Euro varroa treatments, whats most popular?

[WI-USA-BEEK]

I am from the states and we dont use Thymol near as much as you folks, OA is almost never used. I have used apistan to date, am going to try maqs (formic acid) and likely oa drip this winter. I would appreciate hearing what your treatment regime is over there. Spring, summer, fall treatments. Please share other treatments for American Foul brood, nosema, etc.

Thanks

 

[Erichalfbee]

There is widespread if not countrywide resistance to Apistan. Most people use thymol in the autumn after supers are removed. Fumagillin, an anitibiotic sold as Fumadil B is used for nosema. It should be used after diagnosis but some people use it routinely in the autumn added to the feed. Thymol added to the autumn sugar feed is supposed to be protective.
Sugar dusting and essential oils are some other components of varroa control.
AFB is treated by destruction of the colony, burning of wooden hives or disinfecting poly.
There's more which I'm sure other folk will add.
Oh, I should add drone brood removal in the summer to control varroa and keeping your colonies on an open mesh floor all year

 

[dclewis]

If you want a continental European approach, here in my part of France Apivar (amitraz) is used widely (mainly after summer crop is lifted in mid-July), apparently little resistance so far for amitraz. Apistan resistance present so not used. OA used in winter. Spring treatments avoided unless mite load is found to be too high as after local survey over a number of years it has been found that spring treatment reduce honey crop by about 10%. Thymol treatments are also used but less common than in UK I believe. I have tried icing sugar but have little faith in it as an efficient means of reducing mite load. Drone brood culling also used by some, me included.

All antibiotic use is illegal in France so there is no treatment available for nosema. Selection by natural means i.e. culling of affected colonies and avoiding rearing from queens susceptible to nosema is all that can be done.

AFB and EFB are approached still with some using shook swarms for minor cases, (which I think is a mistake particularly for AFB,) but burning of frames comb and bees and disinfection of hives by flame and bleach for more severe cases.

 

[WI-USA-BEEK]

"There is widespread if not countrywide resistance to Apistan."

This is true here as well. However I got my start with bees that were treated for mites for probably around 15 years with amitraz (not legal but probably most widely used commercial treatment). I found the mites I got with my bees to have no resistance to Apistan. I have been able to get away with one fall treatment that gave almost 100% efficacy. I dont want resistance to build so I can keep it as a known sure thing and I want to be as organic as possible. For this reason I want to use soft treatments like, formic acid, thymol, and OA. I dont like what I read about formic acids effects on queens so Im scared to use it but I have 40 treatments sitting in a pail so I cant afford not to use it (im not rich lol).

"fumagilin b"
I use fumagilin b in fall to try to eliminate costly winter loses due to nosema m. and C. I don't know if you have nosema cerana over there but we do. This is most expensive treatment because you have to double the recommended dose to have effect on nosema c. I hope to purchase a microscope next season so I have the ability to know if there is even needed. For now its use it or possibly lose everything.

"Thymol"
I would appreciate it if you folks would explain to me all the different uses for tymol. I read about it being used in syrup, patties, ect. What does it all have effect on, just mites or are there other useful effects? I really wish I would have purchased api-guard for mite treatments this fall instead of formic acid in the form of maqs (mite away quick strips)

"Sugar dusting"
is folk lore as far as im concerned. Randy Oliver did a good study or sites one about it. You would have to do it bi-weekly to have any real benefit against varroa. Its as pointless as the small cell theory to me which has no "proven" effectiveness against varroa other than folk lore.

