Cooperative trial between Shaun Bentley of Arataki Honey Ltd, Hawke’s Bay with Ross and Xavier McLean of Bee Vigor Products Ltd, New Zealand, commencing 21st September 2018. Trial BVPL 210918.
Aim
To observe the effects of feeding two different honey bee nutrition supplements Formulation 1 and BeeVIGOR Sausage in comparison with untreated hives under field conditions, during September 2018 through January 2019, early to mid-summer in New Zealand. However, the trial was concluded early on 2 November 2018 due to the serious declining condition of the untreated hives.
Method
The trial site was on the eastern side of Te Mata Peak, Hawkes Bay.
Twelve similar strength hives at the same location were divided into three groups of four hives, giving four replicates for each of the treated and untreated. All hives were two boxes high, double brood chambers.
Prior to treatment, all hives including the untreated were opened for inspection of all the frames. After a numerical evaluation, the frames were replaced in the hives and the products were applied in ribbons along the top of the brood frames prior to hive closure.
The weather at the time of the initial treatment 1100-1130hr, was dry and sunny, 19C with 5% cumulus cloud cover and a light S wind. Bees appeared to be actively foraging.
The 3 weeks old Formulation 1, containng probiotics, was packaged in a 700g sausage, which was placed in a caulking gun with an 8cm long nozzle having a 4.5mm delivery hole. This sausage was a firm fit in the gun. 4 trigger pulls (approx. 70g) were applied on top of the brood frames in each hive, to be followed by two more similar doses at 14-day intervals.
The 4 weeks old BeeVIGOR Sausage, containing no probiotics, was packaged in a 375g sausage, which was placed in a caulking gun with an 8cm long nozzle having a 4.6mm delivery hole. This sausage was a very loose fit into the gun. One trigger pull of the caulking gun delivered a small amount of product, thought to be because the sausage loose fit left air spaces inside the gun which were filled by compressing the sausage, rather than the contents being extruded. This was thought to be as little as 10g on the first hive treated, so additional product was applied to visually match the 16g ribbons per trigger pull on the other 3 hives. 4 trigger pulls (approx. 64g) were applied on top of the brood frames in each hive, to be followed by two more similar doses at 14-day intervals.
The delivered dose of BeeVIGOR Sausage per trigger pull (TP) was later compared in the workshop with the delivered dose of Formulation 1. 1 x TP of BeeVIGOR Sausage delivered 16g and 1 x TP Formulation 1 delivered 22g (38% more), while 4 x TP of BeeVIGOR Sausage delivered 56g and 4 x TP of Formulation 1 delivered 70g (25% more). The variability in the doses is thought to be the way that the sausages filled the air gaps inside the identical caulking guns.
- Untreated control hives received no test product, no sugar syrup or any other form of nutritional supplement.
- Treated hives received only the test product, no sugar syrup or any other form of nutritional supplement.
On 5 October 2018 (day-14) all the trial hives were reassessed and the treatments were repeated. One of the BeeVIGOR Sausage treated hives still had some thin dry ribbons of product left on the frame tops, which were removed before re-treatment. Otherwise, all treatments had been consumed by the bees.
On 20 October 2018 (day-29) all the trial hives were reassessed and the treatments were repeated. All day-14 treatments had been consumed by the bees, including in the hive previously having some dry ribbons.
On 2 November 2018 (day-42) all the trial hives were reassessed and the treatments were repeated. All day-29 treatments had been consumed by the bees. The untreated hives were in such poor condition that it was decided to feed them the BeeVIGOR Sausage nutritional supplement, plus sugar syrup containing a protein supplement, thus effectively ending the comparative trial.
All hives were left undisturbed until honey harvest on 22 January 2019, but In early Dec 2018 the earlier untreated hives were observed to be “up and running” after receiving the nutritional supplements.
Observations
During the trial period, the treated hives were stronger, with more bees, more brood, more stores and more pollen than in the untreated, except for the one queen-less hive in both the BeeVIGOR Sausage and Formulation 1 replicates.
On day 42 of the trial, all four untreated hives were assessed as likely to collapse, so were fed nutritional supplements.
Bees were immediately attracted to the products and the one BeeVIGOR Sausage treated hive where some unconsumed product remained, subsequently consumed all of the repeated treatment.
Application using a caulking gun was extremely easy, with no mixing, no spills, no mess, no waste.
Conclusion
The 3-4 replication field trial demonstrated a useful increase in brood numbers, bee numbers, amount of pollen and honey stores from the use of the honey bee nutrition development products. The untreated hives were expected to collapse, had not nutritional supplements been introduced, which effectively ended the comparative trial. The caulking gun system had application benefits.