Thanks Randy,
I am known for trouble shooting beekeeping problems. The area were looking
at today is important with the research being discussed saying Fumagilin B
can break down the bees immune system.
As I asked around I found many different doses for the drench. The two most
common were the same mix as for spring or fall (per label) and another one
454 bottle in a 33 gallon drum.
Randy used
1 454 bottle to 20 gallon (U.S.) in his first study
now:
1 454 bottle to 7 gallon
For members of the list *not quite sure what we are talking about* we are
talking about a method designed by the *maker* ( Medivet ) of fumagilin for
heavily infested colonies which will not take syrup with their proboscis
( mouth parts) from a feeder but the maker says *will* consume the fumagilin
when the mix is cleaned off the bees by other bees .
Medivet Pharmaceuticals is very vague in their instructions *in my opinion*.
here are the instructions for 2012:
"Heavily infested colonies *that will no longer take syrup* may be sprayed
*repeatedly* directly onto the bees, frame by frame with 1:1 sugar syrup
containing 2 g of Fumagilin B per *litre* of syrup."
The first problem with the above is if the mix made 2 grams of the 9.5 grams
of actual fumagilin. We were told checking with medivet 2 g. per litre
which would produce 227 litres of drench.
One U.S. gallon = 3.785 litres
So a 454 gram bottle would produce 227 litres which would convert to 59.97
gallons on drench.
The makeup of the maker recommended drench is *roughly* like the fall feed
mix of one 454 gram bottle to a 55 gallon drum of syrup.
The second problem is how many times can you drench and for how long.
*repeatedly* is pretty vague. The number 4 has come up but I can not find
where Medivet gave a number. Randy?
The above discussion is important if we are *learning* fumagillan can cause
problems itself with the bees immune system.
things to ponder.
bob
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