# OK, I now officially do not like Hop Guard



## LeonardS (Mar 13, 2012)

First year beekeeper here and today I installed the Hopguard strips for the third and final week. So far, so good from what I can tell. All 3 hives are still alive and have normal activity. I use Mann Lake top feeders rather than the Pro-feeder. I will let you know next weekend how things look when I get back to the hives. I used 2 strips per deep box in the 2 busy/strong hives and just one strip in my weak hive.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I'm not surprised with the varying reactions posted so far. My bees hate it when I put it in, others could care less. Bees being repelled by it it just another reaction. It could be it reacted with something else in the hive but I would doubt that. I put in round 2 Friday, last week for round 1wasn't too bad actually, but Friday they got a little more worked up over it, but the strips aren't as saturated as when I first opened the package either. They do go after my gloved hands where the juice is though, so I'm still careful not to keep them over the top of the hive for too long when adding them. I make sure to find my queen as well and pull that frame, add my strips then put the queen back in.


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## MethowKraig (Aug 21, 2011)

I've used HG in the spring and fall and seen no bad effects. 

The bee seem to ignore it when I insert it. Over time, they tear it up. The debris drops to the bottom board mostly, with some deposited outside.

I also haven't made any effort to locate the queen when inserting the strips. 

"Met How" Kraig


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## bernsad (Aug 15, 2011)

Offtopic I'm afraid but, Lauri, why have you torched your woodenware like that? I assume you've run a blowtorch over them. Do you just like the appearance or does it serve another purpose? Camoflage perhaps? Do you just do the outside or the inside of the box as well? Do you then seal them or give them some other treatment to protect them from the weather?

Sorry to derail your thread but I like the look and I'm really curious.

Thanks
B


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

Looks like some sort of wood stain.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

Lauri, I hope you did well elk hunting  

I feel your pain at the loss of the bees! Your account is compelling as you conclude that hopguard is the single cause.....I can't help thinking though that there must be some independent variable at work here, either in conjunction with hopguard, your feeding design, or something we don't see at all. 

My bees don't seem to mind the hopguard at all. When you figure it out, be sure to post back so we can learn from your experience.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Why did you come here to hunt elk? The wolves have eaten most of them already in the west half of the state. Go to Packwood Washington, I could have hit one with my car three mornings running labor day weekend. My bowhunting daughter passed up a five point and will now enjoy her tag soup for the winter.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Couple questions, do you think there would have been a problem if you only had bottom entrances? And secondly, what sort of temperatures are you having in your area? Could hopguard be a little volatile in high temps?


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Oldtimer said:


> Could hopguard be a little volatile in high temps?


Lauri is located in the northwestern most part of the US....excepting Alaska. So...I doubt if high temps were an issue. Having said that, I applied Hopguard during the summer and experienced brood shutdowns, chewed out comb and noticeable queen losses that I'm convinced were Hopguard related. At elevated temps it is not as benign as the manufacturer claims...in my opinion.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

It's still hitting triple digits here, treated late summer as well, no issues in the heat, but my hive is 4 deeps and they were not bearding at all or were there bees crowding the entrance to vent. They've never liked it when I put the strips in though, but I only treat the brood boxes so maybe all the bees move up. I'm treating 3 of 4 boxes now and the bees didn't even chew up the strips like they did earlier in the year but they still didn't like the smell of the strips and got agitated when I put them in. If you slime the queen with a strip or if she gets dripped on I doubt she would survive. I get a few bees that get completely slimed come out the entrance and try to groom it off but they're dead in about a minute, I'm guessing they suffocate since it seems to coat them pretty well and not come off.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

Oldtimer said:


> Couple questions, do you think there would have been a problem if you only had bottom entrances?...snip.. Could hopguard be a little volatile in high temps?


I've read some who think it is volatile at higher temps. I'm on my third week of hopguard treatments. First application was @ 98 F, second and third had high temps in the high 80's. In three of five hives, the queen, eggs, larva and capped brood were visible at the third treatment -didn't look for or see the queen in the others, they had brood though. I too, have a hunch about the location of the feeders relative to the entrances, but don't know how it could relate to hopguard and cause absconding.

BTW Vance, the Greenlee's stopped by last week, had a nice visit


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I think it's obvious there's volatiles from the smell, perhaps good top venting or something is required? I use FBM hive top feeders so it can go right up through the opening and out the top, the top cover isn't propolised on too well since bees don't have access to it. In reality though, the hive is maintained at a constant temp but the amount of air being moved through will vary depending on outside temperatures. I would imagine though, in a well sealed hive.... maybe there's an issue, because I certainly don't like that smell and if it's heavy in volatile oils I could see it choking out a hive. Lauri's hives were fairly large though and she mentioned only placing it in the top for the one split hive.


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## arcowandbeegirl (Oct 11, 2010)

Thanks for posting, its always good to see other experiences. I am sorry for your bad experience. I too have used hopguard several times. I applied 3 times only about a month and a half ago. It is the second time that I have used it, but have not seen absconding or queen loss. I should mention that I have bottom entrance with a ventilated lid on top of most of my hives and vent holes bored in some of my supers. The only negative thing that I noticed is the bees dislike of the strips. I dont blame them, I wasnt too fond of them either. Especially having to put them on three times, once a week. The temps here were in the mid to high 90's but the night time temps were mid to upper 70's, and it was very dry here for most of the application period.


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## chickenia (Apr 13, 2012)

Well, I am a newbie, and this is my first experience at fall treatment and over-wintering. I have just come in from doing my second HG treatment and the girls were not too fussy with me today. I was able to put the strips down easier than last week and I left the remaining strips that were not consumed on the frames--- hope that is alright. I started with 2 pkgs. in May, fed sugar syrup w/EO's until the deep was drawn out and took it away. Did one split and now I am treating 3 hives. I put a top feeder on them all and to build them up before really cold hit here. I also put the reducer on after treatment---3 1/2in. and will take it out a little later when the yellow jackets leave...i hate those little rascals! So far, so good......temps in low 60's as the daytime high now. I have bottom entrances, does that make a difference with HG? Do I need to leave the whole entrance clear b/c of fumes??? Thanks....


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

chickenia said:


> Do I need to leave the whole entrance clear b/c of fumes???


Hopguard is a contact agent. It does not create a toxic gas. Leave the entrance however is convenient for you.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

UPDATE: Additional treatments on remaining hives no adverse side effects. 

(My conclusions are, in my OP- I waited too long to treat a few hives and the insertion of a foreign material was the last straw for those already stressed bees.)

After some mite monitoring, I went ahead and treated the rest of my hives with the Hop Guard. I applied on the lighter side of dosage (About One strip per 7 frames instead of five) There was a very good and sometimes shocking mite drop and no problems.

I was careful not to have any feeders on or in the hives to avoid the robbing type activity as I did last time. I do think the bees moved away from the hopguard strips and left the top feeder unguarded and open to robbers with the top entrance so close. 
Just wanted to update my experience so others will not be afraid to use Hop Guard. I will be more careful about treating stressed hives and the potential robbing factors when using from now on.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

Lauri said:


> UPDATE: Additional treatments on remaining hives no adverse side effects...snip...


Glad to hear it Lauri, it took resolve to try it again, congratulations!


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## ky_mike (May 9, 2011)

That's good to hear. I've had great success with it and plan on continuing to use it as needed.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

That's interesting Lauri, and makes perfect sense. 

In fact it may be worth telling the hop guard people about this so they can make a label recomendation not to use the product in such a way it could leave hives with top entrances open to robbing if feeders are in place. Valuable info they should know about.


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