Organic varrioa treatments

[Curly green fingers]

Hi I'm looking for some organic varroa treatments . I have a recipe for bee tea syrup for feeding in the spring would it be any good for varroa mite ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Oxalic acid is organic
As is Formic
The former is available as a trickle, a vape or for the more adventurous in a kitchen towel mixed with glycerine.
The latter can be found as MAQS
People have used Rhubarb and Bananas
Personally I have no place in my life for bananas but rhubarb makes an excellent crumble

 

[wightbees]

Thymol

 

[Beefriendly]

Oxalic acid is organic
As is Formic

Yes both are defined chemically as organic (contain carbon), but this doesn't mean they have been produced from land that uses no artificial fertilizers, pesticides or chemicals....a subtle, but perhaps important distinction.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes both are defined chemically as organic (contain carbon), but this doesn't mean they have been produced from land that uses no artificial fertilizers, pesticides or chemicals....a subtle, but perhaps important distinction.

Yes I know
I was just having a tweak at curly fingers.
Oxalic and formic are allowed under organic umbrella?
No organic honey in uk though
Again I know that wasn’t the question

 

[drex]

Let's not forget that any treatment has to be approved, and therefore costs the earth. Tomorrow going to make use of the mild spell to OA treat my hives, using a pure chemical with no contaminants. Vape for the hives and trickle for the nucs.. Just easier to administer that way, as the nucs will be opened as feel they may be in need of some fondant.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Isn't there thymol in thyme? I think trickling is going to be the way forward for me I used apiguard over the summer early autumn and mite drop was high when I moved my hive in December my varroa count was in single figures should I be concerned? . I was also asking about bee tea syrup I've got an old recipe to use in the spring does bee tea amongst other things kill varroa ? Cheers mark

 

[Curly green fingers]

Just wanted to ask drex when it comes to weather conditions for trickling you said mild spell do you mean its got to be mild weather to trickle . but preferable in winter.?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

. I was also asking about bee tea syrup I've got an old recipe to use in the spring does bee tea amongst other things kill varroa ? Cheers mark

How many bees do you need to make one cup of tea?

 

[Curly green fingers]

How many bees do you need to make one cup of tea?

That all depends on the size of your cup

 

[Curly green fingers]

Oxalic acid is organic
As is Formic
The former is available as a trickle, a vape or for the more adventurous in a kitchen towel mixed with glycerine.
The latter can be found as MAQS
People have used Rhubarb and Bananas
Personally I have no place in my life for bananas but rhubarb makes an excellent crumble

I'm a kind of blackberry and apple crumble man my self

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just wanted to ask drex when it comes to weather conditions for trickling you said mild spell do you mean its got to be mild weather to trickle . but preferable in winter.?

You don't want it freezing cold so that the bees are in a tight cluster as:
any bees that are disturbed and fly out to investigate will quickly chill and die before returning to the cluster.
Trickling may actually disturb the tight cluster and they may have difficulty in re-clustering.
The cluster may get chilled and the bees on the margins may die.
The trickled syrup may not be distributed throughout the barely moving cluster so will be totally ineffective.
you want weather on the mild side of cold so that the bees are only in a loose and fairly active cluster so the syrup gets spread around and any bees that move off can rejoin the cluster easily

 

[drex]

Just wanted to ask drex when it comes to weather conditions for trickling you said mild spell do you mean its got to be mild weather to trickle . but preferable in winter.?

Just so they are not in a tight cluster, so the OA gets distributed round better. Did them all today. About 8 degrees. As I suspected all nucs needed some fondant, and all came up to top to say hello. Main hives all vaped, with minimal activity from the bees. One hive had loads of dead on OMF, which I cleared. Still bees alive in there. Just hope that they could not get the dead out through the mouse guard, rather than any other reason. Nothing further I can do about it. All hefted ok, and all colonies alive.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Thank you drex and Jenkins for the replies . I get the idea I'm toying between the idea of being like grandad doing varroa treatment over the crown board after extraction or doing winter trickle. Another thing I've been thinking of is the honey flow build up is longer up here later into early autumn. I'm not near any osr ect... So perhaps it would be better to trickle over winter. Cheers mark

 

[MerryBee]

The following is an extract from the Soil Association organic standards 2016

15.2.4
If you use any veterinary treatments you must:
 make sure their use is allowed by law
 use complementary therapies provided they are effective for the condition you are treating,
and
 only use other veterinary treatments, under the responsibility of your vet, if complementary
therapies haven’t worked, or are unlikely to prevent your bee colonies being destroyed.
15.2.5
If you treat any colonies with veterinary treatments other than complementary therapies or those we
allow against Varroa mite, you must:
 put them into isolation during the treatment period
 replace all the wax with organically produced wax, and
 put the treated colony into a 12 month conversion period, starting from the date of
treatment.
15.2.6
For the treatment of Varroa destructor, you may destroy the male brood to contain a Varroa
infestation. You may use:
 formic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid
 menthol, thymol, eucalyptol or camphor, and
 veterinary treatments which are compulsory under national or community legislation.

The standards also have rules about the feeding of bees. Any syrup fed must be made from organic sugar.

Does this help ?

 

[Curly green fingers]

The following is an extract from the Soil Association organic standards 2016

15.2.4
If you use any veterinary treatments you must:
 make sure their use is allowed by law
 use complementary therapies provided they are effective for the condition you are treating,
and
 only use other veterinary treatments, under the responsibility of your vet, if complementary
therapies haven’t worked, or are unlikely to prevent your bee colonies being destroyed.
15.2.5
If you treat any colonies with veterinary treatments other than complementary therapies or those we
allow against Varroa mite, you must:
 put them into isolation during the treatment period
 replace all the wax with organically produced wax, and
 put the treated colony into a 12 month conversion period, starting from the date of
treatment.
15.2.6
For the treatment of Varroa destructor, you may destroy the male brood to contain a Varroa
infestation. You may use:
 formic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid
 menthol, thymol, eucalyptol or camphor, and
 veterinary treatments which are compulsory under national or community legislation.

The standards also have rules about the feeding of bees. Any syrup fed must be made from organic sugar.

Does this help ?

It does thank you very interesting
That's a lot to have to do to become an organic beekeeper . is there any in this country ?

 

[drex]

Thank you drex and Jenkins for the replies . I get the idea I'm toying between the idea of being like grandad doing varroa treatment over the crown board after extraction or doing winter trickle. Another thing I've been thinking of is the honey flow build up is longer up here later into early autumn. I'm not near any osr ect... So perhaps it would be better to trickle over winter. Cheers mark

I would suggest if you are going to trickle you get on with it very soon, as queen will be laying more brood from now on, and the oxalic acid only kills off the mites on the bees, not in the brood.
I use thymol after my summer harvest and OA now. The thymol is because I like to treat in Autumn to give my winter bees the best possible start. With thymol and OA resistance is unlikely but I ring the changes just to keep any resistance development to a minimum.

 

[For want of a better word]

It does thank you very interesting
That's a lot to have to do to become an organic beekeeper . is there any in this country ?

NO !

Yeghes da

 

[Erichalfbee]

NO !

Yeghes da

Do you think that's true?
I'm sure there must be beekeepers who keep their bees organically

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do you think that's true?
I'm sure there must be beekeepers who keep their bees organically

But they can't label their honey organic as there's no guarantee the bees only forage organically grown plants.