varroa sticky boards

[ivan carter]

i have read in many places lots of varying advice on this ,

I have screened bottom boards - i put in the sticky boards today , how long should i leave them there and what count is
1/acceptable
2/not great
3/critical

thanks in advance for your help !

[tnnewbe]

I am by no means a expert but our mentoring group was told to leave the board in for 24 hours and there should be no more than 10. It could be left in for 48 hours and you should see no more than 20. If more than those numbers, the hive should be treated.

Ken

[Capricorn]

The Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum says that once a mite count reaches 150-200 per day then it is time to treat with medication or other controls. I don't know what more experienced beeks think about that number..

[Tia]

I think a 48-hr count is more reliable than a 24-hr one. I've heard 40 is max; I've heard 60 is max (ask 3 beeks a question, you'll get 3 answers)

[ivan carter]

I think a 48-hr count is more reliable than a 24-hr one. I've heard 40 is max; I've heard 60 is max (ask 3 beeks a question, you'll get 3 answers)

thats why i thought i would ask here !

thanks people for your help so far will see what others have to say -

[taxonomy]

(ask 3 beeks a question, you'll get 3 answers)

I think that's "ask 3 beeks a question, get 5 answers"!

[KQ6AR]

A lot of it depends on where you live, & what season it is.
I usually consider over 50 in 24 hours a high number, but have seen southern university studies that said 100-150/24hr in the fall.

[ivan carter]

i live in central michigan , its late summer , fall will be in 4 - 5 weeks

[ivan carter]

okay here we are 24 hours later - worst case is 105 mites on the sticky - best hive has 29 -

what should i do , what are the best treatments , seems like most subjects there is a lot of different info out there - what is api-var like ?

[KQ6AR]

If you decide to use it, here's some info.
http://www.apiservices.com/chemical-laif/index.htm

Looks like one of the better choices in treatments. Its not legal in my state.

[Tia]

It does seem to be the treatment of choice here in Eastern Carolina. I'm still kind of funny about putting stuff like that in my hives. Beat me over the head and say it doesn't work if you want to, but if my counts were to go up, I'd use Dr. Rodriguez' method of FGMO fogging. I've been told more than once that it doesn't work, but that's the only treatment I've ever used and my 48 hr count has never been above 5. I actually stopped all treatment about 2 years ago, but the mite count's on the rise again in my county, so I may be going back to it.

[Dave W]

Here's my "target"

J - .5 .5 .5
F - .5 .5 1
M - 1 1 2
A - 2 3 4
M - 2 5 9
J - 3 7 18
J - 4 12 35
A - 7 23 75
S - 17 50 150
O - 7 30 80
N - 2 13 35
D - 1 5 15

From: ABJ 3/07, p220

[KQ6AR]

Hi Dave,
Would you elaborate on that for me. I'm not getting you're point. Don't have Journals going back that far.

[ivan carter]

yes please elaborate , why three sets of numbers for each month - i presume thats 1, 2 and 3 days ?

i appreciate the help ,

thanks

[beedeetee]

You will have to decide what your own tolerance is to possibly losing a hive. Over the years I went from treating none (losing all) to treating all (losing none) to treating some and losing some.

For the past several years my tolerance on August 15 for double deep hives packed with bees was 25/day average over a three day period. With that I usually didn't lose any or at least very many.

For the past couple of years I have upped that count on August 15 to 40/day. Last year I treated 1/3 of my hives because they were over that number. I used Apiguard. With at least one of the hives it didn't seem to work at all. After treatment I put the sticky board in and after 3 days I pulled it out to find hundreds of mites (I didn't even bother to count). I put a formic pad on but the hive died over winter.

This year my 18 hives ranged from 0/day to 22/day average over 3 days, so I am treating none. 18 hives is too many for me really so if I lose some I won't be worried. I can easily double my hives and still get a honey crop.

So you will have to decide how lucky you feel and how much a loss will affect you. With one hive a loss means you have to buy bees. For me that means that I have a box to put bees in that are about to swarm next spring.

[ivan carter]

bee dee tee

thank you that is very helpful and is what i will strive for

my worts hive is 205 in 48 hours ,
best hive is 75 in 48 hours

as soon as i get my supers off i will treat -

thank you very much for all of your comments and help