Varroa!

[muelindustries]

Hi everyone!

I checked my hives today for the first time this year. It got quite warm in the sun so I thought I'd take advantage. The bees have been busy for about a week now, they're bringing in loads of pollen and are very active.
Now I'm still quite new to this, but definitely not a beginner.

The hive in question had plenty of brood in good patterns, honey and the bees seemed healthy. However I decided to remove some of the dirt and muck off the floor, thats when I noticed quite a large amount of dead varroa. So I double checked the brood and bees for any signs of live varroa but nothing!

oh also, some of the frames in the super had gone a little mouldy. Its quite a large hive, 2 brood boxes and one super, although they've now eaten all the honey from both, and only really using 1st brood box.

What do you think I should do? Should I treat them and what with, I don't want to ruin my honey crop.

Thank you in advance,
Samuel.

 

[Moggs]

Well, on the understanding that quite a lot of dead varroa is good varroa, I'd be inclined to conduct a mite drop count to see how many live ones are in there. You don't treat dead varroa.

Oops - hi there - and welcome!

 

[nottingham]

I order my varroa mite treatment from paynes beefarm. You get pollen points every time you order and you can use your polen points to get money off future orders

I beekeep the organic way and find it puts a lot less stress on my bees. There are a few organic varroa treatments, that don't effect honey.

Bee Vital Hive Cleaner
Api Life Var
Thymol Crystals (used with a mite trap)

some beekeeper use icing sugar to shake over there bees. Yet I haven't seen that this works. The idea is that all the bees groom each other, thus knocking mites off each other.

Duncan

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Did you do Oxalic Acid around January? If so, you should expect a fair amount of dead varroa.

 

[enrico]

anything containing thymol is good for controlling both Varoa and any mould and fungus. It is a naturally occurring chemical found mainly in bee balm plants although it gets its name from the thyme plant where it is also produced. Many chemicals are from plants so I would hesitate to call it organic but..... I guess it may be classed as an organic treatment!

 

[Chris Luck]

Natural? Organic?

Frankly it doesn't mean a thing especially in concentrated forms that would never occur without human intervention. Even though I don't completely agree with it, it's one of the reasons that the EU is regulating herbalism.

http://www.bps.ac.uk/details/pharmacologyInTheNews/1019111/Herbal-medicine-regulated-despite-EU-ban-on-unlicenced-treatments.html

Chris, (wooden spoon handy).

 

[TOBY-3652]

Icing sugar does work so im told. Thats all my friend uses he does it 3 times in 1 week he uses nothing else at all. Ese maybe lucky i dont know

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Icing sugar does work so im told. Thats all my friend uses he does it 3 times in 1 week he uses nothing else at all. Ese maybe lucky i dont know

Just out of interest Toby, is that 3 times in one week and then nothing for the rest of the season?

 

[Poly Hive]

Welcome to the forum Samuel.

Couple of questions if I may. Where are you ?? A location in your avatar box is very handy to take out the guessing aspect, and what treatment did you use for Varroa if any over the winter.

As suggested you want to find out what mite drop you have per day which is about the best guide to infestation levels.

Mould in the super may be pollen that is damp, if so scrape back to the midrib and the bees will sort it out.

If your bees are not using the super and brood box #2 then take them off until the bees are up to a good well covered 8 frames of brood.

PH

 

[BobH1]

Natural? Organic?

Frankly it doesn't mean a thing especially in concentrated forms that would never occur without human intervention. Even though I don't completely agree with it, it's one of the reasons that the EU is regulating herbalism.

Chris, (wooden spoon handy).

Chemicals are chemicals wherever they come from. And should be used carefully and in moderation. And I broke my wooden spoon last time I banged on about this.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Chemicals are chemicals wherever they come from. And should be used carefully and in moderation. And I broke my wooden spoon last time I banged on about this.

Water is a chemical substance.

 

[For want of a better word]

water is a molecule of 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bonded very securely together !

It is a naturally occuring substance... in out universe anyway!

and yes it is a chemical.................

what wories me is synthesised chemicals that probably do not occur in nature.....

pyrethrin is a naturally occuring chemical.... found in chrysanthemums... bugs hate it!

BUT synthesised by chemists it changes to a very similar chemical, not found in nature, by many times more powerful...........................

we should be concerned...... with the misuse of any substance,,,,,, arsenic is also a naturally occuring chemical but I would not care to sprinkle it on my chips, much prefferr diluted ethanoic acid! natutally malted of course!!

 

[BobH1]

Yes even water is a chemical and even water when used without care and moderation spoils the best ethanol

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes even water is a chemical and even water when used without care and moderation spoils the best ethanol

and..... delving into a long past mist of toxicological experiences... even pure water can cause subcutaneous carcinomas if injected into mice.


Shock horror at the thought of water getting anwhere near my single malt!

​

 

[Poly Hive]

Water getting into single malts....

HERESY abroad... burn the witches!

PH

 

[Rosti]

However I decided to remove some of the dirt and muck off the floor, thats when I noticed quite a large amount of dead varroa.

Samuel, since it has not been picked up for clarification in previous response posts. Are you on a solid floor? Your wording implies it. If so I would rec a changed to an open mesh floor (OMF) as soon as possible, then any detached but living mites can drop into oblivion.

... and Bob, if you want to start your anti everything band waggon again why not start your own thread as well so that that debate can blossom in its own right and not detract from others?

 

[TOBY-3652]

He does it 3 times in one week and he also puts a super frame in the middle of his brood box the bees put there own comb to make it level with brood combs fill with drone brood then he cuts the acess comb off chucks it away he does that i think 2 0 or 3 times a year and he mignt do them with sugar againe im gonna do same but i am going 2 treat with apiguard later on.. He said no way would he use oxalic acid. This is only what he does and it works 4 him

 

[Poly Hive]

How long has he had his bees Toby?

PH

 

[TOBY-3652]

He has got about 30 hives been keeping bees 8 years

 

[onriver]

that sounds a little extreme - I'd be surprised if the whole of the sacrificial comb in a super will be drone brood?
There also seems to be increasing opinion (help me out here anyone!?) that for a colony to flourish it requires a self regulated number of drones, let alone to improve the genetic diversity of any queens mating locally.
If you get rid of vast amount of drone brood it might do more than reduce varroa, IMHO