Varroa treatment

[Aggravated]

I have done a treatment using Api-g*ard on my hives a few weeks ago, using 1 tray, then repeating again 2 weeks later with another. It has been about 4 weeks since the treatment was completed, but I noticed today there is still quite a lot of varroa under the OMF on the counting board, any ideas or opinions.

Regards

 

[VEG]

You will still get a mite drop after the treatment has finished. Can I ask why you still have the board in if you have finished treating?

 

[itma]

... It has been about 4 weeks since the treatment was completed, but I noticed today there is still quite a lot of varroa under the OMF on the counting board...

... Can I ask why you still have the board in if you have finished treating?

Maybe he's taken my oft-offered advice that its well worth rechecking a few weeks after the treatment finished, so you can gauge its effectiveness!

To be properly useful "there is still quite a lot of varroa under the OMF on the counting board" needs to be expressed as a daily average, having been averaged over at least 5 days (yes, yes, 14 would be better, but lets be reasonable!)

Unless its "a lot", probably best just to plan for Oxalic around Christmas.

 

[Aggravated]

Just to keep an eye on it

 

[itma]

Just to keep an eye on it

Admirable!

6/day (or less) is supposedly tolerable for mid October.
15/day (or more) at any time is a signal for immediate treatment.
-- according to FERA, "Managing Varroa"

 

[Suzi Q]

Itma, how soon after the apiguard is finished can the varroa drop be considered 'natural drop' and not the bees chucking out the dead varroa from the apiguard? I have a high count and its a good few weeks since the finish of treatment.

 

[itma]

I don't know any precise answer.

But Aggravated says he is now 4 weeks after removing his last Apiguard.
A full brood cycle seems to me likely to be time enough to have stabilised things adequately to make a judgement.

 

[oliver90owner]

still quite a lot of varroa under the OMF on the counting board, any ideas or opinions.

Four weeks after the treatment was finished? If this is a natural mite drop over just a few days and the drop rate is high, I would say the treatment was not totally effective - either the initial loading was severe or it just did not work very well.

 

[Arfermo]

I suggest that whatever the mite drop as of now it is too late to do anything more until Xmas at the earliest and preferably first week in Jan, giving the hive(s) some fondant at the same time as oxalic just in case. It is too late now for further Apiguard and too early for oxalic as the latter needs to done when there is the very minimum of brood, if any.

 

[Finman]

.
One after drop comes when dead mites drop into empty cells. Then slowly bees find them and clean bodies off. That needs that you have much loose space in the hive.

I met "dead mites in cells" in spring when I turned a frame. It dropped about 50 mites from frame and only reson was an oxalic treatment 4 months earlier.

But I do not know you hive case.

 

[oliver90owner]

as of now it is too late to do anything more until Xmas

Really? Not a great deal of imagination/thought in that statement. I would be looking to do something, not just give up and wait for Christmas. There things you can do, including possible further treatment if necessary.

 

[Poly Hive]

Why not do an oxalic acid treatment now if your numbers are that high, and are they high? Have you cleaned off the board and taken a day count? If so can you post it please?

PH

 

[Suzi Q]

Hope the OP won't mind me posting my drop, it was about 45 in 24 hrs. I'm checking again to see if it has gone down, and if not will start thinking of what to do.

 

[drstitson]

if counts still high then a one off with apistan would be fine provided not been used on your bees for last few years.

 

[Suzi Q]

No never used it or Bayvarol.

 

[itma]

As long as you have no cut-comb or sections on the hive, you can try Apistan/Bayvarol at any time of the year.
BUT
- you must remove the strips after the stated time
- and it might not work (if the mites are resistant), wasting the cost, and giving you a bigger problem if you are blindly relying on it to work.

Whether or not you have personally used the stuff isn't the whole story -- they may have picked up the mites by robbing a colony weakened by resistant mites, and brought them home with the honey!

It stands much more chance of being a useful emergency treatment if everyone keeps it strictly for emergency use only, and when nothing else is practicable.
A drop of over 30/day, a full month after removing Apiguard sounds like an emergency to me.
FWIW, if it were me, I'd dust them at the same time. VarroaGard (or equivalent) if available, even Icing Sugar if it were the only thing at hand. Something is better than nothing.

 

[Poly Hive]

Please dinna push the icing sugar, waste of time and money and bee stress.

PH

 

[Fraise]

There is another varroa treatment (bienenwohl?) sold from Cornwall which says it can be used any time of the year. Does anyone have experience of using it or know if it works?

 

[itma]

In terms of a knockdown of phoretic mites, icing sugar will help.
Not as effective or potentially disruptive as Oxalic, but a definite positive.
If the hive is open, is lousy with varroa, and its the best dust that you have to hand, its better than nothing.
And as long as you don't rely on it absolutely, no harm at all to try.

The problem with it is that its very short term, and its not very effective - because usually only a minority of the mites are phoretic. But, as we get towards them being broodless, more are going to be phoretic.
So, an immediate benefit - but likely not a big one.
Still worth doing, if the problem is that serious, IMHO.

But dusting with varroagard would be better - as stated above.

 

[Skyhook]

In terms of a knockdown of phoretic mites, icing sugar will help.
Not as effective or potentially disruptive as Oxalic, but a definite positive.
If the hive is open, is lousy with varroa, and its the best dust that you have to hand, its better than nothing.
And as long as you don't rely on it absolutely, no harm at all to try.

Not so. It has been shown that, if it gets into open brood, it can cause the workers to discard them. Ok, that can happen with thymol, but at least you know that is doing some good at the same time.

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