BEE INFORMED CA-545 Bag of Bottles User Manual
- June 4, 2024
- BEE INFORMED
Table of Contents
Bee Informed Partnership
Bag of Bottles (BOB)
Overview:
The kits provide beekeepers the ability to collect and received diagnostics on up to a total of 20 honey bee samples based on their needs. By monitoring disease levels, you will be able to make informed decisions about the health of your colonies, such as when to treat colonies and if treatments are effective. For each bottle, open and remove 1 frame from a colony that contains a young, developing brood (if available) and shake the adult bees into a box or scoop bees from the frame, being careful to avoid the queen. You should aim to collect two, ¼ cup scoops of bees from each sampled colony and using the funnel, put them into the saltwater bottle. You will want to provide each colony with an identification code for referencing the sample bottle.
Send the samples to the University of Maryland Diagnostic lab for analysis and you will receive a report in 2-3 weeks.
YOU WILL NEED TO PROVIDE:
- Box to ship saltwater bottles
- Postage for above
- Shipping tape
- Writing pen
- Marker or sharpie
PROVIDED ITEMS (See Figure 1):
- 20 small (125 ml) concentrated salt water solution samples
- 1 datasheet
- (optional) 1 funnel
- (optional) ¼ cup measuring cup
Steps:
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Open the colony to the brood nest and examine as desired, for disease, queen status/condition, # of frame of bees, and brood pattern using provided info sheets as a reference. Record the examination or unusual conditions present on the data information sheet.
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Uncap one of the sampling bottles and insert the funnel into the top of the bottle (Figure 2).
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Find a frame containing some uncapped brood. Carefully examine the frame to ensure the queen is not in this frame. You don’t want to collect her!
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Firmly shake the frame over a washtub or box to dislodge the bees. Gently knock the corner of the tub on the ground so the bees collect in the corner. Gently scoop two, ¼ cup scoops of adult bees (1/2 cup total = about 300 bees) from the tub and place them into the funnel (Figure 3). Gently knock the bottle and funnel to get the bees to fall through the funnel and into the solution. 300 bees should fill about 2/3 of the bottle. If you do not have a washtub, you can gently scoop bees directly from the frame by lightly dragging an open bottle upwards across the frame so the bees fall in. Be careful not to harm wax cappings or sample the queen and again, make sure the bottle is 2/3rd full.
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Label each sample bottle to match your colony and note this on the datasheet.
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Close the labeled bottle tightly; shaking it to make sure the bees are fully dampened with the solution.
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Repeat steps one through six until up to 20 colonies have been sampled (if desired).
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Ensure the data collection sheet is completely filled out and legible and place in a shipping box.
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Ship the samples to Attn: The vanEngelsdorp Lab, 4112 Plant Science Bldg., College Park, MD 20742. Write your return address in the upper left corner of the box. Write the date on the front of the box.
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Email: Research Specialist Heather Eversole ([email protected]) within 24 hours of shipment or call 301-405-3799 to notify personnel that a live bee shipment is expected. Please also email Heather within 24 hours after shipping the samples to notify the Bee Research Lab that a shipment is to be expected.