Blue Sky Bee Supply Blog
Oxalic Acid: The Dribble Method
The oxalic acid dribble method involves mixing oxalic acid
with sugar syrup and applying it straight to your clustered bees using a large
syringe. It is ideal to perform the dribble at a time when little to no capped
brood is present in the hive and when your bees are clustered together. It can
be done in temps as low as 40 degrees F. This way, the bees will remain
clustered when you open the hive.
What you’ll need:
Oxalic acid (Api-Bioxal)
Gram scale
Glass container for mixing
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7th Nov 2019
Controlling Varroa – 89% of Large-Scale Beekeepers Said They Use Chemical Varroacides, While 61% Of Small-Scale Beekeepers Do
With the Varroa destructor mite a pernicious pest of managed honey bee colonies across North America, beekeepers have a variety of control methods to choose from to reduce the mites’ impact on their hives. Which ones do they most prefer?To answer that question, researchers at the University of Maryland and the Bee Informed Partnership analyzed four years of data from surveys that asked beekeepers about their Varroa-management methods. Their findings, reported in a new study published in April in
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23rd May 2019
Varroa Mites Feed on the Fat Bodies of Honey Bees, Not the Hemolymph. This is Important!
Above: An image showing a cross section of a varroa mite feeding on a honey bee’s abdominal cavity is one of several ARS microscopy images changing what we know about how mites damage honey bees.Research by scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of Maryland released today sheds new light — and reverses decades of scientific dogma — regarding a honey bee pest (Varroa destructor) that is considered the greatest single driver of the global honey bee colony losses.
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30th Jan 2019
MAQS & Formic Pro Application
19th Jun 2018
Mite Monitoring: The Alocohol Wash Method
Mite Monitoring is an important part of spring hive management. Typically, strong overwintered colonies come into late spring and early summer with strong overwintered mite loads. It's critical to keep an eye on mite levels and treat accordingly once your colonies are above the recommended threshold, which is 2% (6 mites in a 300 bee sample) in the summer time. A lot of folks find the idea of an alcohol wash to be overwhelming, complicated, and unnecessary. We firmly believe that it is cruc
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9th May 2018