What method of Sugaring, Do you use

[MuswellMetro]

just done a Sugaring with icing sugar of a suspect high Varroa hive but in doing so, had differnces with other beeks on how to do it

i lift all frames and very lightly sugar with icing sugar in a sugar sifter each side of the brood frames but try not to sugar the Queen. i also try not to get it in open brood as it sets and kilss the larvae

others diagreed, they dont lift the frames and just sugar the seams from the top ( like oxalic way), using much more icing sugar than me

what do others do? any veiws which is best?

varroa count was 20 in one hour..so not too bad for pre thymol

 

[Onge]

personally I wouldn't have the time to go through each frame.Down the seams sounds better to me

Then again I have never tried dusting.

 

[oliver90owner]

MM,

I wouldn't bother unless broodless. Simple as that. Only about 20% of the mites to go at, so not too clever a way to clean up a hive IMO.

I would (if enough kit), probably split the colony, do one half while broodless, swap queen across and wait for the other half to become broodless, then treat that half, followed by re-uniting. On second thoughts, far too much hassle - by then I might as well remove all honey and thymol or formic them.

I might add that a little drone brood checking/culling mite drop counting, or queen trapping for three weeks might have been better, to keep on top of this problem.

For a 'suspect' colony I might collect a sample of bees, powder-roll them in icing sugar in a suitable container, allow them to return to the hive followed by dissolving the remaining icing sugar in water and checking for varroa in the clear solution(count on surface or pass through a fine tea strainer or similar. Better than jumping in without any data.

Regards, RAB

 

[MuswellMetro]

MM,

I wouldn't bother unless broodless. Simple as that. Only about 20% of the mites to go at, so not too clever a way to clean up a hive IMO.

RAB

it was more for diagnostic purposes not for treatment, it was one of several in the BKA that used a problematic batch of apiguard bought in bulk by our BKA last year, to use as a treatmnet then it would need to be done reguary for 20 ish days....too much hassle, too much damage to open cells

 

[oliver90owner]

For a diagnostic result? A cup of house bees taken each day, rolled in icing sugar and allowed to re-enter the hive? No open cells involved. Not sure what results might show anyway. There will be mites emerging from hatching cells for all of that time, if it is from apiguard treatment start-time. Might be clear after a few days what the outcome is likely to be?

I am not quite understanding the scenario, I think?

Regards, RAB

Regards, RAB

 

[Hivemaker.]

what do others do? any veiws which is best?

Mix it with some water and feed it to the bee's.....do more good than tipping it over them.

 

[MuswellMetro]

For a diagnostic result? A cup of house bees taken each day, rolled in icing sugar and allowed to re-enter the hive? No open cells involved. Not sure what results might show anyway. There will be mites emerging from hatching cells for all of that time, if it is from apiguard treatment start-time. Might be clear after a few days what the outcome is likely to be?

I am not quite understanding the scenario, I think?

Regards, RAB

Regards, RAB

why

The Bee inspector has suggest we use bayerol, as low resistance to it now in our area after five year non use, rather than apiguard( in aug/sept ,) This was due to high varroa biuld up in some hives that used apiguard last year and i do not want to use bayoral

So just trying to see how high the varroa is in mine compare to others who had of 500 drop in 15mins after sugar dusting (DWS as well) , but dispute between beeks, on correctway of dusting arose, most just seam dusted but had lower drop

i will use thymol in aug/Sept not bayarol

 

[Hivemaker.]

This bee inspector sounds like a bit of an idiot....apart from being in the wax bee's also pick up traces of the ingrediants of bavarol/apistan ect from nature...so not much point in using it, bavarol has next to no effect on mites around here after nine years of not using it.....plus it can make up to 50% of drones infertile.

 

[Mike a]

I dust over the top bars of the frames, as others have said I also don't like to dust any open brood. Although this year I'm not so sure if it has been a worth while effective treatment as my mite drop levels are surprising very low anyway in the majority of my hives.

I'm not complaining they are low but a little concerned they seem to be too low if that makes sense. I will be treating them once the supers are removed with Apigard trays for some and PH's Thymol treatment for the others to unscientificly compare.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Sugar dusting found to be not effective.....they used the method of just dusting into the beeways.

The efficacy of dusting honey bee colonies with powdered sugar to reduce varroa mite populations
publication date: Feb 17, 2009
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Journal of Apicultural Research

Vol. 48 (1) pp. 72 - 76
DOI

10.3896/IBRA.1.48.1.14
Date

January 2009

Article Title


The efficacy of dusting honey bee colonies with powdered sugar to reduce varroa mite populations.
Author(s)


Amanda M. Ellis, Gerry W. Hayes, and James D. Ellis
Abstract


Controlling varroa mite (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman) populations in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies with acaricides has been a challenge for beekeepers due to the rapid development of resistant mite populations. For this reason, many beekeepers are adopting Integrated Pest Management strategies as alternatives to chemocentric varroa control schemes. One non-chemical tool that has been used for varroa control is dusting bee colonies with powdered sugar. The objective of our study was to determine the efficacy of powdered sugar as a varroa control by comparing mite populations, adult bee populations, and brood area in untreated colonies with those in colonies dusted every two weeks for 11 months with 120 g powdered sugar per application. We found that dusting colonies with powdered sugar did not significantly affect the adult bee population (treated: 10061.72 ± 629.42; control: 10691.00 ± 554.44) or amount of brood (treated: 4521.91 ± 342.84 cm2; control: 4472.55 ± 365.85 cm2). We also found no significant differences between the total number of mites per colony (treated: 2112.15 ± 224.62; control: 2197.80 ± 207.75), number of mites per adult bee (treated: 0.080 ± 0.010; control: 0.097 ± 0.010), or number of mites per capped brood cell (treated: 0.112 ± 0.013; control: 0.106 ± 0.018). All data are mean ± s.e. Within the limits of our study and at the application rates used, we did not find that dusting colonies with powdered sugar afforded significant varroa control.
Keywords


honey bee, varroa mite, powdered sugar dusting, integrated pest management

http://www.ibra.org.uk/articles/20090217_5

 

[MuswellMetro]

I'll just bake a cake and ice it then