# When do you do summer treatment for varroa?



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Do one OAV treatment now and see what your mite drop is after 48 hours. If I've more than 50, I do a series of treatments, once a week for 3 weeks, then again in the fall when the brood is at its lowest level.


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

Thanks, so you would skip summer treatment unless you see >50 mites/48hrs after a single OAV? And do the same in the fall (in my area, the least-brood period is probably in December)?


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

50 is my threshold to treat. You have decide on yours. If you do not do a series of treatments now, I would still do the single treatment during the broodless period.


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

I plan on treating with maps when ever Temps are below 85 for a week buy the heat today who nose when that will be


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

snl said:


> 50 is my threshold to treat. You have decide on yours. If you do not do a series of treatments now, I would still do the single treatment during the broodless period.


Did this diagnostic OAV on two hives (8+8 frame deeps, 1/2 tsp OA) and a nuc (5 frame deep + medium, 1/4 tsp OA). 48hr mite drops were 16, 7, and 0, and I decided not to continue on to a round OAV treatment this time. I really like this diagnostic use of OAV. Far more sensitive than counting natural drop and much easier than sugar roll. I will check all hives again in a month or so. And yes, I’ll definitely treat them in winter during the broodless period.


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## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

Hi!
I usually do a 50%Formic acid treatment early July. I do not do mite count, I just assume I have mites. fast forward end of July, I will do a formic acid treatment if the temps are low to mid 80s. I just assume I have mites doesn't everyone? If the temps are insanely near 90s I have to do an OAV but I will have to repeat 2-3 more times every 5-7 days to break the brood cycle. By mid-August it should be nearing the peak Varroa and SHB season here in VA and it is sucky so I do a mite count. I use to do the sticky board IPM thing but too much can happen and the VD counts can be affected by many factors. The half cup of bees taken from an open brood frame is the most accurate sample to can take from your hive. FORGET the SUGAR roll....and anything at all to do with powdered sugar and honey bees. The alcohol wash is by far the most accurate count method. If it is too humid, the VD will not drop with the powdered sugar, and you have to shake the **** out of the jar......sacrifice 300 bees and do yourself a flavor. You really want to stay on top of VD. Especially as you approach fall and winter. WHY?? Depending on the treatment you use to kill VD ( varroa destructis) you do not want to harm your WINTER BEES. These are the guys that will live the longest and pull your hive through the winter. You want them overwintering with the lightest mite load, tracheal mite load and to an extent your nosema...I don't know how much any of these affect your i your locale. But remember, mites will continue to stress your colonies through the fall an winter and if you near an economic threashold for VD-just treat the hive while you can. sorry for the long response. OOOPS I saw MAQS...The MAQS is a good product but takes too long and I have seen brood death on open brood and newly emerging bees.....I don't like using this in the fall for fear of harming my all important winter bees. Repeated OAV treatments after the queen has cut back making brood.....until your mite count start to come down. If you still have a lot of brood you will still see VD.


Kuro said:


> Last year was my first beekeeping year and I did not treat my two hives for varroa until mid autumn (used MAQS, formic ..acid). I had a bunch of excuses for the delay, and by the time I started treatment, both hives had 2-4% infestation and one had K-winged bees. They were later treated with a round OAV in early January. Both hives made through the winter but the K-wing Hive had a queen failure in early spring.
> 
> This year, both hives still show low mite levels (none detected by sugar roll, 0-1 per day natural drop). For now, I am thinking of treating them during the first week of August, according to some beekeepers in my area. I may use MAQS or a round OAV (if temp is too high for MAQS). But what if I suddenly see lots of mites next week? Should I treat right away? Or, what if I still do not see many mites by August? Should I delay treatment until I see a certain level? I guess my question is, for those of you who regularly treat your hives for varroa, do you stick to your seasonal treatment schedule or do you adjust treatment timing (or skip it altogether) depending on mite counts?


