Varroa mite count

[sahtlinurk]

i put the test tray in on Wednesday, now ( on Sunday ) took it out and counted 22 mites on the tray. Action required or can wait till autumn treatment?

Lauri

 

[Heather]

personally I would act- now. Have you any supers on ?

 

[sahtlinurk]

well the hive were the problem exists has two brood boxes, no super yet but the big plan was to add the super within this week. I got some apiguard, should i stick that in the hive?
Lauri

 

[admin]

Apiguard will set you back a few weeks,why not sugar dust ?

 

[sahtlinurk]

sugar dust.. here was a big war over this sugar dust method. i will give it a go, it can't get worse. The dust should make them to clean themselves a bit more? I do not have a mesh floor but got this test tray. so the test tray goes in as well, other wise mites will grab another bee from the floor.. ?

Lauri

 

[admin]

With a solid floor the mites can climb back up the internal woodwork.
With an OMF they will fall through the bottom of the hive.

I would try a sugar dust and see how it goes,you can have supers on when dusting but NOT when using Apiguard,also with Apiguard a single treatment is not enough,you would need a second pack for effective treatment in a week or so ? I am not sure how long it is because I make my own Thymol treatments.

 

[Polyanwood]

From memory, Apiguard you put on for two weeks and then in another 2 weeks you put another pack on. (You only remove the first pack if it is all gone) It only works with solid floors, so you are in luck there! It slows down the queen laying and if it is very hot, they get a lot of fumes and hang out the front.

I wonder if people think that if it is super hot over the next 4 weeks it might cause your bees to leave you???

 

[Finman]

.
Think carefully what you are doing. Apiguard is thymol and are you going to harvest thymol honey?

Your hive is growing and it need the third box. It will then collect honey. Honey will be spoiled for treatment.

You make false swarm and clean the hive, if you have much mites. But it spoils honey foraging for 2 weeks.

But basic idea is that meaning is not to disturb colonies during summer. The disturb makes more harm than mites.

One trick is to spray every combs size with 3% oxalic acid water.

 

[Finman]

With a solid floor the mites can climb back up the internal woodwork.
With an OMF they will fall through the bottom of the hive..

80% of mites are under brood cappings.

 

[Finman]

.GUIDELINES
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/factsheets/222_vardetect.htm

Here is one sample method

 

[rourkie]

With a solid floor the mites can climb back up the internal woodwork.
With an OMF they will fall through the bottom of the hive.

I would try a sugar dust and see how it goes,you can have supers on when dusting but NOT when using Apiguard,also with Apiguard a single treatment is not enough,you would need a second pack for effective treatment in a week or so ? I am not sure how long it is because I make my own Thymol treatments.

Admin would you mind expanding on your thymol treatments might save me some money

 

[admin]

Admin would you mind expanding on your thymol treatments might save me some money

Sure,I will dig out the recipe and sticky it, if it's not already on the forum.:

 

[sahtlinurk]

dusted my two hives, also added an apiguard to my smaller colony ( only BB) which is still growing brood area and does not have any supers on. With one brood box bees really didn't like it, you can smell that stuff even outside. Probably will give them a super to use as a brood area just to get the colony bigger and add the honey super after treatment.
Going to check the test tray on Thursday.

Cheers,
Lauri

 

[VEG]

You may find that the queen may stop laying for a while with the apiguard in there.

 

[sahtlinurk]

it is no good. But how long this period of " no eggs " will last? Don't want to lose a colony because of treatment.. i red about apiguard and it was said that early spring you can treat small colonies with only one dose of apiguard. How true is it`? should i stop the treatment half way and give it a proper go after supers are taken off (or in Autumn)?

Chrs,
Lauri

 

[Polyanwood]

Hi Lauri,

suggest you put your location on your profile, then if you are lucky a bee buddy will send you a PM and offer to have a look at the bees.

Trouble is that we all advise something slightly different and none of us have seen the bees.

I am treating my swarm I collected that was overrun with varroa with Hiveclean every week and Apiguard at the moment. I didn't have any oxalic acid, or I would have made up a spray and sprayed them with that. Too late to do that now there is open brood. My swarm is small. Not expecting any honey from them this year, but I would like them to survive. I also don't want them dying and transmitting varroa to all my other colonies. I am not worried about thymol tasting honey as there is no chance of honey from them this year.

 

[gavin]

Maybe I'm a bit late to be saying this, but to me around 5 mites falling per day is no reason to get worried yet. That sounds like the level that could build to quite high levels by autumn in a prosperous colony, but in a less prosperous one may still be lowish at the end of the year. Around 10 times that number is when treatment would be advised, so there doesn't seem to be much point disruption honey production just yet.

What I would have done in a honey producing colony is:

- keep monitoring (you can have spells of atypical levels of mite fall, need to see it over a longer period)

- considered drone trapping to hold the numbers in check if they climb much higher

Drone trapping works best if the colony doesn't have much drone comb already, then you insert a shallow frame each side of the brood nest. Cut away the drone comb below the frame once it is sealed and you have most of the mites. If there is as much drone brood elsewhere as you cut away, you got half the mites and better do it again. If that was most of the drone brood in the colony, you got most of the mites.

best wishes

Gavin

 

[peteinwilts]

Sure,I will dig out the recipe and sticky it, if it's not already on the forum.:

Hi Admin

Did you make this a sticky? (can't find it!)

also where do you get thymol from? Is it from a beek suppliers or from a chemist?

Cheers
Pete

 

[MJBee]

For the month of June a daily mite drop of 10 is an indication of imminent collapse - so a count of 5 is a case of treat with Apiguard/Thymol after the honey flow and when the supers have been removed. The July daily mite drop figure goes up to 16

Peteinwilts - Thornes sell it in 100g and 500g tubs. If Admin cannot find the recipe I've got it, if you pm me with your email address I can send it to you.
Mike