Varroa help please!

[steve56616]

After my post the other day, I did a varroa check my hive is alive with them. I have got MAQs ready to use. My questions are:

Can I leave the bottom mesh open now or is it still to cold
2nd question
I found a couple of wax moth larvae on the base board. Will MAQs kill these too?

 

[JohnF]

Put the varroa board in then you can count the drop, temp should not be a problem.
Don't think it kills wax moth but others will soon correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[beeno]

Steve,
Just follow the instructions on the packet. You have got no time to lose!

 

[steve56616]

After reading about MAQs has scared me now. Mostly old post on here!!
I don't want to kill brood and my queen!!!
Also I took the bottom board out which was teaming with mites so was wondering if better to leave out so mites just fall to the floor but now I'm worrying about brood getting cold. I have spent the last few weeks insulating them and keeping them warm which has obviously been working as the colony has grown so well... probably the mites as also though :-/
I never thought bees would cause me so much worry.

 

[Cazza]

After reading about MAQs has scared me now. Mostly old post on here!!
I don't want to kill brood and my queen!!!
Also I took the bottom board out which was teaming with mites so was wondering if better to leave out so mites just fall to the floor but now I'm worrying about brood getting cold. I have spent the last few weeks insulating them and keeping them warm which has obviously been working as the colony has grown so well... probably the mites as also though :-/
I never thought bees would cause me so much worry.

If your board is "teeming" with mites, you don't have much choice but to do SOMETHING. No time to procrastinate.
Cazza

 

[steve56616]

If your board is "teeming" with mites, you don't have much choice but to do SOMETHING. No time to procrastinate.
Cazza

Well I say 'teaming' I may be exaggerating as never seen a varroa mite before. I thought they were bigger and red. It was the first time I had removed the board since putting them in the hive about 6 weeks ago. Obviously there was lots of mess but the closer I looked the more mites I could see moving around. They were round very tiny and a light brown/beige colour

 

[Finman]

It is formic acid?

If day temps rise 25C, queen is in danger with formic acid.

You pick such forecast that it is about 20C.


I have just now a big colony which has awfully much mites.
I saw hundreds of mites in drone brood.

Blooming gap started just.

I make an artificial swarm so that they have not capped brood there.
Then I give formic acid flash treatment.
I move to the swarm all non brood frames with bees.
Then larva and egg frames which have no capped brood.

The brood part I will treat every week with flash treatment.

.
.

 

[oliver90owner]

You do not seem to be heeding advice or reading much.
I very much doubt you know a varroa mite when you see one.

All the previous advice is irrelevant, or may be.

The inspection board under the varroa floor is just that - or available while treating for varroa, if appropriate. Remove it.

Then do a varroa-drop test after cleaning it. I doubt that you know whether your bees are 'teeming' with varroa, or not. Look up about 'managing varroa' on the Defra website.

 

[Luminos]

If you can get a photo of what's on the varroa tray and post it here, forum members will be able to tell you whether they are varroa mites, or not
If they are indeed "teeming" with varroa, then time is of the essence.

 

[oliver90owner]

Short posts as my 'puter keeps turning off.

Bees will go through the winter with a mesh floor with no board in place, no bother. Heat, in a fluid, rises.

All you are doing is collecting a teeming morass of detritus where the bees cannot access it to clear away all the filthy junk collected there and attracting all and sundry rubbish devourers and other pests.

 

[psafloyd]

Well I say 'teaming' I may be exaggerating as never seen a varroa mite before. I thought they were bigger and red. It was the first time I had removed the board since putting them in the hive about 6 weeks ago. Obviously there was lots of mess but the closer I looked the more mites I could see moving around. They were round very tiny and a light brown/beige colour

Get a book and read it. Then read it again.

Then, go back and read it again. Keep doing this.

There are no quick fixes – you just need to learn stuff. That starts with doing your homework and then making a decision.

If you have a mentor, ask them for advice. Otherwise, treat or wait and do a count over a few days and then treat if necessary.

If as you suggest the mites are in huge numbers (check the BeeBase calculator) then your only real option is to treat.

I haven't used MAQs, but use Apiguard in September and oxalic in the winter. May also use some thymol syrup this year as well.

I haven't done any checks yet this year, but will in the next few week, probably. But RAB is right in that over six weeks, a lot of crap collects on a board – bits of bee, wax, pollen, propolis, as well as varroa. You need to get a snapshot and make a decision. If MAQs can indeed be used without disrupting brood, you have nothing to lose.

