POLL: Do you medicate?

[marcuscarr]

This is intended to get an idea of how serious medication is to the hobby beekeeper.

[Bud Dingler]

your question is not very clear....

medicate for what?

varroa
tracheal
nosema
AFB

in my view medicate means an antibiotic for AFB and nosema

treatments are not medicine and are used for mites

[marcuscarr]

I should have been more clear.

By medicate, I mean add anything to the hive other than sugar water.

I will post a follow up poll with a list of specific medications.

My goal is to first find out in people generally add anything but food to the hive, and when.

My secondary goal, in another pole, will be to determine what medications people are finding most useful.

[NeilV]

Is powdered sugar a medication?

[marcuscarr]

I figure sugar water, syrup, and powdered sugar to be feeding rather than medicating. Unless, of course, meds are being added to it =]

[justin]

the powdered sugar is used to cause mites to fall off the bees, or it is used to promote the hygenic behavior which causes bees to remove mites.people consider it an alternative to medicating,or something to try first.i dont currently medicate or treat for anything,but its because i have been to busy to be resposible.i will have an ipm this year and if i have a problem i will do what i have to.

[Ken&Andria]

I'm pretty new to this, so maybe I should be quiet here, but plan from last year was: Treat the new packages with fumagilin just in case (bees were shipped in from California, so they were pretty stressed). Scraped drone comb a couple of times over the summer, and treated with Apiguard in the fall. I have three hives, and they're all still kicking, even the really weak hive. hopefully they make it through the next couple of weeks until spring arrives-

I'm pondering a spring dose of apiguard, but don't really want to. I guess once spring is here I'll do the sugar dusting thing and evaluate my mite load. If it doesn't look too bad, I'll just stick to the drone comb routine and hit them with apiguard in the fall.

[sqkcrk]

I saw that the poll was limited to noncommercial beekeepers, so I didn't vote. But looking at the results I saw that there were 42 voters. All noncommercial? Pretty good response, I think.

[odfrank]

I voted never, but....that means never for varroa but if I find a hive with a trace of foulbrood I medicate once or twice with terramycin patties.

[Bobb]

This is intended to get an idea of how serious medication is to the hobby beekeeper.

If my child needs medication he or she gets it. No different with the dog, cat or bees.

[marcuscarr]

True. I wanted to focus the poll on hobby beekeepers as I realize there are things in commercial beekeeping that require protection on investment. Due to the potential financial loss, I figured commercial answers would skew the results a little.

[The Honey Householder]

As a comm. beekeeper. I use terramycin twice in the spring and then again in the fall. Thats it. But I don't winter my bees.

[sqkcrk]

But I don't winter my bees.

Huh? Then who does? Or do you mean that you kill all of your bees and repopulate your hives w/ packages or nucs each spring?

[Ben Brewcat]

What if you only medicate when your monitoring indicates it's necessary? Routine medication regardless of colony health is a practice IMO whose days are limited.

[The Honey Householder]

Huh? Then who does? Or do you mean that you kill all of your bees and repopulate your hives w/ packages or nucs each spring?

I buy 600 2# packages each year to repopulate my hive. To many people want chemical free honey and beeswax. IT SELLS TOO!!

[GRIMBEE]

I got my nucs last May, so I am still in my first year. I didn't have intentions of using any meds, but if there are any problems that requrie them I will consider it if there are no other solutions. I'm still learning
Now if formic acid pads for mites is considered meds then, YES.

[eranorion]

I Treat all 10 hives for Nosema with Fumagillin in the spring and fall wether I see signs of its need or not. There are always signs in the spring. I also put a pad of MiteAway II on each hive in the fall. All my hives are SBB with slatted racks and all the venting tricks you can mention. I haven't lost a hive yet.