How fast varroa propagate itself

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Finman

Queen Bee
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
27,887
Reaction score
2,022
Location
Finland, Helsinki
Hive Type
Langstroth
How many mites is too much in the hive?? Do you need calculate them?

Varroa douple its number in every month. It depends much on the length of brooding period, how much they will be.

Here is two examples when mites are five or 15 pieces in spring when brooding starts.



march april may .....june ...july august .. septem ....och.. ... novem

5 ….. 10 ….. 20 ….. 40 …..... 80 ….. 160 …..... 360 ..…. 700 …. 1400

15 ….. 30 ….. 60 ….. 120 ….. 250 ….. 500 ….. 1000 ….. 2000 ….. 4000


1000 mites is a limit when mite number is serious and you should do something
.
 
Last edited:
It's chilling to think of all those nasty little suckers tormenting my bees, I've got 1 hive that's got a bad case but the other 3 so far look like very minimal numbers. Will be treating soon as I'm extracting this week.
 
.
Next spring

We would suppose that 5 is small number and 200 mites in late summer is not much. Winterball then has 1400 mites and during winter perhaps 30% will die with bees. We have then 1000 mites when brooding begins.


march 1000 - arpril 2000 - may 4000 - june 8000 and the hive is kaput.
 
Will be treating soon as I'm extracting this week.

Late summer treating means that it protects growing winter ball bees.

Oxalic acid in December hits down only the mites which start to multiply in spring. Oxalic do not affect on winter bees which form the cluster.

every mite is too much in the hive in spring, if you ask is it too much
 
Late summer treating means that it protects growing winter ball bees.

Oxalic acid in December hits down only the mites which start to multiply in spring. Oxalic do not affect on winter bees which form the cluster.

If you're trying to build up a nuc for winter you want as little disruption to brood production as possible. What's the best varroa treatment plan? There's no super stores to worry about
 
I would treat a Nuc NOW with a half dose of Apiguard, the second half given in 14 days. Higher temps mean maximum efficiency. Then trickle oxalic acid early Jan - 5ml per seam of bees. IMO that would give them the best chance.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top