blkcloud
05-26-2005, 02:23 PM
wow what a lot of information here!! ive been keeping bees for about 2 days now lol...and have little time to read all the vastness of info here..in short...what do i need to do to my 2 hives to treat and or guard against mites and or other harmful diseases?thanks!!
Michael Bush
05-26-2005, 02:59 PM
First, learn to monitor mite levels. Second learn the life cycle of the bees and the Varroa mites. There's lot's of information on both. A sugar roll, natural mite drop on a SBB (Screened Bottom Board) with a tray, or uncapping some drone are about the easiest methods for monitoring. I wouldn't do anything for the mites until you either have a problem or have decided on something that's innocuous enough to the bees that you don't care if you use it all the time.
I just use natural and small cell size. It's sufficient to keep the populations down to not more than about 100 mites per hive total in the late fall after all the brood has emerged.
There are many alternatives that have different requirements on timing and effectiveness. Some are not so immediately deadly but are also not so dangerous to the bees, such as FGMO and Powdered Sugar. These you may need to use on a regular basis to keep the populations down. Any treatment will be far more effective when the mites are not capped in cells (meaning treating in the late fall after brood rearing stops). But if you monitor and need to do something before then you'll find that you need to treat several times a week apart (for things like oxalic acid or sucrocide) or you need to treat the whole time (with things like Apistan and Checkmite).
The main thing is to keep learning and monitoring. Pay attention. I don't do anything for prevention.
http://www.beesource.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000345