Varroa threatment

[jimthebee]

Folks, having been working flat out for the past week in London, say no more.
!!!
I really need to get on top of my bee keeping husbandry.

I was going to try and extract some honey next week and start getting ready for the winter.

its my first year and want to take some honey for myself, so was going to feed them over winter.

I brought some Baverol treatment during the week on the advice of a beekeeping supplier, i have since been told that this may kill brood in the brood box, is this a common problem ?

if baverol is not good then i am happy to bin it and buy something that works and is used by most of you.

when should (after i have extracted the honey) i start to feed my bees, they are still coming back with pollen and seem very happy coming back and forth all day.?

a list and approx timings of my next month or so would be great, something i can stick in my phone to remind me what to do and when.

sorry the e-mail is all over the place but today is the first day ive got home before 2 in the morning !!!
regards jim

 

[richardbees]

Jim

1. You have to take ALL the honey supers off before treating for Varroa.

2. I'm using 'Apiguard' because I was told to by my local association....it seems the mites might (tricky!) build resistance to 'Bayvarol' As I recall, both treatments take 4 weeks. I'll start treating at the beginning of September.

3. Winter feeding with syrup should be completed by October 1st. I use a "Miller" feeder and they'll take down 20lbs of syrup in a week

4. Feeding can be done at the same time as Varroa treatment.

hope this helps!

Richard

 

[jimthebee]

richard,
this is great thank you very much, just what a very very busy newbee needs

 

[AndreaW]

Thanks that's a great help to me too

 

[Oandy]

Hi i believe apigaurd should take 6 weeks. First tray 2weeks then second tray 4 weeks so as to treat 2 full brood rearings.

 

[Finman]

Hi i believe apigaurd should take 6 weeks. First tray 2weeks then second tray 4 weeks so as to treat 2 full brood rearings.

brood cycle is 3 weeks and that time is enough.
I have not seen 6 werks treatments.

Richardbees explained fine what to do.

 

[Oandy]

brood cycle is 3 weeks and that time is enough.
I have not seen 6 werks treatments.

Richardbees explained fine what to do.

Morning Finman I read the David Cushman site which states what i have said. But as the saying goes ask 2 beeks a question you will get 3 replies. Andy

 

[Oandy]

http://www.vita-europe.com/documents/VitaApiguardFAQ201008.pdf

Hi just read the Apiduard Sheet It states First tray 2 weeks and second tray 2 to 4 weeks. so it looks like we are both right. Andy

 

[oliver90owner]

and second tray 2 to 4 weeks. so it looks like we are both right. Andy

So, reading it carefully, it is really saying 4 weeks is more than adequate, but it may take 6 weeks to completely remove the paste?

RAB

 

[Swarm]

With regards to moving the paste, I put what remained after treatment, on the top bars - not a lot, just the small amount that was left in the tray. It was still there on the first Spring inspection.
I wouldn't necessarily state October 1st as a guideline to completing Winter preparation either, it will depend on local circumstances. It's been mid October at least for the past few seasons before final shut down and one hive in particular was still booming even then.

 

[Finman]

Morning Finman I read the David Cushman site which states what i have said. But as the saying goes ask 2 beeks a question you will get 3 replies. Andy

jee jee. You better select a right answer.

 

[Oandy]

and second tray 2 to 4 weeks. so it looks like we are both right. Andy

So, reading it carefully, it is really saying 4 weeks is more than adequate, but it may take 6 weeks to completely remove the paste?

RAB

Hi Rab Reading apigaurds Q & A Page carefully. Para 2 Last sentance it states ideal treatment period is 6 week's. Your reading of this is the maybe the same as mine? It May need some understanding of the local conditiontions and the varroa count to start with, but i see no harm to the hive if left in place for 6 weeks. As the more mite killed in a earlier application should give a less percentage later to control. After all a higher percentage earlier must give give a less of a percentage to control later .Andy

 

[Finman]

.
Our summer is not long enough to play 6 weeks game.

When the yield is taken away at the end of August, hives must be in winter condition in the middle of September.

Mites must be killed at the end of August that they do not hurt winter bees.

So 2 weeks is the effective period which kill most mites. brood are open one week and capped 2 weeks.
The rest of mites will be killed with trickling at the start of December.


Here guys put syrupfeeding on. At same time hive get thymolpad and 2-box hive 2 pads.
Its works so that mite does not cause problems, but we have shorter brood period.
r

 

[oliver90owner]

Sorry, not really understanding your percentages. Surely the mites will start off at 100% whenever a treatment is originated?

I use thymol, but not that product, and the mite kill does not normally need three capped brood cycles. Phoretic mites are dispensed with fairly quickly in my experience. Perhaps that product is less effective than my method of use.

Treating once is my regime. An effective treatment should not need to be repeated. Low efficacy smacks of a poor product or poor application.

 

[Birnambeekeeper]

I live in northern Scotland and my bees are in amongst heather all year round so still working away. Does anyone have an opinion on treating varroa under these circumstances? My plan is api life var starting end of august for 4 weeks then feed thymolated syrup thereafter (thanks for the recipie hivemaker) my concern is the cold and leaving it too late

 

[milkermel]

I got on well with apilifevar last year, had very few problems I am going to try HMs recipe this year though once I have done a mite drop count. anything that isnt too bad with have that recipe but if I come across anything too major then will use Apilife again

 

[petersbees]

Varroa Count

What varroa count are we looking at to treat? I had my floor, covered with petroleum jelly in for 6 days and only got 5 mites.

Decided to give them a dusting of icing sugar today, left them for an hour after a good smoking to get them moving around. The mite count was 32.

My question is how much difference would you expect between the 2 counts?

Hope this makes sense!

 

[TOBY-3652]

i did mine with apiguard yesterday morning first hive 60 yesterday and 80 today no 2 24@23 no3 14@50 no4 4@4 no5 0@2 no6 4@0 no7 10@50 no8 15@24 no9 1@0 no11 6@7 hives no 4-6-10@11 were all swarms no 1-2 38@9 were all from my own stock. its my first year and was quite taken aback at how many have dropped but reading on this forum glad im treating

 

[oliver90owner]

The mite count was 32.

If you got them all your varroa loading would be about a couple hundred mites. Not sure how good this sugar dusting is (on the phoretic mites), but I doubt very much it is going to be very good, so you may be able to easily double the above number.

RAB

 

[petersbees]

Thanks for that RAB. Of course the only bees that were dusted were those in the BB and did not include the flying bees or those in the supers.