Varroa advice.

[Matt77]

Hello everyone, this is my first few months beekeeping. I aquired a colony at the end of March & have been monitoring the daily Varroa drop. The colony seems weak to my inexperianced mind, just about on 6 frames with 4 of brood. As far as I know they had Apigurd in autumn & OA in winter.

Initially the mite drop over 7 days was 6 a day a couple of weeks ago, it has now increased to 10-11 a day. Am I correct in thinking I have problem?

Assuming this is a problem what are my options? I have some Apiguard although I understand perhaps temps aren't the best currently(warmer weather is forecast) or how about MAQS? I have read about queen loss etc with MAQS.

Thanks in advance.

 

[B+.]

Initallaiy the mite drop over 7 days was 6 a day a couple of weeks ago, it has now increased to 10-11 a day. Am I correct in thinking I have problem?

Do you have solid floors or open mesh floors?
As the bee population increases, the varroa population will usually increase too. This usually isn't too much of a problem until the bee population reduces in the autumn. Open mesh floors are a big help in disposing of mites that fall off. If your colony is raised off the ground a foot or so the mites can't climb back in.
As others will tell you, its the viruses that mites transmit more than the varroa themselves that are the problems.

 

[Matt77]

Hi B+, yes I'm using a mesh floor & the hive is on a stand as you describe.

 

[enrico]

If you have the varroa boards in loads then they are like a solid floor! I take it you leave them out for most of the time?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Assuming this is a problem what are my options? I have some Apiguard although I understand perhaps temps aren't the best currently(warmer weather is forecast) or how about MAQS? I have read about queen loss etc with MAQS.

Thanks in advance.

A better thymol based treatment would be Api Life Var, better contact with the bees, place sections of treatment right above the frames with brood, dummy down slightly if needed, close off mesh floor if using one, leave entrance quite large for the first couple of days, then reduce down to a couple of inches.

 

[B+.]

The colony seems weak to my inexperianced mind, just about on 6 frames with 4 of brood.

They are little more than a nuc at the moment so I would be inclined to leave them and let the colony develop. Revisit the varroa condition later in the season (hopefully you may get some honey...thats always nice in your first season).
Some others may disagree with me though. You'll get used to asking one question and getting several different (and conflicting) answers.

 

[Matt77]

Hi Enrico, yes I do leave the board out but I have to admit I've become a little obsessed with mite counting!!

Thanks for replying Hivemaker, so you think I should probably treat?

 

[Matt77]

Ha ha! Thanks B+. I've noticed EVERY beekeeper has a different answer for everything! I had kind decided to do exactly what you have described but the increase in mites bothered me & never having done this before I thought I'd best get some advice.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Thanks for replying Hivemaker, so you think I should probably treat?

Yes i do, get rid of as many mites as possible before they are ready for supering, do a mite count after a couple of days of treatment, and use some vaseline, veg oil or lard on the floor slide, helps to prevent ants from removing any mites from the slide giving a false reading, if ants are around of course.

 

[B+.]

I've noticed EVERY beekeeper has a different answer for everything!

Its par for the course. EVERYONE has different objectives and priorities. You will have too.
My own interest is queen breeding so I will sacrifice honey production if necessary. You may well prefer the honey.

 

[Finman]

It is beginning of May. The colony may be in big trouple in August.
It is easier now to treat colony than 4 box colony in late summer.

 

[Matt77]

Thanks for the reply Finman. I've decided I'll take the advice & treat as soon as the temperature rises enough. Which if the forecast is to be believed will be this week.

B+. I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of honey if it's the right thing for the bees.

Thanks for your input everyone.

 

[itma]

... The colony seems weak to my inexperianced mind, just about on 6 frames with 4 of brood. As far as I know they had Apigurd in autumn & OA in winter.

Initially the mite drop over 7 days was 6 a day a couple of weeks ago, it has now increased to 10-11 a day. Am I correct in thinking I have problem?

Assuming this is a problem what are my options? I have some Apiguard although I understand perhaps temps aren't the best currently(warmer weather is forecast) or how about MAQS? I have read about queen loss etc with MAQS.

