Mite Treatment

**sr73087** · 09-15-2019, 05:20 PM

So this year in mid-August I ended up getting sick and in the hospital for 2 weeks and missed my normal treatment window.

I normally do my treatments as follows:

Spring - Oxilic Acid - Completed
August (MAQs) - NOT DONE
Early November - Oxilic Acid - NA

Am I too late to do the MAQs and then Oxilic Acid in November? I haven't checked my mite count. Usually it is fairly low but I guess things can change each year.

**orthoman** · 09-18-2019, 08:29 AM

I would still consider treating with MAQS or Formic Pro.

The problem with MAQS is that I have found it can be tough on queens so using it this time of year and losing a queen can mean the end of the colony and, replacement queens are getting hard to find at this time of year.

There are two options for its use...one using two pads for 7 days and the others is the single pad option. I use formic pro....same thing basically with slightly different regimen...and I use the single pad option... my reasoning is that the bees/queen don’t get that huge blast of formic acid all at once so it is a little less harsh on the queen...but, I need to treat for a little longer time.

I live on the west coast so my situation is a little different (e.g. weather, temperatures) than yours so take that into consideration.

**COAL REAPER** · 09-18-2019, 09:35 AM

i think if you are going to treat this late you are correct to use something fast acting like formic rather than something slow like apivar. but i would be very cautious with a 2 pad application. no time for them to recover one their own if a queen is lost. and you are running out of time to make sure your winter bees are as healthy as can be. still knock out the remaining mites with OAV when brood rearing ceases.

**Live Oak** · 09-18-2019, 10:12 AM

Thermal varroa mite treatment will accomplish the same results if not better without as much risk to the queen or brood. The initial cost outlay is higher than MAQS or Formic Pro but the equipment is reusable year after year. For large numbers of colonies this may or may not be a practical approach. It would fit in well with a periodic rotation of mite treatments as well. The wife and I run over 100 colonies and we treat ours with a mix of thermal treatment using the Mighty Mite Killer, OAV, and Apivar.

**Spur9** · 09-18-2019, 03:52 PM

Others have stated that formic acid treatments can result in brood death and even queen death. With it being mid-September, the hive needs all its brood and definitely the queen.

I would give consideration to using Apiguard this time around in your schedule. Thymol is not as harsh as formic pro. And it is not as temp dependent. You might see some bearding for the 1st couple of days. It also doubles as a treatment for tracheal mites. It is a 4 week treatment. You are only in the hive 3 times (max) during the treatment.

**ifixoldhouses** · 09-18-2019, 03:59 PM

I just put 2 strips of Formic on all my hives today, it's finally cool enough to do it, I was under the impression that you only suffered losses if it was above 85 during the first 3 days.

**orthoman** · 09-18-2019, 04:33 PM

Spur 9,

Apiguard temp range is 60 to 105F; and MAQS 50 to 85. I don't know what temp. lows are now in Connecticut. Still may have plenty of time for the Apiguard before it gets too cold.

**sr73087** · 09-18-2019, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by orthoman

Spur 9,

Apiguard temp range is 60 to 105F; and MAQS 50 to 85. I don't know what temp. lows are now in Connecticut. Still may have plenty of time for the Apiguard before it gets too cold.

This part of CT should see 40s tonight but then over 50 almost every other night into early October.

**Spur9** · 09-19-2019, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by sr73087

This part of CT should see 40s tonight but then over 50 almost every other night into early October.

You just want the bees to be active enough so that they remove the Apiguard and distribute it throughout the hive. Even if they cluster at night, when it warms up during the day, they'll get to work on it and start carrying the gel out. Temps above would be ok.

**fadder** · 09-21-2019, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by Live Oak

Thermal varroa mite treatment will accomplish the same results if not better without as much risk to the queen or brood. The initial cost outlay is higher than MAQS or Formic Pro but the equipment is reusable year after year. For large numbers of colonies this may or may not be a practical approach. It would fit in well with a periodic rotation of mite treatments as well. The wife and I run over 100 colonies and we treat ours with a mix of thermal treatment using the Mighty Mite Killer, OAV, and Apivar.

I would like to see a source for that , from what I can find thermal kills about 80 percent, another treatment 12 days later another 80 percent of remaining mites for a total kill of 95 percent. I will stick with formic pro, I have lost no bees or queens and according to what I can find is 99.9 percent effective.

**Live Oak** · 09-22-2019, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by fadder

I would like to see a source for that , from what I can find thermal kills about 80 percent, another treatment 12 days later another 80 percent of remaining mites for a total kill of 95 percent. I will stick with formic pro, I have lost no bees or queens and according to what I can find is 99.9 percent effective.

Here is one of a number of sources.

**BeeDuto** · 09-29-2019, 10:18 PM

I treated my two hives with two strips of MAQS each seven days ago. Today I checked and my bottom was covered in dead mites.

Is that an indication that my hives had high mite loads or that the MAQS just did a great job killing them? When I opened the hive I still smelled the MAQS so I left them in hoping to kill even more mites. Next week I’ll try to do an alcohol wash to get a mite count but for now I’m worried my mite load was extremely high. Let me know. Thanks.