Varroa Calculator - Treatment is recommended as soon as practically possible

[einsteinagogo]

Treatment is recommended as soon as practically possible.

This is the output from the Beebase National Bee Unit Varroa Calculator

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/BeeDiseases/appresults.cfm

It's interesting because, the same output and results appear, no matter what count I put in....does it ever change to TREAT NOW IMMEDIATELY!

Anyway, two of my colonies, did not get a good result previously, so I've measure over the last 14 days. These just look high compared to other colonies, which show very low counts 3/4!.

Hive 1 - 35 (over 14 days)
Hive 2 - 70 (over 14 days)

Beebase states - Treatment is recommended as soon as practically possible.

Anyway, advice, would you treat with OA now?

(all hives were treated with MAQS late August), so it's just these two hives ?

Thanks

Treat Now ?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

yes, treat now - this is the time of year for OA isn't it?

 

[einsteinagogo]

Yes, it is, Thanks!

I'll do the ' How to clean up your frame top bars and runners'.....

 

[chrismcd]

Just done mine

I had delayed because of the good weather, but decided that I had put it off long enough.

Noticed a few varroa on the boards below some hives, so the Apiguard in September did not do all of them.

Stores seem OK, but then we have not had much in the way of cold weather.

 

[Summerslease]

Don't delay. Now's the chance to zap 90+% of the little swines.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Yes, it is, Thanks!

I'll do the ' How to clean up your frame top bars and runners'.....

I know it's a bit of a faff but would you count the mites that drop following treatment and report back.
In September, the Varroa Calculator told me I had 300 mites in the hive but when I treated with Thymol, the mite drop was nearly 3000, which made me wonder about the accuracy of the NBU's Varroa Calculator!

CVB

 

[itma]

I think that the Varroa Calculator is an early effort, and no longer represents 'state of the art' varroa management. (I'm being polite ... )


In my personal opinion, a better guide can be found in the graph presented as "Figure 54: Using mite drop monitoring to decide appropriate level of controls to employ" in the current (download) edition of "Managing Varroa".

 

[Dishmop]

yes, treat now - this is the time of year for OA isn't it?

stops one getting bored.. and if theres nothing on TV, what better way to pass the time than counting mites.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don't delay. Now's the chance to zap 90+% of the little swines.

Your autumn treatment should have done that.
Then you would have lots of healthy winter bees to bring on the first of the spring brood.

 

[MuswellMetro]

i think thymol is much lower than 90% in uk weather,

i estimated that Apiguard is about 70 to 75% kill rate in typical uk autumn, much lower if you apply it late

thats low compared to apivar (amitraz) from a VET under the cascade systrem at 95% and so long as you have had a longish break in use then lower than Apistan which came out at 90%+

 

[Hivemaker.]

i think thymol is much lower than 90% in uk weather,
i estimated that Apiguard is about 70 to 75% kill rate in typical uk autumn, much lower if you apply it late

Apiguard is not very effective at all in cool conditions, and will be even less so by reading how some leave the mesh floors open, Apilif-var is much more efficient in cooler weather, or the version of this that i have used since 2002.

From some paper linked on here Apiguard efficiency in cooler weather could kill between 66.9 to 68.3 compared to Apilif 92.4 to 95.1

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Yes. And assume there is brood there.

 

[Amari]

Apiguard is not very effective at all in cool conditions, and will be even less so by reading how some leave the mesh floors open, Apilif-var is much more efficient in cooler weather, or the version of this that i have used since 2002.

From some paper linked on here Apiguard efficiency in cooler weather could kill between 66.9 to 68.3 compared to Apilif 92.4 to 95.1

As I posted on a recent thread, I treated my 9 hives with ApilifeVar during August and on 8th Dec the range of total varroa drop from each of the 9 colonies over 3 days was 0-14. OxA applied by Varrox 12 Dec yielded 1000 mites/3 days in 2 colonies.
Conclusions: 1. ApilifeV Has variable efficacy; 2. Pre-treatment varroa counts are unreliable indicators of colony mite burden.
P.S. I repeated the Varrox on the two 1000 colonies 1/1/15: Pretreatment drop 0&5/3dys; post Rx 5&5/3dys. Conclusion: the OxA has killed ?most of the blighters.
PPS: I didn't close the OMF during August treatment with ApilifeV. Should I have done?

 

[Erichalfbee]

PPS: I didn't close the OMF during August treatment with ApilifeV. Should I have done?

Yes, you should. The bees hate it but it makes all the difference.
I have 7 colonies. Only five were treated with AV but I left it to mid Sept to start Tx. The other 2 had the recommended dose of MAQS in July so they were not treated.
I varroxed all of them in December. The 5 treated in autumn had negligible drop the two not treated dropped 300 and 200 mites in the first few days.

 

[Arfermo]

Treated with Apiguard late August/Sept, then did oxalic sublimation 10 days ago. Drops on several hives were astonishingly high, so have treated all of them again and drops still higher than expected. Reckon lovely summer and mild autumn is the reason and intend to give another blast on Wednesday. Otherwise very lively and well fed. Doom mongers don't respond please. My mind is made up.

 

[beeno]

Hi Andy,
Yes, I would bearing in mind how bad varroa has been this season and the fact that the average daily mite drop is not very reliable to determine the extent of the colony's varroa problem. Let us know how it goes.

 

[user 6228]

Usual warning ... Varroacide bee toxicity tests are not conducted in insulated hives.
The toxicity of varroacides, at least to the varroa, varies with temperature.

Look out for unusual bee toxicity in insulated hives.

 

[Amari]

Yes, you should. The bees hate it but it makes all the difference.
I have 7 colonies. Only five were treated with AV but I left it to mid Sept to start Tx. The other 2 had the recommended dose of MAQS in July so they were not treated.
I varroxed all of them in December. The 5 treated in autumn had negligible drop the two not treated dropped 300 and 200 mites in the first few days.

So, if the OMF is closed for 2 weeks in August and IF there is insulation under the roof (as I believe some advise tho' not me) and IF hot sun shines on the hives, doesn't that mean the colony is in danger of overheating?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Overheating?
This was taken in Turkey on a very hot August day. All these hives are on solid floors.

 

[Amari]

Lovely pic Erica. We have travelled extensively in Turkey and enjoy their pine honey complete with bees' legs and more. We met a band of itinerant beekeepers and were shown their primitive extracting kit etc. in their bee tent. Unfortunately, tho' we both speak a little basic Turkish we couldn't communicate - maybe they were Kurds. I wanted to ask why their hives were brood box only without supers. Looking at your pic the hives closest to his left eye seem to be bb-only hives one upon another - but maybe I'm wrong. Amazing that an apparently barren countryside can support so many hives
Apols for straying