Would you treat?

[Polyanwood]

I manage over 30 hives. I check for varroa drop regularly. This year none have shown any significant drop - only one or two on tray after a week and non showing up when drones are culled. I have struggled to find any varroa to show the students what they are.

I noticed the ants have done well this year and a lot of the varroa trays have ants on them and the ants seem to carry off the varroa??

Anyway, thymol treatment put on all of them and on Sunday, one of them, that seemed no different from the others, showed a drop of about 200. I am losing confidence in the varroa tray method of establishing drop.

I don't think the Autumn thymol treatment does much harm. Jury is still out on oxalic acid in Winter. It seems to have a worse effect on smaller colonies?Think I will not treat the nucs with oxalic, but instead give them an additional Spring thymol treatment.

 

[Pendragon]

After reading all the thread I am going to treat even though my drop is low. There are ants about near the hive.
So thank you.

 

[pargyle]

After reading all the thread I am going to treat even though my drop is low. There are ants about near the hive.
So thank you.

Keep and eye on the fall out and let us know what results. What do you intend using ?

 

[sandysman]

I manage over 30 hives. I check for varroa drop regularly. This year none have shown any significant drop - only one or two on tray after a week and non showing up when drones are culled. I have struggled to find any varroa to show the students what they are.

I noticed the ants have done well this year and a lot of the varroa trays have ants on them and the ants seem to carry off the varroa??

Anyway, thymol treatment put on all of them and on Sunday, one of them, that seemed no different from the others, showed a drop of about 200. I am losing confidence in the varroa tray method of establishing drop.

I don't think the Autumn thymol treatment does much harm. Jury is still out on oxalic acid in Winter. It seems to have a worse effect on smaller colonies?Think I will not treat the nucs with oxalic, but instead give them an additional Spring thymol treatment.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Funny enough Polyanwood, I have noticed ants in my hives as well, when I took the inspection tray out the other day I saw an ant carrying a varroa so maybe they are working of our behalf.
Once again thanks for all the replies.
Andy

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Varroa Count - Day 1 of Treatment

That would be good CVB ... let us know how the drop goes during treatment - if the thread follows the usual pattern then PM. I still can't quite believe that I have no varroa ... I posted some photos of my inspection today on the 'What did you do in the apiary' thread ... look really healthy bees.

One day after the Hivemaker Thymol treatment went in, I did a quick count of Varroa on the inspection tray - 30 in total, of which two were alive, the rest dead. No ants seen - maybe they don't like the smell of Thymol either!

I'll do an update tomorrow. Us one-hive wonders can play play nicely in the corner while the big boys knock lumps out of each other.

CVB

 

[pargyle]

One day after the Hivemaker Thymol treatment went in, I did a quick count of Varroa on the inspection tray - 30 in total, of which two were alive, the rest dead. No ants seen - maybe they don't like the smell of Thymol either!

I'll do an update tomorrow. Us one-hive wonders can play play nicely in the corner while the big boys knock lumps out of each other.

CVB

Sounds like the best place for me ... You've had a good result - only 30 mites dropped with Thymol ... hardly what you would count as an infestation these days but it's 30 less to breed in the weeks before winter and with luck a clean start to next season.

 

[Tom Bick]

I have learnt over the years that ants love varroa, and all we have to do is get the bees to let ants into the hives and all our worries are over.

I also understand but yet to try is ants dont like petroleum jelly and if smeared on the inspection tray will give a more accurate reading but a messy job and needs reapplication.

I had a conversation the other day with a new beekeeper who happens to share one of my apiaries and I mentioned the seemingly low levels this year and he said he had only about eight a day!!!!!!! he just so happens to cover his trays with petroleum jelly so they are there. I told him to treat asap.

 

[Tom Bick]

Sounds like the best place for me ... You've had a good result - only 30 mites dropped with Thymol ... hardly what you would count as an infestation these days but it's 30 less to breed in the weeks before winter and with luck a clean start to next season.

