Heather/Varroa

[melias]

I'm a new beekeeper with two 14x12 National hives in West Berkshire. The hives both have a fairly high Varroa drop (approx 34/day). We are next to a large area of heather and the bees are foraging very actively at the moment and building up honey in the supers.

I'm torn - do I treat for Varroa and forego the continued heather nectar flow, or can I delay the Varroa treatment for a few weeks?

Also, I've heard that conflicting things about use of Hive Clean. Can I use it during the honey flow?

 

[viridens]

34 mites is not too critical. I would delay treatment.

It is claimed that Hive clean can be used during the flow period, but I have no experience of the product myself.

 

[Drew]

34 mites is not too critical. I would delay treatment.

It is claimed that Hive clean can be used during the flow period, but I have no experience of the product myself.

Really! 34 a day sounds pretty high to me....

unless 34/ was a typo of 3/4!!

Quick google found:

Mite Drop Count - A measure of Natural Mortality

Scientific research carried out in the UK suggests that the colony risks collapsing if the mite count exceeds:
Winter/Spring = 0.5 mites
May = 6 mites
June = 10 mites
July = 16 mites
August = 33 mites
September = 20 mites

Not saying thats definitive but it implies a bit worse than "no bother"

 

[melias]

No, it's really 34.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

You've got two hives, cant afford to take too many risks I'd have thought.

If it was me I'd either try Hive Clean (I've no knowledge of that either) or look to treat with normal thymols sooner rather than later - not worth risking the colonies for a few jars of honey even if heather.

 

[viridens]

Plonk your figures into the DEFRA/FERA/Beebase calculator here. You will probably get the answer "treat as soon as practically possible" - which I would argue is after your honey flow.
Please report back with your results and your decision.

 

[dclewis]

How long did you do your count over? If its less than a week then there is a large margin for error. Even after a week the drop is indicative but not conclusive. For example last year I had drop rates after a week which by the calculator suggested mite populations of 5-800 and during treatment knocked down 2500-3000 mites! I had drop rates this year up to 16/day and in the first week of treatment so far have knocked down 300+ odd mites per hive.
With 34/day you are most likely to have substantial mite numbers and in my opinion treatment is soon rather than later. Do you have other obvious symptoms DWV for example, do you see varrao on the bees?

 

[melias]

I counted the mite drop over a 24 hour period. No obvious symptoms, no deformed wings, etc.

 

[Alex Brown]

I've had a similar predicament. I've got a massive honey flow coming in from the copious amounts of balsam near to where I live, but mite levels are up.

Having taken advice, I've decided to extract what I can now so I can treat with Apiguard to ensure the winter bees, which the queen will start laying soon, are as healthy as possible.

 

[Tim1606]

I would let the bees gather the heather.

I have used hive clean and can recommend it. Not as an all year IPM (intergrated pest managment) but it will get you out of jail until you can use something else after you have removed the supers. When we used it we were pleased with the results that we got in the spring. We had supers on at the time.

 

[Stiffy]

I'm a new beekeeper with two 14x12 National hives in West Berkshire. The hives both have a fairly high Varroa drop (approx 34/day). We are next to a large area of heather and the bees are foraging very actively at the moment and building up honey in the supers.

I'm torn - do I treat for Varroa and forego the continued heather nectar flow, or can I delay the Varroa treatment for a few weeks?

Also, I've heard that conflicting things about use of Hive Clean. Can I use it during the honey flow?

Really depends on how you plan to treat? If you are going to use a thymol based treatment then you need warm weather for it to be most effective, I guess from your location, close to heather that you may not benefit from the localised 'London' effect?
Personally, I have hives on the heather at present and will not be starting treatment until the flow stops in a week or two when the supers are off. I tend not to treat until well into September but am also very far South .
Cheers
S

PS I dont know about Hive Clean looks like 'white mans' magic to me

 

[Foxylad]

Keep the hives on the heather, there is still plenty of time to treat once it has finished. A couple of weeks will make little difference.

Bees which have been on the heather over winter better and build up faster in the spring.

 

[TOBY-3652]

Treating mine with apiguard glad i did largest hive saturday 14 sunday 50 today 810