Hello all, I am now in a Red zone so have no bees anymore, for a while anyway. The last lot of honey (4kgs) I took from the hive prior to it being destroyed has fermented as it obviously was not finished off by the bees, is there anything I can use this for? Is it worth keeping to feed back to the bees in a few years or not.
Any mead experience with this would also be welcome.
thanks.
Ian.
No help on the mead front but I feel for you. I lost my bees too inside a red zone.
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How is Australia coping with varroa? I find it very difficult to understand how they think they will ever eradicate it now it’s there! Coping with it the way the rest of the world does is most likely the only way forward.
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So far the outcome looks optimistic but, personally, I think its touch and go. Lots of people have lost their bees and the feral bees are being baited. Might work but…
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HI John, in brief the response is to wipe out any hive within a 10km zone of a varoa infested/detected hive. The response seems very extreem to those outside looking in and even to us who are inside. The Gov’s response has been slow and in my opinion in effective as I was in Newcastle last thursday and saw many bees in a garden near the Visitor Information Centre. They tell us they are baiting wild hives so there will not be any hives within the red zones for 3 years. If you’re interested you can follow the info here.
Mmm. I have very little faith in a good long term outcome on this one! Cane toads are probably less prolific breeders than varroa! Well, best of luck with it sir!
John Lawson
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John, I had to smile while reading what you said about cane toads, especially after seeing the amount of tiny ones that run around all over the ground at times at my main bee site. I don’t know what eats them, however luckily they don’t all reach maturity.
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well i hope I am wrong but varroa are likely to become a very common pest over there Jeff… just like the vespa velutina has in Europe!
so it looks like the Ausse government has officially given up on trying to eradicate varroa - such a waste of bees and equipment thus far!!!
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speaking of the wasps (vespa velutina), my bees are very aware of the threat - so much so that they actually come out of the hive when I am around, as if they see that the ‘wasp killer’ is near. I have killed 1100 wasps so far this year! The wasps are so focused on waiting for the bees to leave or arrive that they don’t notice the large swatter coming their way. Yesterday morning I arrived at the hive to find 17 wasps hovering around the entrance. I hadn’t come to the hive for 2 days, as I was away, so they had the chance to bring the family. I dispatched all 17 in 10 minutes, and saw maybe only 5 more during the rest of the day…which I killed, of course!
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