Others will I comment but one day out of a treatment of 6 weeks. Expect the drop to rise and then hope to see a drop towards the end of treatment but also be prepared to do one extra treatment if thought necessary.

 

[Moggs]

Remember new beekeepers, that varroa levels are peaking as the colony size starts to diminish. More varroa and fewer bees can have a dramatic effect going into the cooler months so be certain that those low counts are indeed 'low'!

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Beekeeping by Torchlight!

I have learnt over the years that ants love varroa, and all we have to do is get the bees to let ants into the hives and all our worries are over.

I also understand but yet to try is ants dont like petroleum jelly and if smeared on the inspection tray will give a more accurate reading but a messy job and needs reapplication.

I had a conversation the other day with a new beekeeper who happens to share one of my apiaries and I mentioned the seemingly low levels this year and he said he had only about eight a day!!!!!!! he just so happens to cover his trays with petroleum jelly so they are there. I told him to treat asap.

After reading the above post, I went out to my hive, removed the tray an hour ago and cleaned and Vaselined it. Incidentally, between 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock this evening, another three Varroa mites had dropped.

I did not mention on my earlier post but for the first time I've seen brood and desiccated parts of brood on the tray. I also had bearding for the first time but this may be more to do with reducing the entrance size both to help the bees defend against wasps and to keep the Thymol fumes in the hive. If the bees find the Thymol a bit overpowering, they might just have popped out for a breath of fresh air. Another factor is that it's been quite warm and humid over the last day or so and the bearding could be for that reason rather than anything to do with Thymol.

CVB

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes CVB the bees can hang out of the hive during thymol treatments and as we are having nice warm weather at the moment I bet the fumes may be a bit stronger in the hive also. I have found that the bees seem to get use to it and the hive looks to perform normal in no time.
One extra good thing I have found with hivemakers thymol pads is I dont need to use an eke just simply place on the top of the frames and replace crown board. The problem with eke’s and good weather mixed with the soon to happen ivy flow is lots of comb in the eks’s.

 

[Glenviewbee]

I have noticed high levels of earwigs on the (varroa free) inspection boards and according to my mentor earwigs love to munch on varroa and are very efffective in clearing the inspection boards thereby giving a false low drop count.
I am using Apiguard on my 2 colonies - and the poor bees are are lounging around on the landing board because of the fumes! They are doing the 'head pointing into entrance fanning wings like mad' stance and the thymol smell is quite strong outside the hive so god knows what it's like inside.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Varroa Count - Day 2 of Treatment

The count for day 2 of the treatment was 8 Varroa mites; that's a total of 38 from the start of the Hivemaker Thymol treatment.

I went out late last night, following advice from Tom Bick (post number 27) to smear Vaseline on the inspection board and at that time there had been a drop of three mites since the 6 o'clock check. I placed those mites in the corner of a central square on the board. Those three mites were still there at 6 o'clock this evening so the Vaseline protected that part of the drop from ants and earwigs for a day. I might do the same thing - leave a three or four mites in a specific location on the board - and see if they stay there WITHOUT Vaseline to "protect" them. Not scientific but an indication as to whether ants and earwigs do indeed eat Varroa and whether Vaseline stops them walking off with the evidence of a Varroa infestation.

CVB

 

[pargyle]

The count for day 2 of the treatment was 8 Varroa mites; that's a total of 38 from the start of the Hivemaker Thymol treatment.

I went out late last night, following advice from Tom Bick (post number 27) to smear Vaseline on the inspection board and at that time there had been a drop of three mites since the 6 o'clock check. I placed those mites in the corner of a central square on the board. Those three mites were still there at 6 o'clock this evening so the Vaseline protected that part of the drop from ants and earwigs for a day. I might do the same thing - leave a three or four mites in a specific location on the board - and see if they stay there WITHOUT Vaseline to "protect" them. Not scientific but an indication as to whether ants and earwigs do indeed eat Varroa and whether Vaseline stops them walking off with the evidence of a Varroa infestation.