"AFB"
Is treated by burning everything, or burning frames and scorching boxes (then reuse them) or using antibiotics like Tylan. Tylan works very well at hiding AFB. If you use it twice a year (spring and fall) you will never even see AFB even if you have it. I have only been treating with it once a year in fall. I dont want it contaminating my honey so I dont use it in spring. I have not formed a solid opinion on its use yet. It will kill afb in its early stage. Bees are heavy robbers in fall only here so I think the most susceptible time for them to contract it is in fall when robbing out old tree colonies, or the like. I would like to fantasize that tylan would kill it before it was un-killable this time of year but im sure that is fantasy thinking but it is a very cheap treatment and I figure it may help the immune system of the bees kick other illness before winter kicks in and reduce losses. If I ever do see AFB in my colonies, I will burnt everything on or in the colony. I have a friend that bought used equipment in spring of 2010 and thought he got a real good deal. I went over to his place last fall to help him figure out why his colonies did so poorly and I found AFB in every single colony, on almost every frame. I was scared to death of transferring it to my bees. I was scared to get in my car with my same cloths on, I threw away my hive tool, wash my bee suit and glove with bleach three times, LOL! He took my advice and burned every thing. So far he has not seen any AFB this year.

I find it difficult to form a solid opinion on using or not using a preventative AFB treatment because here AFB is often just covered up by beeks with antibiotics. The same friend I mentioned above helped a commercial beek install packages this spring and he seen AFB in dead outs they shook packages in and the guy just used terramycin to cover it up and did not destroy any of it. So you guys can bash me for using Tylan to prevent AFB by how am I supposed to deal with this issue when it is all around me? I would favor burn only if it was law.

 

[WI-USA-BEEK]

"drone brood removal"
I have entertained this idea but it seems like a huge waste of colony resources. Open mesh floors are another folk lore to me. Might slow varroa population by two weeks over the length of one season. Pointless effort to me.

"OA"
I really like what I read about this stuff. I am going to use it but Im scarred to use it this winter because Im scarred that it will be the straw that breaks the camels back after using formic acid. I worry that formic will weaken queens and bees exoskeleton then OA will do them in. I am also really optimistic on using it on nucleolus colonies made with swarm cells. When all brood hatches, the oa drip is supposed to work really well, even in summer according to studies by Randy Oliver.

"culling of affected colonies and avoiding rearing from queens susceptible to nosema is all that can be done."
Does this seem to be an effective method? Do you have nosema cerana?

I have spent countless hours trying to figure out a system to use. I have kind come up with a plan. We have a new treatment available call Hop-Guard that uses alfa acids from the hopps plant. You can use it on a honey flow with supers on. So I am thinking of using this in spring, then formic in summer (also allows use on a flow). Then use OA in December to clean up the mites. I dont like the harsh effects of formic on queens and bees. However you are supposed to apply two strips of maqs to get the proper vapor that will penetrate the cell capping and kill mites on brood. However if I only use one I am thinking I can reduce effects on queens, still get a good kill on mites but not enough to be a control. However, it should keep the mite population in check till they can be mopped up by OA. This would allow me to use honey in all combs. Problem is nosema and AFB treatments. A microscope could solve the need for nosema treatment or as mentioned selecting for nosema resistant queens. That would take time but a better long term solution. If I can get away with one fall treatment of Tylan, it should be broke down completely by first harvest of honey but I would have to have testing done to prove it. I wish there were a better solution. Maybe I will give up use of Tylan but that could turn out disastrous.

This is why I want to be as educated as possible with options. I really appreciate all input any of you folks can provide. Beekeeping has become such a difficult endeavor. Thanks to the sharing of information on the internet, hopefully in years to come we can all solve many of the issues we have.

Thank You!
WI-Beek

 

[Arfermo]

OA is not suitable if one wants to keep any brood that is present. For that reason it is not normally used in summer - unless one has collected a swarm or created an artificial one - or done a Bailey comb change? OA is usually done around Xmas in the depth of our winter. Personally I use the sublimation method from underneath the OMF on a 1mm steel sheet, slid into the varroa tray slot. That way disturbing colony is minimised and they don't get chilled either. OA is hugely effective. Agree icing sugar is sheer waste - better in my cuppa!!

