Robbing bees going into hives with apivar

[beebob]

So I think I've made a rookie error. I have 2 hives and 2 nucs. 1 hive is very strong and has a super on filling with honey. The other hive isn't as strong and no super. In my wisdom I decided 2 weeks ago to put in apivar strips into the weaker hive and 2 nucs, but leave the strong hive alone giving 2 more weeks of forage before extracting the honey and adding apivar strips to that one.

Well fast forward to today, I'd planned to extract tomorrow. Walking around the hives I noticed unusually busy activity around the weaker hive and one of the nucs. Then it struck me. Is my strong hive robbing them? And even worse are they then picking up the apivar chemical back and spoiling the honey?

What you guys think? Should it be ok with extracting the honey stores now or is it spoiled?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I would be more concerned about the two hives being robbed than whether the honey in the strong hive was getting tainted.

 

[ericbeaumont]

filling with honey

Ivy? Will set like concrete within 14 days, so you could forgo extraction and nadir it.

picking up the apivar chemical ... and spoiling the honey

Amitraz - the active ingredient - is not long-lived: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00218839.2021.1918943

Once robbing starts it is v difficult to stop. As there's a flow on, you could swap places of the robbed and robber colonies. Do not try this in the absence of a flow or the death of hundreds will follow and you will weep.

Alternatively, take all the weak away 3 miles until the end of the season.

Best to treat an apiary as a whole to avoid transference of varroa between treated and untreated, by robbing or drifting.