Robin said:
> If there is too much rubbish to see even that, wipe clean and check again
after
> only a week.

Involves a return visit to the apiary

> I use yellow plastic tea trays  [costing 85p - say $1.20]

120 hives at 85p = £102

> Wipe the trays with petroleum jelly so the rubbish comes away easily.

More cost and labour - as Allen said : "trying to find more things to do
with one's bees..."


> If moth larvae are there, wipe them away - and be glad they were there and
not right in the hive - the
> trays act as a moth trap.

Disagree.  I think that the trap acts as an ideal breeding ground.  The
notion that all these moths would otherwise be in the hive is flawed.  Most
hives would not tolerate them.

> UK trays have handles at the ends - cut these off to reduce the total
length

More labour!

> Most other diseases affect only a few colonies and are
> not so deadly.

Chalk brood affects more than a few colonies and leads to considerable loss
of brood just when it is needed most - when the colony is trying to build
up.

> Varooa is only controlled so effectively because of Apistan

Apistan is the easy option for most beekeepers, but varroa is being
controlled very successfully by many beekeepers using other methods.

> - scientists have not had as much success with thymol as Peter or we
> would all know of it.

You would if you read the right papers.  My thymol treatment is based on
research by Mariano Higes and Jesús Llorente of the Regional Apiculture
Centre, Agrarian Investigation Service Joint Communities of Castilla - La
Mancha, which was reported in Bee Biz, July 1997. Effectiveness is quoted at
97.6% for powdered thymol crystals placed in a petri dish directly above the
brood nest.  The effectiveness was greatly reduced when the thymol was
enclosed (eg the 'tea bag' method).

Peter Edwards
[log in to unmask]
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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