2011 Treatment Recommendations from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture have released their:  2011 Treatment Recommendations for Honey Bee Disease and Mite Control

(This is an Adobe .pdf document on the Ontario Bee Association's website.

And now, an update on my hives for the record.

I returned to give them their second round of Fumigilin in sugar water but only Hive #1 and Hive #4 had finished theirs.  I believe two things are the cause - temperatures have been cool and taste--if the bees could eat regular syrup they certainly prefer it.

I gave all hives their Oxysol AFB preventative treatment - mixed with sugar powder and laid out on wax paper.

It was +6 Celsius today and the hives were active except for Hive #2.

Again Hive #2 is slow to consume their patties and syrup.  This is their typical behaviour.

The two 'nuc' hives (#3 and #4) from last year we're doing very well and were very active.

Although they were active I didn't see any pollen coming in.  I credit that to our cool temps and lots of rain the last few days.

Hive #4 had finished all their feed/patties and I topped them up.  I did not give them plain syrup, only treated, so that's all they have to choose from.

Hive #3 had lots of bees at the top of the hive and they'd built comb attached to the inner cover.  They hadn't finished all their baggies.

I'll check again on them again in three days.  Temperatures should be warming up a bit over the next week.

I'm holding off on my Formic Acid treatment for Varroa for another week.  I want temps to be more consistently above 10 degrees so it'll be more effective.