help!! High varroa still......

[Cazza]

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A QUESTION, NOT A STATEMENT PHRASED AS A QUESTION- would this be a suitable opportunity to use hiveclean, in a swarm or AS situation? As I understand it, it's icing sugar with attitude, ie likely to reduce the population of phoretic mites. Or is it a bit of a gimmick?

I use Hiveclean. It seems to work well for me. If it's considered a gimmick, as far as I can see it's a gimmick which works.
Cazza

 

[For want of a better word]

My 3 year old nailed his little sister to the kitchen table when I last let them "help" make up frames......
besides eating the foundation.... "tastes like honey mummy"!!!

 

[johna]

I see you're still being rude and "nit" or is it varroa picking Rab?.

 

[Dishmop]

your queens must be better trained than mine if they neatly keep different days of laying to separate frames so that you can conveniently discard brood all of the same age on one or two frames.

I did read somewhere that a queen does in fact spend one day on one side of the frame and then move onto the other side the next day.....

 

[For want of a better word]

I did read somewhere that a queen does in fact spend one day on one side of the frame and then move onto the other side the next day.....

See you have an observation hive.... what is SHE doing all day at this time of year?

Just chillin'?​

 

[Dishmop]

See you have an observation hive.... what is SHE doing all day at this time of year?

Just chillin'?​

Not a lot.

See her every few days or so...

 

[Jimmy]

Does the varroa drop increase when there is a mild spell following a cold period?

I inserted my OMF for 5 days underneath a strong colony (covering 8 frames easily on a brood and a half) and got 60 mites when I checked last night. They had an apivar (amitraz) treatment in september and OA trickle on Dec 28th. I monitored after the OA and had a handful of mites in 2 days.
I've put the insert back and will check after 7 days and then decide what to do.

I'm hoping that the colony may have had a grooming frenzy in the milder weather - is this optimism misplaced and should I be getting ready to do a shook swarm in the first warm spell in April?

 

[Finman]

Does the varroa drop increase when there is a mild spell following a cold period?

One possibity is that those mites have been inside the comb cells. When
weather is warm, bees clean the hive, dead bees and rubbish out.

Take it easy and look what happens. Let the hive grow up and if you meet extra mites, make in summer false swarm. If you make a shook or false swarm in April, you make more bad to the colony than mites.

Cut to the hive a 2 inch gap in some frame. They make there drone brood and there you see if there is any mites.

I have the same situation. My mite load has been too high in the yard 2 years and I must do something extra to that.