Re: I seen varroa mites!!! HELP
Are you sure that the Apiguard tray belongs between the brood boxes as opposed to on the top of the frames of the upper box? I thought it was on top of the frames - at least that's what I recll from my use of it last fall. (I believe honey supers should be off, as well, but perhaps you don't have any on now, anyway. I sure don't up here in northern NY!)
Also it needs to have good ventilation during treatment so be sure not to close the hive up too much during the upcoming cold spell. I used it during the end of the season when I had reduced entrances due to robbing and had to open up the back slot where my varroa sticky board goes to make up for the entrance reducer I had in place.
Use only one tray at a time; one right after the other.
You (and most every other beekeeper in the US) have probably had mites all along. It's uncommon to actually see one on a bee (because they are so small and often hiding between the scales of the undersurface of the bee.) It always makes me laugh when someone claims they don't have mites because "they don't see them." I find the easiest way to keep a watch on the mites is using sticky boards. They are simple, non-disturbing to the bees, and if done regularly give more than enough information to make sound treatment decisions.
Good luck - it's not the end of the world, but maybe the end of your hope that you might escape the Plague.
BTW, I wouldn't necessarily have started treatment based on see a few mites without data about whether the population was increasing or decreasing - which is information you can easily get by sticky boarding regularly. I run tests at least weekly for 72 hours all year long.
The Apiguard is going to reduce the population and interfere with the mite reproductive cycle, but it won't kill every mite in your hive. Nothing really does that during the brood period. You'll need to continue to monitor (by some method - either rolls or sticky boards - all summer, particularly towards the late summer/ early fall and consider treating again if your numbers are high so that your all-important winter bees which are being laid and hatching in the fall are born with the lowest possible pressure from mites. Don't think because you're not seeing them, that they are gone. They won't be.
Enj.
Are you sure that the Apiguard tray belongs between the brood boxes as opposed to on the top of the frames of the upper box? I thought it was on top of the frames - at least that's what I recll from my use of it last fall. (I believe honey supers should be off, as well, but perhaps you don't have any on now, anyway. I sure don't up here in northern NY!)
Also it needs to have good ventilation during treatment so be sure not to close the hive up too much during the upcoming cold spell. I used it during the end of the season when I had reduced entrances due to robbing and had to open up the back slot where my varroa sticky board goes to make up for the entrance reducer I had in place.
Use only one tray at a time; one right after the other.
You (and most every other beekeeper in the US) have probably had mites all along. It's uncommon to actually see one on a bee (because they are so small and often hiding between the scales of the undersurface of the bee.) It always makes me laugh when someone claims they don't have mites because "they don't see them." I find the easiest way to keep a watch on the mites is using sticky boards. They are simple, non-disturbing to the bees, and if done regularly give more than enough information to make sound treatment decisions.
Good luck - it's not the end of the world, but maybe the end of your hope that you might escape the Plague.
BTW, I wouldn't necessarily have started treatment based on see a few mites without data about whether the population was increasing or decreasing - which is information you can easily get by sticky boarding regularly. I run tests at least weekly for 72 hours all year long.
The Apiguard is going to reduce the population and interfere with the mite reproductive cycle, but it won't kill every mite in your hive. Nothing really does that during the brood period. You'll need to continue to monitor (by some method - either rolls or sticky boards - all summer, particularly towards the late summer/ early fall and consider treating again if your numbers are high so that your all-important winter bees which are being laid and hatching in the fall are born with the lowest possible pressure from mites. Don't think because you're not seeing them, that they are gone. They won't be.
Enj.
