As soon as the queen has laid and sealed 1 frame of brood. The theory is that if one can remove the first frame of sealed brood much of the wintering phoretic varroa will have migrated into this first frame.
In an ideal world this would be done about 2.5 weeks after pollen has been seen going into the colony. It will be done in a week when the temperature is above 12 degrees when there is forage. Ideally the ribes will be in flower.
Well there has been constant rain, wind and cold and the days when I can get into the colonies are very limited for other reasons. I have two colonies in relatively sheltered positions.
This colony had fewer sugar rolls than I would have liked last Autumn. I have only opened the colony once in that warm week and saw varroa. 4 frames had been laid. 2 had been capped and I removed those 2 frames to the freezer, moved the remaining frames together and added new frames at the edge.
After 2 days I removed the frames from the freezer and uncapped them (capping Fork Above) and this is the result. I found 14 varroa, 3 in the drone brood.
Here’s hoping that the varroa load has been reduced sufficiently to keep the bees going until the weather warms and stabilises.
Written By Louise Evan (Education Secretary Meridian Beekeepers)
Meridian Beekeepers’ Association 