Varroa control in a small colony

[thedozzer]

Would like to get peoples opinions on what would be a good varroa control in a smallish colony.

We got the nuc about 5 weeks ago and they have gone from 3 frames of brood and one of stores. too 5 frames of brood and larvae with 2 more new frames drawn or being drawn with one heavy frame of stores. they are on 12x14 and we have been feeding them 1:1 syrup to help them.
Don't know how many bees we have but were told roughly 8-10,000.

have done a little bit of reading and it looks like most of the treatments can be a bit harsh even on well established colonies, just wondered what would be a good treatment, we had the varroa board in for 4 days and found 2 but the ants keep stealing them.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Apivar or Apitraz and grease the slide to stop the critters removing the mites.

 

[thedozzer]

we have greased the legs on the hive stand after reading some posts on here and other sites, but the little darlings are still finding a way!!

 

[Millet]

Vape the nuc with 1gram of oxalic acid... i will be doing the ones i have next week.. every five days three times...and maybe more if the mite drop is still persistant..

 

[Curly green fingers]

Apivar or Apitraz and grease the slide to stop the critters removing the mites.

I'm using apivar I've cut one strip into 4 and tacked it to the top bars in the corners. Repeat every 7 days for 3/4 weeks . As it's a small collony I would do it for three weeks .
I'm day one and everything seems normal . Although my left ankle is a balloon from taking the honey supers away . I only had shorts on underneath my suit what a mistaker to maker.

 

[thedozzer]

Apivar or Apitraz and grease the slide to stop the critters removing the mites.

This was on our list of possibles and I think that the association that my SO goes to on a Wednesday evening has bought some Apivar for members to buy. But my only concern it that is uses Amitraz?

Vape the nuc with 1gram of oxalic acid... i will be doing the ones i have next week.. every five days three times...and maybe more if the mite drop is still persistant..

this was one of the ways we were thinking but the outlay for the vaporiser is a bit steep. What do you use?

what do people think of the Thymol based stuff? so much to learn!!!

 

[Millet]

This was on our list of possibles and I think that the association that my SO goes to on a Wednesday evening has bought some Apivar for members to buy. But my only concern it that is uses Amitraz?





this was one of the ways we were thinking but the outlay for the vaporiser is a bit steep. What do you use?

what do people think of the Thymol based stuff? so much to learn!!!

I use a 12v heated pan type Vaporizer with the similar design to the Varrox.. you need a 12v supply to feed it... i have used thymol treatment once and never again... i used Apilife Var and the amount of dead brood on the inspection tray was sad to see.. i have used the Oxalic Acid vaporizer for the past three seasons and all i see is dead varroa.. it does not effect the bees in a negative way at all..they just get on with business as usual after each treatment.

 

[thedozzer]

i used Apilife Var and the amount of dead brood on the inspection tray was sad to see..

This was the sort of the horror stories i had read about.

we have poly hive so i gather stuffing a little hot metal pan in could be quite tricky. the one i was looking at was the Vapmite.

is it right the Amitraz based stuff has only become available quite recently, but Amitraz was used in cattle ticks until they became resistant. and Boots the Chemist invented it!!

 

[Millet]

This was the sort of the horror stories i had read about.

we have poly hive so i gather stuffing a little hot metal pan in could be quite tricky. the one i was looking at was the Vapmite.

is it right the Amitraz based stuff has only become available quite recently, but Amitraz was used in cattle ticks until they became resistant. and Boots the Chemist invented it!!

Unsure about the The Amitaz as i have ceased to research thymol products ... i also have poly hives and nucs.. the nucs stand on modified floors to take the vaporizer and the poly hives are on wooden floors i make all of which are open mesh floors

 

[Beefriendly]

is it right the Amitraz based stuff has only become available quite recently,

No, it's been available for several years. Previously you had to get it via a vet, before it recently became available for general sale.

You seem to be putting up your own obstacles towards using effective varroa treatments. They won't care which you use. But if you don't effectively treat then many of your hives will likely die.
Temperatures are now dropping ( at least where we live) and thymol based treatments become pretty ineffective.

 

[Hivemaker.]

is it right the Amitraz based stuff has only become available quite recently

Amitraz based treatments have been used for a great many years, used to have to have a veterinary prescription to buy it through the cascade system, but now it can be bought easily as it has been approved by the VMD.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I'm using apivar I've cut one strip into 4 and tacked it to the top bars in the corners.

Sounds more like your using Apilife-var, not Apivar.

 

[Madge]

Apivar or Apitraz and grease the slide to stop the critters removing the mites.

Hivemaker, what do you mean with ‘grease the slide’? What slide? The Varroa tray?

 

[Beefriendly]

Hivemaker, what do you mean with ‘grease the slide’? What slide? The Varroa tray?

He means the varroa drop board/tray. Agile little critters live varroa.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Yes Hive maker I am . Only on these three the rest were treated in the spring and im watching for natural drops plus there by the river and I have honey supers on . The temp up here was 22 c today hopefully I've got enough good weather to finish the cycle.

 

[Popparand]

Apivar or Apitraz and grease the slide to stop the critters removing the mites.

What do you grease the slide with, Hivemaker?

 

[Hivemaker.]

What do you grease the slide with, Hivemaker?

Vaseline or lard works well, spray on cooking oil.

 

[thedozzer]

No, it's been available for several years. Previously you had to get it via a vet, before it recently became available for general sale.

You seem to be putting up your own obstacles towards using effective varroa treatments. They won't care which you use. But if you don't effectively treat then many of your hives will likely die.
Temperatures are now dropping ( at least where we live) and thymol based treatments become pretty ineffective.

Think i am just trying to find the pros & cons of each type of treatment, think it will be one of the Amitraz based treatments this year and then look at getting a vaporiser next year as we have totally poly hives that may not work well with hot metal.

 

[Popparand]

Vaseline or lard works well, spray on cooking oil.

Cool. Thanks HM.