Loads of mites

[Wilfredbuck]

OK, I put my varroa treatment on 4 weeks ago…. I put the board under the hive on 2 days ago (just as an after thought) checked today and have about 50 mites on there - is that ok/normal? I can only assume they have been dropping off the bee and I must have had tonnes on them.

 

[Mint Bee]

OK, I put my varroa treatment on 4 weeks ago…. I put the board under the hive on 2 days ago (just as an after thought) checked today and have about 50 mites on there - is that ok/normal? I can only assume they have been dropping off the bee and I must have had tonnes on them.

You don't mention which treatment was used. Usually keep the board in for longer for a count, but if you are getting 25 a day there is something very wrong there. Sounds like high varroa in the first place and ineffective treatment. If the hive were mine, I'd be vaping with OA every 5 days for at least 4 cycles. If counts are high after that I'd continue until they dropped off. Thymol based treatments will be less affective now as will Apistan strips, as they are both temperature dependent

 

[Wilfredbuck]

You don't mention which treatment was used. Usually keep the board in for longer for a count, but if you are getting 25 a day there is something very wrong there. Sounds like high varroa in the first place and ineffective treatment. If the hive were mine, I'd be vaping with OA every 5 days for at least 4 cycles. If counts are high after that I'd continue until they dropped off. Thymol based treatments will be less affective now as will Apistan strips, as they are both temperature dependent

 

[Wilfredbuck]

I used Apivar - I was hoping that the amount coming off meant it was working

 

[Mint Bee]

OK. Apivar contains Amitraz, and treatment is not temperature dependent according to instructions. I don't use it so someone else can comment on efficacy and rate of drop, but I would expect one should get a peak drop soon after treatment has been applied, with extended time period to catch varroa emerging as brood hatches. There has been some discussion in the past wrt amitraz resistance. Anyone in the Cotswold's seen this?

 

[pargyle]

I used Apivar - I was hoping that the amount coming off meant it was working

Probably is working - Apivar is Amitraz based so it's not temperature dependent and you leave the strips in for 10 weeks in an autumn treatment. There should be a fairly consistent drop for the first couple of weeks after you put the strips in and it should then tail off as the brood cycles go through.

You should make sure you remove the strips though at 10 weeks .. there is resistance in Varroa to Amitraz and if you have a continual drop over the weeks you may have to consider a different treatment.

 

[Paulypaul]

I've just witnessed the same phenomenon. I'm in week 9 of Apivar treatment. Had previously barely seen any mite drop at all. In the past few days, there's by far the most I've seen all year. Admittedly, all dead.

I'm considering oxalic vapour treatment, to see if there's a further increase in dropped mites or not.

I'm a bit concerned.