Api- life var

[Beeforest]

Used it for the first time this year on my Nationals. Today saw the bees hauling it out of the hive and onto the ground. Hasn't happened before, always seen it in situ when replacing it each week. Anyone else had this problem?

 

[REDWOOD]

Obviously the bees don't like it one bit, good on your bees getting rid of those nasty chemicals

 

[northernsoul]

yes mine don't like it. On my third year of using it and they always remove it from the top of the brood box. Tell you what though, haven't seen much varroa since using it either. It's pretty effective

 

[Grub]

Mine done the same thing last year, taking out in chunks

Worked though

Grub

 

[dclewis]

They are hauling it out of mine too.

 

[greengumbo]

No hauling out but I can hear them rattling the tinfoil I placed on top of it to stop the melting of my poly ! Everytime I go near the hive its like they are practicing percussion.

50 mites dropped this week since treatment last tuesday.

Will replace with second tablet tommorrow leave for a week then monitor the drop.

 

[itma]

...
50 mites dropped this week since treatment last tuesday.

Will replace with second tablet tommorrow leave for a week then monitor the drop.

The important thing is to monitor the success of the treatment AFTER (like a couple of weeks after) it has finished.
Knowing the extent of the residual problem is what is important.

The bodycount during treatment is meaningless unless you had a very good measure of the infestation pre-treatment.
50 mites dropped could be a total success or a near-total failure!
The simple and worthwhile thing to do is to measure what might need further treatment.

 

[greengumbo]

The important thing is to monitor the success of the treatment AFTER (like a couple of weeks after) it has finished.
Knowing the extent of the residual problem is what is important.

The bodycount during treatment is meaningless unless you had a very good measure of the infestation pre-treatment.
50 mites dropped could be a total success or a near-total failure!
The simple and worthwhile thing to do is to measure what might need further treatment.

Absolutely.

Already planned on this

 

[Teemore]

From experience and that of beekeeping friends, you will probably see the peak mite kill around three days after the first application.
I find that my colonies either propolise up the ALV or they chew it up and turf it out of the hives. I find that ALV works very well for me and in monitoring hives over the past couple of winters there has been little to no evidence of varroa following treatment with ALV.
Winter treatment with oxalic is my back up to ensure there are as few mites as possible in the colonies when they begin their build up.

 

[BobsBees]

When I carried out my Apiguard in the past.
I inspected the tray in the OMF for mite drop DAILY, and brushed off the droppings, ready for the next day. I tried doing the count at the same time every day as this is important.
I found the drop numbers were quite slow at first reaching a peak on about the third or fourth day, then gradually falling down to small numbers. As Apiguard is a 4 week treatment, I found the second application produced hardly any mite drop! I know that capped brood will not be effected by the first treatment, so maybe, just maybe the second treatment is not worth doing! anyone agree?
Bob.

 

[HelenHP16]

Hi - yes I have the same thing happening - bit of green foam all over the solid floor - difficult to see the mites for it! Glad to hear that the general view is that it works thought.

H

 

[Luminos]

When I carried out my Apiguard in the past.
I inspected the tray in the OMF for mite drop DAILY, and brushed off the droppings, ready for the next day. I tried doing the count at the same time every day as this is important.
I found the drop numbers were quite slow at first reaching a peak on about the third or fourth day, then gradually falling down to small numbers. As Apiguard is a 4 week treatment, I found the second application produced hardly any mite drop! I know that capped brood will not be effected by the first treatment, so maybe, just maybe the second treatment is not worth doing! anyone agree?
Bob.

Well, you have a lot of bees and can maybe afford to take the chance. But I lost my only colony because of varroa last year, so I will be following the Apiguard instructions to the letter...

 

[BobsBees]

This years treatment for Varroa.

Following up on my last comment.
As I have seen only minimal activity/sitings of Varroa in ALL of my hives this year. I am seriously considering NOT TREATING with anything until December 31st or the next warm day after, except Oxalic acid, 5ml per seam of bees.

Something is taking place with Varroa, it could be due to the weather this year, so it might be a "one off".
But my opinion is that the Honeybee is at last fighting back in its own way.

Bob.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Following up on my last comment.
As I have seen only minimal activity/sitings of Varroa in ALL of my hives this year. I am seriously considering NOT TREATING with anything until December 31st or the next warm day after, except Oxalic acid, 5ml per seam of bees.

Something is taking place with Varroa, it could be due to the weather this year, so it might be a "one off".
But my opinion is that the Honeybee is at last fighting back in its own way.

Bob.

Thought I'd resurrect this
I have seen only the odd varroa when monitoring this year.
After Apilife one hive has dropped 800 mites !!!!!
Natural drop means nowt.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thought I'd resurrect this
I have seen only the odd varroa when monitoring this year.
After Apilife one hive has dropped 800 mites !!!!!
Natural drop means nowt.

before treating one of my hives was showing one or two mites after nearly a week - three days of Apiguard and theres a thousand or so dead uns
Although another hive thus far hasn't dropped one!

 

[drstitson]

expelling ALV

yup. had that before going over to the infamous HMTR last year.

 

[beech55]

I thought I had the only bees without varroa and that my bees were healthiest girls on the block, until I treated all my hives with Api Life VAR...

Wow what a drop, hundreds of mites which have reduced as the treatment went on, treated as per instructions, caught recommend Api Life VAR enough,

only thing I would advise people to do with this product is to carefully unwrap the tablets and place in a flat glass bowl before taking to the apiary it's best to keep the tablets whole as they can be easily broken during handling...

Good product..D

 

[drstitson]

"it's best to keep the tablets whole as they can be easily broken during handling..."

yes they are fragile .....but they need breaking up anyway. who cares if the bees get 4, 5 or 6 odd pieces of ALV so long as all of a tab gets put in each time.

 

[For want of a better word]

NOT TREATING with anything until December 31st or the next warm day after, except Oxalic acid, 5ml per seam of bees.

​

Seriously?

 

[blackcavebees]

I thought it was quite good that girls were moving strips about the hive and then out the door, it helps with spreading the vapour does it not? Defo seems to knock varroa on head anyway, and I getting used to smell now