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## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

Kuro said:


> Did this diagnostic OAV on two hives (8+8 frame deeps, 1/2 tsp OA) and a nuc (5 frame deep + medium, 1/4 tsp OA). 48hr mite drops were 16, 7, and 0, and I decided not to continue on to a round OAV treatment this time. I really like this diagnostic use of OAV. Far more sensitive than counting natural drop and much easier than sugar roll. I will check all hives again in a month or so. And yes, I’ll definitely treat them in winter during the broodless period.



what is this diagnostic OAV? You realize OA only kills phoretic mites? I can't really comment too much because you live way over there and your pest situation may be much easier to deal with than over here...interested to hear about how you guys deal with VD over there. !! cheers


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

vdotmatrix said:


> what is this diagnostic OAV? You realize OA only kills phoretic mites? I can't really comment too much because you live way over there and your pest situation may be much easier to deal with than over here...interested to hear about how you guys deal with VD over there. !! cheers


It is a single OAV as suggested by snl (post#2). It would not be effective as therapy because as you pointed out, OAV only kills phoretic mites. But it let me count fallen mites on the board. Because I did not see too many drops I stopped there, but if I saw >30 mites, I would have done 3 or 4 more OAV 5 days apart ('therapeutic OAV', so to speak). This is the first time I did this kind of OAV, so I set treatment threshold lower than snl suggested.


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## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

A good mite(s) are dead mites!


Kuro said:


> It is a single OAV as suggested by snl (post#2). It would not be effective as therapy because as you pointed out, OAV only kills phoretic mites. But it let me count fallen mites on the board. Because I did not see too many drops I stopped there, but if I saw >30 mites, I would have done 3 or 4 more OAV 5 days apart ('therapeutic OAV', so to speak). This is the first time I did this kind of OAV, so I set treatment threshold lower than snl suggested.


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## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

Just so happens someone posted this so it is a good read. the 3 beeking magazines are an excellent resource for beeks.

http://www.beeculture.com/winter-bees-formic-acid-used-right-a-successful-combination/

VD reproduce exponentially, 3 today can be 100 in 3 weeks....

well they could


Kuro said:


> Did this diagnostic OAV on two hives (8+8 frame deeps, 1/2 tsp OA) and a nuc (5 frame deep + medium, 1/4 tsp OA). 48hr mite drops were 16, 7, and 0, and I decided not to continue on to a round OAV treatment this time. I really like this diagnostic use of OAV. Far more sensitive than counting natural drop and much easier than sugar roll. I will check all hives again in a month or so. And yes, I’ll definitely treat them in winter during the broodless period.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

Kuro, Greetings from Bellevue. I have noticed that my hives that overwintered and were treated with OAV in December have far lower varroa numbers than the 2 packages I installed in April. I am sure this is not a coincidence. Regardless of the levels at this time, I will be treating all hives in a couple of weeks. The OAV is in my opinion, much easier on the bees than any other available treatment. I see no downside to treating and only downsides to not treating. My suggestion is to do a full round of treatments and stop overthinking the whole process. With only a couple of hives, the time restraints are not huge and you can put the varroa problem to rest until December. For our area, August is an excellent time to treat.


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

>I have noticed that my hives that overwintered and were treated with OAV in December have far lower varroa numbers than the 2 packages I installed in April. I am sure this is not a coincidence. 

Interesting. One of my hives still have the same package queen (installed in Apr last year) and has much less mites than a year ago (yes, it was OAVed in winter).

>Regardless of the levels at this time, I will be treating all hives in a couple of weeks. The OAV is in my opinion, much easier on the bees than any other available treatment. I see no downside to treating and only downsides to not treating. My suggestion is to do a full round of treatments and stop overthinking the whole process. With only a couple of hives, the time restraints are not huge and you can put the varroa problem to rest until December. For our area, August is an excellent time to treat.
>VD reproduce exponentially, 3 today can be 100 in 3 weeks....

Thank you, that makes sense. You are right, OAV is safe for bees and it is no big deal for me to treat just 3 hives. Last summer I did not want to spend money to buy a vaporizer so I used MAQS and it was very hot during August and I was so afraid of harming queens that I waited until the temperature went down, and by then of course there were lots of mites.....


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