Sudden huge mite drop!?

[ShinySideUp]

I treated my hives with Apiguard with the last treatment going in on the 19th August which I removed a week later as it was all gone. I found quite a few mites on the tray but then nothing much until I looked today and found hundreds of the little buggers in there.

I'm concerned as I would have thought that the main mite drop would have occurred during treatment not a week after I took out the last Apiguard tray. What might be happening here? Does the effect of Apiguard work only while there is some left or can it continue to do it's job long after the treatment has been removed?

If it only works during treatment then I can only assume I have the mother of all Varroa infestations. I might add that the two main hives have the large mite drop but the nuc has none at all.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don't use thymol anymore but when I did and had a significant mite drop at the end of treatment I put in another tray

 

[For want of a better word]

We did have a couple of very warm days here... wonder if sudden increase in temperature had anything to do with it??

Nos da

 

[Millet]

Mites killed will not drop instantly with thymol treatments the mites may be killed in sealed cells.so you will not see a drop of mites till them cells emerge, then we have the dead mites from the first treatment laying dead in the hive, in open cells and every nook and cranny, when the bees start cleaning there furniture for winter you might see even more drop.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Mites killed will not drop instantly with thymol treatments the mites may be killed in sealed cells.so you will not see a drop of mites till them cells emerge, then we have the dead mites from the first treatment laying dead in the hive, in open cells and every nook and cranny, when the bees start cleaning there furniture for winter you might see even more drop.

I'm not sure that Thymol will kill mites in sealed cells but what could have happened is some bad weather in the past created a semi brood break and the dying mites may have ended up in empty cells. The weather has changed at some point for the better and those brood cells get cleaned out ready for egg laying and create a sudden increase in mites on the monitoring board. This is just speculation - the fact is we don't know.

I've treated one of my hives with vapourised a Oxalic Acid-based treatments. The highest daily drop was 28 on the first day of the first treatment and appeared to be steadily decreasing but today, the first day after the third treatment, there was a drop of 41, whereas the first day after the second treatment, only 12. Why this has happened, I don't know - probably something to do with the random nature of egg laying and cell sealing based on forage and weather - who knows?

Funny old game, this beekeeping lark.

CVB

 

[ShinySideUp]

Funny old game, this beekeeping lark.

CVB

Well, I left the books out for the bees but the buggers don't seem to have read them.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I don't use thymol anymore but when I did and had a significant mite drop at the end of treatment I put in another tray

Yes, I think in a couple of days, when I next feed, I might just do that.

 

[Beefriendly]

Well, I left the books out for the bees but the buggers don't seem to have read them.

Perhaps those who wrote the misleading information about bees in books should have studied them more before committing their lack of knowledge into print?

 

[For want of a better word]

Originally Posted by charlievictorbravo View Post

Funny old game, this beekeeping lark.

CVB

Not by half as funny as some of the self appointed "Master Beekeepers" who with limited knowledge and few if any beekeeping skills are now teaching the subject in various and sundry evening classes throughout the county..... using out of date/ cut and paste publications as their teaching material!!

Yeghes da

 

[Angularity]

Could it be that your bees are clearing out any left-over drone larvae from the comb, and the mites have been kicked out during that process? It's that time of year.

 

[Millet]

I'm not sure that Thymol will kill mites in sealed cells but what could have happened is some bad weather in the past created a semi brood break and the dying mites may have ended up in empty cells. The weather has changed at some point for the better and those brood cells get cleaned out ready for egg laying and create a sudden increase in mites on the monitoring board. This is just speculation - the fact is we don't know.

I've treated one of my hives with vapourised a Oxalic Acid-based treatments. The highest daily drop was 28 on the first day of the first treatment and appeared to be steadily decreasing but today, the first day after the third treatment, there was a drop of 41, whereas the first day after the second treatment, only 12. Why this has happened, I don't know - probably something to do with the random nature of egg laying and cell sealing based on forage and weather - who knows?

Funny old game, this beekeeping lark.

CVB

I'm not sure either CVB if the mites are killed in the sealed cells with thymol treatment i do know that brood is killed though from the amount of dead chewed up larvae i found on my inspection tray when i used Apilife Var a couple of years back, i have never touched it again since i discovered the gassing method.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Had another look at my varroa floors today and while the nuc continues to be practically zero and one of the hives [that was dropping a lot, see my OP] has now acheived a low drop, another is still dropping mites in large quantities. I'll re-treat both hives this weekend.

 

[Erichalfbee]

One of mine is getting a fifth!

 

[ShinySideUp]

Had another look at my varroa floors today and while the nuc continues to be practically zero and one of the hives [that was dropping a lot, see my OP] has now acheived a low drop, another is still dropping mites in large quantities. I'll re-treat both hives this weekend.

I am mortified!!!

I meant of course, achieved.

 

[Magwat]

I'm not sure either CVB if the mites are killed in the sealed cells with thymol

Thymol does not penetrate brood cappings hence the need for 2 x 2 week treatments to cover a brood cycle.

 

[Millet]

Thymol does not penetrate brood cappings hence the need for 2 x 2 week treatments to cover a brood cycle.

I am in no way disputing the fact or your knowledge,but is there any written proof out there that has been scientifically tested to prove that thymol does not kill varroa in sealed cells, if there is i have not come across it yet.

 

[Beefriendly]

One of mine is getting a fifth!

One of mine is on it's 8th...now dropping less than 200/ 48hrs post vape....another few vapes should sort them.
I think they were dead really but hadn't realised it....must have dropped over 5000 mites in the last 40-45 days. Queen still laying...

 

[Millet]

Thank the pretendy Lord these 3 hives i have here are dropping virtually nothing mite wise, the adult must have died from old age with the laying worker colony and also with the spell of brood break through lack of stores with robbing from the other colonies, i will not hold my breath though.

 

[Erichalfbee]

One of mine is on it's 8th...now dropping less than 200/ 48hrs post vape....another few vapes should sort them.
I think they were dead really but hadn't realised it....must have dropped over 5000 mites in the last 40-45 days. Queen still laying...

Yep
I think mine will be similar
Watch this space

 

[charlievictorbravo]

One of mine is on it's 8th...now dropping less than 200/ 48hrs post vape....another few vapes should sort them.
I think they were dead really but hadn't realised it....must have dropped over 5000 mites in the last 40-45 days. Queen still laying...

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a colony that does not play by the rules.

I've been struggling to understand why, after 5 vapes, they're still dropping 30 a day.

Has anybody, including Erichalfbee and Beefriendly, come up with a plausible explanation for continued high drops when all the mites should in theory be dead.

Could be be something to do with the squat shape of hives such that the whirling cloud of Oxalic Acid vapour does not get right into the corners so a few varroa mites get away to reproduce in future cycles of bee brood? I don't know but there clearly is an explanation out there somewhere.

CVB