Acouple of weeks ago I opened my hive, Matai, at my friend`s place, it had been a swarm I had collected a week before and I wanted to put a wafer of ApiLife Var, the organic varroa mite treatment on the top of the brood box.Look at the pretty comb my girls have been making, I always feel bad when I have to scrap it off .. 
The organic wafer is put into the hive and because it evaporates, you can leave it there and not have to worry about taking it out later - it is very strong smelling, lasts forever on your hands if you do what I did and forget to wear gloves. I had meant to bring some thin surgeons gloves as I don`t wear any at all when I work with the bees, the leather ones I find far to cumbersum and end up squashing bees .. Apart from afew stings I have not had a problem having bare hands, the bees feel warm and velvety.
The organic wafer is put into the hive and because it evaporates, you can leave it there and not have to worry about taking it out later - it is very strong smelling, lasts forever on your hands if you do what I did and forget to wear gloves. I had meant to bring some thin surgeons gloves as I don`t wear any at all when I work with the bees, the leather ones I find far to cumbersum and end up squashing bees .. Apart from afew stings I have not had a problem having bare hands, the bees feel warm and velvety.It will be very interesting to watch how this treatments works after using Apistan strips before, it just feels so much better to me NOT putting any sort of chemical into my hives - we will see . .