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

"Thymol"
I would appreciate it if you folks would explain to me all the different uses for tymol. I read about it being used in syrup, patties, ect. What does it all have effect on, just mites or are there other useful effects? I really wish I would have purchased api-guard for mite treatments this fall instead of formic acid in the form of maqs (mite away quick strips)

Widely used here as an autumn mite treatment, after the harvest as it will taint the honey (bees dont mind it) and potentially the comb. In the UK there are three approved commercial products, Apiguard, Apilife Var and new last year Thymovar. They all require an outside temperature in the 15-30 degree range to work at their best.

However, much respected Hivemaker of this forum has offered two recipes for making your own which you should not have any trouble in doing - one for impregnating an absorbant holder such as a plant oasis and follows the same principles as the commercial products above, and one for mixing in syrup to stop fermentation and, it is claimed, protect against nosema. Both recipies are in the Stickies section.

For an in depth read of what varroa treatments are recommended in the UK , FERA (Food & Environment Research Agency) have published this very useful guide https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/downloadNews.cfm?id=93

BTW - others more knowledgeable may refute, but it is my understanding that few if any use both formic and oxalic over winter, the latter seems the more popular. You may also want to further consider open mesh floors - hygienic and useful for trapping and counting fallen mites as well as ventilation, very widespread over here now

 

[Tom Bick]

Hi Wi-beek

Thymol at the end of the summer after the honey is removed is a great treatment in my opinion and a chap on this forum as mentioned above Hivemaker very respected by all recommends it in winter syrup as a aide against Nosema something I am trying this year and so far the bees are very happy on it.

Formic Acid
Don’t know a great deal about this but what I do understand is it is considered harmful to the beekeeper if administered wrong so be careful.

OA
Plenty of people over here use it and some like to splash it around, for example hived swarms and other broodless times. I go along with the belief that it damages the queens and as a result don’t use it.

Another suggestion

Lactic Acid
Made from milk considered harmless to the beekeeper and the bees, best applied when broodless and may require two applications. Its perhaps a bit more involved than the other treatments and best not applied over winter as it requires removing and spraying each frame but it’s a good treatment to have handy.
As I understand the only down side when tested was a percentage of egg removal by the bees after application.

 

[george]

WI and Tom .

Like most chemicals if applied wrongly or with lack of care Formic acid can be harmful . But used correctly it is extremely effective .
I am into year 3 of using formic acid impregnated pads and have had no losses of queens in that time .
You do need to take into account the size of the colony as the pads were designed for North American sized hives ie langstroths or Dadants . A small colony in a National could be susceptable to damage , but as I say in my 30 odd hives no losses in 3 years so thats 90 treatments , and my colleague who runs neraly 100 colonies is much the same and would not go back to Apistan or Apiguard in a hurry .
I also find no need to OA at New Year which to me is a huge benefit as I dont like to disturb the bees unduly at the coldest point in the year .
Its no more expensive than other treatments and is only on the hive for 21 days as opposed to 4 to 6 wks for Apiguard . Usefull if you are looking for a late crop(which we are not)

G

 

[Poly Hive]

Open mesh floors.

Just a very brief history here as it lands on my hobby horse as it were.

They arrived in the UK from Germany as a standard floor for poly hives, this was pre varroa BTW by some ten years or so. The idea behind the ventilation was to assist the bees in wintering drier, and I was able to follow the experimentation which was done on wooden hives by my first mentor Bernard Mobus. Mr Mobus was one of the government advisors for Beekeeping in Scotland. He tried 2" holes two of at the back of the floor, progressed to four and then you could see him think stuff it lets go for it and a 9" square was taken out.

The result was better wintering, although it has to be kept in mind that this was in partnership with insulation over the CB.

Then along came varroa and it was found that with the floors raised on stands with the mesh floors there was a significant mite fall off the bees and down through the mesh to the ground and death. This is a small but still significant benefit in varroa control coupled with better wintering is now a standard here in the UK.

PH

 

[mbc]

My understanding was they came from Switzerland, were used with wooden hives and the main thinking behind using them was ready ventilation making moving bees much simpler for commercial beekeepers, not sure if this was pre or post poly hives becoming popular in Switzerland but the first of these floors I came across in Wales was in the late eighties