 

[waverider]

If concerned about your queen, could you not place your queen in a mating hive with some attendants whilst the colony in the hive to be treated are only exposed to the treatment? How long are they treated for?

 

[Mellifera397]

Don't worry about temperatures unless it specifies on the packet. as you probably know MAQS kills varroa that are on adults on brood so one dose should knock the varroa population down. Even if you do not have a dangerous level of varroa killing them can only be a good thing so just follow the instructions on the packet and treat ASAP.

If you want to calulate if your colony is in danger put a varroa board in today and check it in three days then enter your results into the varroa calculator at

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/varroaCalculator.cfm


If in doubt, treat.


Good Luck

M

 

[beekeeping4you]

...the closer I looked the more mites I could see moving around. They were round very tiny and a light brown/beige colour

Hi Steve,
Sounds like some type of harmless pollen mites or the like busily feeding on the debris.

(The Varroa mites found on my trays never moved, in some cases when I touched one with the corner of the hive tool I found they were still alive because they started to move, but never for more than two or three millimetres - one of the reasons why I do not believe that Varroa mites, once dropped through the mesh, can climb up on a bee again.)

Anyway, it would be wise to do a test treatment one of the next days and check the tray again.

Regards
Reiner

 

[steve56616]

You do not seem to be heeding advice or reading much.
I very much doubt you know a varroa mite when you see one.

All the previous advice is irrelevant, or may be.

The inspection board under the varroa floor is just that - or available while treating for varroa, if appropriate. Remove it.

Then do a varroa-drop test after cleaning it. I doubt that you know whether your bees are 'teeming' with varroa, or not. Look up about 'managing varroa' on the Defra website.

You are obviously a very unpleasant man Oliver90owner. I often see your comments and post to new beekeepers. We might not all be as lucky as you with your broad range of knowledge and very large head!!!
I am doing my best and enjoying beekeeping so please stop trying to ruin things and put people off. There are enough people on here that give kind advice advise to people like me who DO READ but need a second or third or forth opinion!!!

 

[Finman]

.
Forecast to next 5 days is 16-20. It is very safe temperature to use formic acid. 16C is too low on sunday.

Advices are quite clear.

http://bbe-tech.com/bees/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/MAQS-application-brochure-Rev-08-11.pdf

main active ingredient is Formic acid contained within a
biodegradable gel type strip,2 of these strips are placed on top of the brood
frames of the lower brood chamber approx 2 inches apart & 4 inches within the
ends of the brood chamber,& the remainder of the brood boxes & supers
replaced on top,the paper wrapping around the strip acts as a kind of wick to
slowly release the formic vapours around the brood area where the largest
concentration of varroa mites are.
Some pointers on it’s use.
The active ingredient almost entirely dissipates over 3 days but the strips must
be left on for 7 days in accordance with the manufacturers instructions,there
should be no colony disturbance during the treatment period.
Hive requirements............. during treatment the entrance must
.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Hi Steve.


I was about to compliment you on being brave enough to post this.
So well done for that - and for sticking up for yourself.

It's horrible being uncertain and still very much learning.


We do have some really wise people here.

Unfortunately some lack knowledge of common courtesy and humanity.

Ignore their bile.


Dusty (Another struggler!)

 

[steve56616]

I have just got in and will go through your kind advice given by most of you in a bit.
It doesn't help with certain peoples comments and isn't nice when they try and make one feel foolish.
It is like everything, everyone has a different opinion and sometimes for a new bee keeper it can become a little confusing

 

[steve56616]

Hi Steve,
Sounds like some type of harmless pollen mites or the like busily feeding on the debris.

(The Varroa mites found on my trays never moved, in some cases when I touched one with the corner of the hive tool I found they were still alive because they started to move, but never for more than two or three millimetres - one of the reasons why I do not believe that Varroa mites, once dropped through the mesh, can climb up on a bee again.)

Anyway, it would be wise to do a test treatment one of the next days and check the tray again.

Regards
Reiner

Thank you Reiner
Maybe your right and they weren't Varroa after all. These were really tiny and fast crawling. They were mites, I just assumed they might be baby varroa's. Sorry for my lack of knowledge but when you haven't seen one before in real life it is difficult. I also am probably over worrying.

 

[Moggett]

If you've not seen it already have a look at this..... http://scientificbeekeeping.com/an-early-summer-test-of-mite-away-quick-strips/

It may help understand any reaction the bees display when using the product. If you have heavy infestation of varroa you must act as soon as possible. Have you tried uncapping some drone to see if there are any mites on them?