spring mite treatment

[swarm_trapper]

hey guys i have a few hives that im thinking about treating. what is a good treatment at this time of the year they have about 5 frames of brood already. they are a partialy regressed small cell that are raiseing the drones like crazy, going to those hives today to see what the mite drop is. thanks Nick

[Michael Bush]

What kind of mite drops do you have? If they are really low (two or three in 24 hours) I wouldn't worry about it. If they are high, you have several choices. I believe you want to stay organic, so I'd stick with drone trapping or powdered sugar if you can. If your counts are VERY high I'd go to something like oxalic acid vapor. But if they are on small cell, my guess is they are low. You can't know if you don't count. You don't have to do every hive. You can do a sampling.

[swarm_trapper]

got the count today my average hives have about 5 mites in 24 hours so not too bad. the biger hives about 20-25 deep frames of bees had a drop of 20 mites. the problem is the bigger hive are raising drones. i think ill wait a few weeks when it warms up and see whats cookin' in there. try to get rid of some drone and give them some small cell foundation again. im ready for this HSC and not worry about measureing any more. thanks Nick

[hummingberd]

I would look into powdered sugar. Google or do a search on Randy Oliver's 8 Second Powdered Sugar Method. it's a good read. I bought Api Life Var, but it turns out temperatures are too "iffy." Api Life Var is very temperature dependent, so it's not going to be successful. i'm going to be regressing, but ti's obviously going to take awhile to achieve. I got my bees in August of 06, and didn't treat for varroa. I'll definitely have issues if i don't treat somehow. I am trying to stay as organic/natural as possible. Good luck with whatever you decide!

[lake thompson honey]

i am using sucrocide. its not super effective but it kill some mites and its not hard on the brood or the bees.

[swarm_trapper]

how effective is the sucrocide? do you just spray the tops and bottems of each box?

[Aspera]

I was sorely disappointed by sucricide. Currently I have Api-Life Var in my hive despite the low temps. It seems to have increased mitefall by about 100%, and I am not concerned about underdosing this product as no resistance has ever been associated with it. I did experiece some brood kill, but this might just be due to the cold snap that we have had.

[hummingberd]

Aspera, thats an interesting post you made. I also have apilife var, but was concerned that I wouldn't be able to use it because temperatures will be low, and as soon as they heat up it will probably be time to put on the honey supers. I thought they were supposed to be broodless when you did this treatment? I would love your input!

[R.L. Bee]

I used it last fall as well as this spring on a couple of hives didn;t see any ill effects even though I read the directions wrong and put twice the amount I should have for two of the three treatments.Ihave not read any where that I can remember anything about using it in a broodless hives. I think for my location it would bee to cold to do any good to use it in a hive with out any brood.

[beemandan]

The problem with the thymol miticides, in my opinion, is that they leave an odor that remains for weeks/months after application. If applied in late summer or early fall the smell, in my experience, is gone by spring. A springtime application might taint your honey if you add supers before the odor has dissipated. For that reason, I do mite counts after harvesting my honey, and treat any that need it in late summer. Its OK to use ApiLife or Apiguard during brood producing times. When applied as directed....multiple timed applications....they will remain at effective levels throughout, at least, one full brood cycle. Any mites in cells will be exposed on emergence. ApiLife reports some brood damage, especially when the temps are elevated.

If you are converting to small cell and your bees drew out much of the initial foundation with drone cells and are producing a load of drones you should cull those frames as soon as possible. I believe that Dee Lusby recommends culling any that have over 10% drone cells. I think that is wise advice regardless of what size cells you are using.

As suggested above, do your mite counts. If your colonies are seriously infested, I suppose you treat and then cross your fingers that the odor is gone by the time nectar begins to flow. If your counts are OK, check again in late summer and treat then if you want to use thymol.

[swarm_trapper]

yea i looked at last years records and i had the same thing last year but didnt treat and came out good so i think ill hold off for a few weeks and see what happens. thanks for the input Nick

[Aspera]

I suppose that the odor issue could be a problem, but I am still feeding sugar water and I expect the bees to use most of the initial spring nectar for building brood. In short, I will not be harvesting honey for another 3 months anyway. With regard to treating during a broodless period, almost all treatments except for drone trapping are more effective during a broodless period. The real question for me is what to do in the autumn when mite migration pressure is high. Before I would've said "that's a no brainer...Apistan," but now I am try to go away from the hard treatments. Apistan may have unforseeable heath or environmental consequences and it is expensive besides. I may just end up using Api-Life twice this year and have even contemplated an off label OA trickle (I don't sell honey at this point).

[beemandan]

With regard to treating during a broodless period, almost all treatments except for drone trapping are more effective during a broodless period.
I'd be inclined to disagree. The typical broodless period is winter. At the end of summer the varroa population is usually at its highest. The production of their preferred brood, drones, is ending. At the same time the production of worker brood slows as well. So, we have a maximum number of varroa seeking a place to reproduce and a minimum number of brood to choose from. The result is a higher infestation/brood during the time when overwintering bees are developing. To make matters worse, these developing bees are the ones who must survive for a long period and as well as survive the rigors of winter. If the developing varroa are allowed to feed on developing winter brood those emerging bees will be less likely to survive the winter.
The population of varroa, in my opinion, should be reduced before the start of winter brood production, not after it has already been parasitized.

[Tulipwood]

I would like to do a Spring Mite-Away treatment but I don't have any drawn comb for the supers so I am trying to get the bees to do that. If I put the formic acid pads on now I will have to take the supers off.

[Aspera]

I don't disagree with you Dan, but I would distinguish between efficacy of treatment and its usefulness/proper use. By efficacy I simply mean the percentage of the mites that a given treatment kills, not how much it improves the colony health. For instance, the old dynamite treatment may well be 100% effective but is not often employed due to its side effects.

[sierrabees]

Once I have drone cells, I open and pull twenty randomly selected larvae at the purple eye stage. If I find any mites then I treat with powedered sugar, destroy the remaining drone cells with a toothpick, and put in an empty frame with close to 100% drone size cells in a location where the queen is likely to lay it full very quickly. Two weeks later I pull the drone comb and put it in the freezer two or three days before thawing it and putting it back. Each time I pull the drone frame I pull twenty larvare and inspect for mites. If I get two negative counts in a row I let them keep the drones and re-check every month or six weeks.

[dickm]

Remove API LIFE VAR tablets from hive at least 1 month (30 days) prior to harvesting the honey.

· Do not use during honey flows.

· Do not use when surplus honey supers are installed on the hives.

· Do not harvest honey from brood chambers or colony feed supers.

· Do not use API LIFE VAR at temperatures above 90oF.
Dickm

[George Fergusson]

I was sorely disappointed by sucricide.

Everyone I've talked to is sorely disappointed by sucrocide AND, it's application is labor intensive!