too if you're making a living with it. Yes, the compressor is to keep the lens clear of contaminants. I wouldn't run mine without it. You don't need anything special, just capable of the run-time you'll be requiring. Mine is a better than handyman, less than pro model that I use for my CNC router and CNC plasma and general use around the shop. I recommend a drier of some sort.

Thanks for watching and for your kind comments. I found the shirt on AliExpress a couple of years ago. They're 100% polyester and the sizes are on the small side. I wear a cotton t-shirt under it because I find polyester uncomfortable to wear. There's a range of prints available. A simple search for Bee T-shirts will get you started.

No need to apologise. In focusing on that, you might have missed my other suspicious traits.

Nicely spotted, Sam. The jig doesn’t suppress sound, but is very effective at shielding me from wood debris.

Thanks for your kind words. Some luck and good education will see us through.

If its' the one I'm thinking of, it's been there for years. Could do a trap out. I don't think they'd want a chainsaw taken to the tree.

I gave that same answer to them

Sorry to hear that, Chris. There were many beeks brought to their knees during eradication. I haven't heard of anyone not being reimbursed. What reasin have they given?

Hi mike just down the hill from you east kurrajong they did not process my rego last year local members state and fed have being getting more complaint about lost paperwork I is a bummer but we have started again

Thanks, Shad. Randy is very generous and has so much information to share.

Randy has a view, a reasoned perspective one should respect. Myself _i_ do consider his scope of comments here most helpfull to those who would listen closely, whilst I myself hold the view for the greater population of beekeepers setting a line of supply for particular specialised lines of queens is just not realistic. For mine the problem of numbers as a controlled environment is solved through "mechanical" means as mite reproduction mated to a passive phoretic eliminator. And yes, for Australia maybe ran every 4th VD brood cycle, whereas for the Americas at mid spring, summer solstice and lastly, late autumn. Such is though one student's build in contrast to another's... all it can be in a World really running on Hope, not science. 🫡

I hear you. There are so many beekeepers that still are unaware of Varroa in Australia or just don't care. I put them in the box right next to the ones running on hope. I expect they'll eventually drop out of the game as sustaining viability will become near impossible or too painful. In the mean time, I'll continue to learn from those that are coming up with real alternatives to the synthetic chemical bandwagon. I'll work toward being one of the beekeepers driving a new pickup. I have a few very interesting scientists lined up for a chat over the next couple of months.

Thankyou Mike for that insight. You own a catching approach, one which encourages referral. Thus the podcast is linked to as a topic in Honeybee Beekeeping Challenges, a FarceBouke forum. Cheerio. Shad

Thanks Shad. I appreciate your support. I have more guests lined up to learn more bee insights.

Yes, there are x and y ports ready to run a powered table or potentially a conveyor belt arrangement. I haven’t looked into that, but I have seen videos with various automation options. I don’t think the galvo lasers would work with a CNC, but you could use a laser source and fixed focus head mounted into a CNC. Mmm, maybe I could retrofit a laser to my CNC plasma. It would need to be at least 2kW to cut metal.

@@AussieMikesBees thank you ! I mean i have something similar to xyy module fiber laser if you can search it up on yt. So i can mount the fiber laser and engrave a larger area if i can connect xy of the cnc to the board of the laser , or i can buy 2 stepper motors and drivers to make a simple xy moving table and set it up in ezcad3 . Anyways , I'm glad you didn't had to change your board to have xy ports . I will ask my supplier to see if the laser I'm buying has the same ports on the board

Thanks, Gregory. Good question. Lasers have a fixed focal length determined by the lens. Maximum power on the surface is when the laser is held at that distance from the surface. It is possible to move closer to (or further from) the surface, but the power drops off. Mine is 400mm. You may be able to select a shorter focal length lens, but you don’t want the lens too close to the surface because the fumes may contaminate the lens reducing efficiency and shortening life. For working under a car, I’d have it on a hoist.

Thanks for watching. I bought before everything exploded with Covid. For current pricing check with Acctek through Alibaba. You’ll need to factor in customs, taxes and internal transport above the shipping that Acctek arrange. It will still be massively cheaper than US or European brands.

Good question. I don’t have any powder coating experience, so can’t offer a definitive answer. I know paint adheres very well, so I think powder coating would as well. The surface left after rust removal has a fine texture that I think help surface finishes bind better.