I am treating.
I came back to beekeeping after a long gap, going back to pre-varroa days. I picked up more or less where I left off, and worked them in the same way as I always had.....the result was two winters with very heavy losses. Winter 2007/08 I lost all 4 colonies. 2008/9 lost 3 out of 4. This was when I wised up to treating for varroa. Winter 2009/10 1 out of 10 colonies died, which was due to isolation starvation. I'll have 19 or 20 stocks(inc a 3 nucs and a couple that may be candidates for uniting) to winter - we'll see what happens this winter.
I would have to admit that my varroa treatment wasn't textbook, and wasn't done at exactly the right times. My stocks were slow to expand this year, but there could be many reasons for this. Hopefully future years will seem me being rather more consistent with it. Until and including this spring I was using Thymomite. Last winter saw the first Oxalic acid treatment. This year, new incoming swarms had a dose of oxalic, autumn treatment has been using home-made Thymol/rape oil mix on oasis, and winter will be oxalic...spring will be more home-made potion. I hadn't seen any evidence of varroa until last month, and then only in one hive, but they are all showing dead little critters since the treatment has started. I worry for those who have been lulled into what might be a false sense of security by apparently varroa free colonies.....but of course, they may be the lucky ones who have varroa-conquering bees...fingers crossed.
Anyway, treating for varroa has certainly coincided with a massively greater liklihood of my colonies making it through the winter. On that basis, I'll certainly continue to treat until someone has shown me a better way THAT WORKS, or until I find magic bees.
Genuinely wishing the non-treaters the best of luck, and hope that their gamble/calculated risk pays off.
