What I have found with ApiGuard is its effectiveness and the damage it can
cause are, as usual, in the hands of the applicator.

I used it last year for the first time, and any problems I had were all
mine. I did lose one hive, probably because of the method of application
(which probably killed the queen), but the remaining two wrote me off and
proceeded to survive in spite of me, which seems the norm for many
beekeepers.

The hive I lost was because I cut corners and tried to make the pad do more
than it was designed to. Plus, I put the pad half under the hole in the
inner cover and had a super of honey over that, which the bees were supposed
to take down into the lower hive bodies. At least that is what I directed
them to do.

So you have the well meaning idiot beekeeper using a treatment not in
accordance with written instructions but, when the colony died,
acknowledging that it was the idiot beekeeper that did it. As noted, it was
the first time I ever used ApiGuard, so I was hoping a bit that I could get
away with it, but I couldn't.

All else was fine, including temperatures and it did work as advertised on
the other two colonies which got through the winter in great shape.

Such winter success makes me a really good beekeeper in the area. 100%
survival. Fortunately I can keep my idiot beekeeping of last year secret so
no one will ever know the truth.

You all will keep this secret, won't you?

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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