Is HopGuard� 3 safe

[jenkinsbrynmair]

a hop based product is available in the UK,

Yep - and it's snakeoil

 

[Leigh]

I stopped using MAQS after a very ineffective treatment in 2019, followed by fobbing off from the manufacturer. All hives were MAQS treated in the Autumn. Late Dec 2019 I did my round of OA sublimation treatment, and was very shocked to find mite drops in the 100's on most hives. I'd call that a big fail for MAQS. They were more interested in covering their arses than investigating the problem. So, that's £800 or so a year they won't be getting from me any more.

During 2020 I tried extended release OA using Randy Oliver's techniques. He has found it very successful in his part of the USA. Sadly, it doesn't seem to work in a humid and relatively cold UK. So, Autumn 2020, everything had Apivar followed by OA sublimation in Dec. Hardly any drop from the OA. This season, I've seen the best brood patterns I've had for years, and where conditions allow, extremely productive colonies.

Sadly, there don't seem to be be very many (if any) effective soft chemical varroa control products. You can keep bees alive with a combination of those methods, but they are unlikely to thrive. lesson learned.....slightly ashamed that it has taken me so long.

 

[drex]

I have to disagree my bees do very nicely with Apiguard after harvest and OA by vape in early December. I do not like the idea of insecticides in my hive. I think a lot depends on timing and vigilance. Each to their own

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sadly, there don't seem to be be very many (if any) effective soft chemical varroa control products.

There's plenty of effective thymol based treatments out there and mites have not built any resistance to them thus far. Unlike your Amitraz and pyrethroid based miticides

 

[Foxylad]

If the only effective treatment is OA. Richard Noel is caging his queens for a brood break to treat when broodless.

Could we be seeing more of this as an effective method in the futur?

 

[Patrick1]

Yep - and it's snakeoil

How many hives did you try it on ?

 

[sipa]

MAQS is a perfectly effective varroa treatment, if used sensibly.

Don't just blindly follow the dosage instructions, use a bit of common sense.
We use it on nucs, double or triple height nucs, hives, single, double or triple brood boxes. Each gets a different dose depending on the size of the colony.

Seems to work for us.

 

[pargyle]

Maybe. My bees were obviously penitent little beings and the good Lord benevolently spared their mothers.

Or you just got lucky ... there were/are lots of reports of dead queens when using MAQS .. you only have to do a google search to find them. I don't treat my bees for varroa but I think MAQS would be at the bottom of my list of options if I did ... why risk it when there are other equally effective treatments available.

 

[North End Bees]

Or you just got lucky ...

If I'd only used it on one (or maybe two) hives that might have been a valid point

there were/are lots of reports of dead queens when using MAQS .. you only have to do a google search to find them.

And how many of those are reports by people who have heard reports of dead queens and so haven't tried it themselves?

why risk it when there are other equally effective treatments available.

That depends on the individual beekeeper's circumstances, e.g. supers in situ, beginner with little equipment, etc