CVB

That sounds like a good plan to me ... at least you will know whether there have been varroa 'thefts' from your tray. I have been using sticky backed plastic sheets on my sticky board (with the sticky side up) ... the only moving critters I've ever seen on the sticky board is pollen mites ... never seen any ants or earwigs.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Varroa Count - Day 3 of Treatment

The Varroa mites drop on day 3 of the HM Thymol treatment was 10, which brings the total over the first three days to 48.

The bees have started chewing up the thymolised kitchen roll big time - small bits are appearing on the monitoring board so I imagine there's more on the OMF. I hope this means they're still getting the full benefit of the Thymol.

CVB

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Varroa Count - Day 4 of Treatment

The Varroa mites' drop on day 4 of the HM Thymol treatment was 7, which brings the total over the first four days to 55.

Lots of chewed up kitchen roll on the inspection board.

This thread is becoming a bit boring so I'll post a summary at the end of the first two weeks of treatment, at which point the second phase starts.

I lost a lot of stored honey from the brood box over the last two weeks and I suspect there some robbing is going on, so I spent the morning making a Robber Screen that I fitted this evening - can't wait to see whether it works on wasps as well as robbing bees.

Ivy not far off being in flower down here; all the buds are there!

CVB

 

[pargyle]

The Varroa mites' drop on day 4 of the HM Thymol treatment was 7, which brings the total over the first four days to 55.

Lots of chewed up kitchen roll on the inspection board.

This thread is becoming a bit boring so I'll post a summary at the end of the first two weeks of treatment, at which point the second phase starts.

I lost a lot of stored honey from the brood box over the last two weeks and I suspect there some robbing is going on, so I spent the morning making a Robber Screen that I fitted this evening - can't wait to see whether it works on wasps as well as robbing bees.

Ivy not far off being in flower down here; all the buds are there!

CVB

It's actually been quite interesting so far ... it's not exactly a massive drop and it is not rising as I would have expected by day 4 ... it will be fascinating to see if the drop reduces now and what happens with the second phase. Definitely NOT boring ... keep up posted.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Varroa Count - Day 5 of Treatment + Robber Screen

The Varroa mites' drop on day 5 of the HM Thymol treatment was 6, which brings the total over the first five days to 61.

I checked the operation of the Robber Screen that I installed last night and found total confusion out the front of the hive this morning. It was certainly stopping the wasps but I could not tell which bees were mine trying to get home, or whether they were robbers trying to steal stores.

I left them to try to figure it out but when I checked late this evening there were lots of bees outside at dusk. I assumed they were my bees trying to get home to their beds so I removed the screen and modified it to remove the top baffle, which gives them a lot more room to get in and out. It was nearly dark when I replaced it on the hive so I'll see in the morning whether it operates any better with the modification.

Anybody ever used a robber screen? Does mine look ok? - the information I used to make it was not very complete so I had to use my imagination for a lot of it. I have uploaded one photo showing the screen before modification but the system won't allow the second photo because it is probably too large. The modification was to remove the horizontal baffle at the top of the screen, which makes a much larger entrance to the area behind the screen.

 

[Roola]

Nice project CVB! Where is the actual entrance hole for bees?

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Nice project CVB! Where is the actual entrance hole for bees?

The entrance (quite small) is to the right of the top "baffle" (in the photo). I have now taken off this baffle because the returning bees (or possibly the robbing bees) were having trouble finding the small entrance.

There are lots of bees outside the hive, as we speak, trying to get in, even with the whole of the top open. Some of these bees are carrying pollen so I suspect most of the "confused" bees are mine who have lost out on the memory gene in their genetic make-up. The big question is how long to leave them floundering? Yesterday I removed the screen and made the modification in the late evening and re-attached it to the hive - my thought was that the flying bees would leave this morning via the large entrance and would remember where they exited. Trouble is the bees don't seem to have that good a memory.

Not sure what to do now!

CVB