Thanks in advance.

The colony is small.
Not using all of 6 DN frames? I'd say it would be better in a nuc box than a full hive, and better still in a poly nuc.

Treatment temperatures.
It is actually the air temperature inside the hive that matters. While the brood has to be maintained at about 33C, the bees don't (can't) heat up the air in the rest of the box. However, the lower the heat loss from the box (ie the better insulated and the smaller the outside wall area), the warmer the hive air will be. And the more brood, the more heat the bees (must) generate.
So, in a poly nuc there would likely be enough temperature for treatment now with Thymol/Apiguard/ApilifeVar or MAQS (whereas its a bit cold for your small colony in a full-size wooden hive.
Note that it would be prudent to give a nuc-reduced dosage (and not let ApilfeVar touch the plastic of the hive walls).

Treatment threshold.
Dropping 10/day at any time of the year is a signal to treat a full colony.
For a half-colony, that means that you have about double the critical ratio of mites/bees.
So, my conclusion is that some varroa treatment is indeed called for. Without delay.

If you look through "Managing Varroa" http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21261, you'll see that there are a few orthodox treatment options suitable for this time of the season (especially since you don't have any honey supers involved).
One extra possibility would be Apivar (yes that spelling is correct) though it has to be obtained under the special EU 'cascade' authorisation system.

 

[Matt77]

I've got a poly nuc as it happens.


Is it ok to put the treatment on the same time as putting them into a nuc? Would half a tray of apiguard be appropriate for a nuc?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Yes i do, get rid of as many mites as possible before they are ready for supering, do a mite count after a couple of days of treatment, and use some vaseline, veg oil or lard on the floor slide, helps to prevent ants from removing any mites from the slide giving a false reading, if ants are around of course.

agree with the sticky stuff, i use one cal oil spray, two quick puffs the the vboard is covered in veg oil and it is an easy method of coating the baord with oil

from the NBU Varroa calculator at your drop rate but thats is based on treating at 1000 mites, i prefer to treat ealrier at 500 ( ie now in your case)

Average Daily Mite Fall = 11.0 varroa mites
Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 550
Treatment is recommended in about 1 month(s) time (counting from day of first monitoring).

 

[itma]

I've got a poly nuc as it happens.


Is it ok to put the treatment on the same time as putting them into a nuc? Would half a tray of apiguard be appropriate for a nuc?

About the right dose, I think. Or you could just peel back the lid of the pouch only half way ...
Don't forget that you need to provide a bit of top space ("Apiguard eke") for Apiguard to be used properly.

I'd give them a couple of days to settle in the new box before treating. (But I'm slow and cautious!) Probably enough time for you to sort out an eke?

 

[BeeJayBee]

just about on 6 frames with 4 of brood

Is it ok to put the treatment on the same time as putting them into a nuc? Would half a tray of apiguard be appropriate for a nuc?

Yes, all you're doing is transferring the frames into a smaller box on the same site.

The bees will only notice that they have less space to keep warm, moving to a smaller box won't bother them anywhere near as much as a high varroa load.

Keep an eye though, to make sure they don't run out of space in the coming weeks and when you do transfer them back to a full sized box make sure you use dummy boards to keep space down.

 

[Matt77]

Thanks everyone, I've just cut down a national size apiguard eke to fit the nuc.

I'll crack on get them transferred today & start the treatment. Should I give them the full 4 weeks apiguard treatment or do you think will 1 tray be enough to knock the mites back until the autumn?

Should I also continue with my weekly inspections while they are being treated?

 

[itma]

1/ Don't know what poly nuc you have, but for a Paynes, an eke needs to be 'stepped' otherwise the roof doesn't fit ...

2/ I'd expose them to the second half of the tub after a fortnight or whenever they've dealt with almost all of the first lot. The more mites you get rid of, the stronger the colony will grow.

3/ You need to check that they aren't going to swarm or starve.

 

[Matt77]

Yes I've got a paynes nuc & have modified the eke so the roof will fit over it, I've also got it ratchet strapped down.

Thank you all again for your advice, I appreciate it.

I'll keep you posted on progress.