# Fighting Varroa by breaking brood cycle



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Sure it works, its why hives that swarm off, or are split off delay the growth of the mite population in the hive. I dont think its feasable to artifically stop queen laying with a cage or what ever. But splitting off hives mid summer, allowing the hive to requeen itself will provide you with the same result, and if you apply a acid treatmetn to them at that time, your hive will be v mite free for quite a while


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

Similar tests are made in a German bee institute. They removed the sealed brood combs and let the bees hatch in an incubator.
The hive got empty combs and the queen started right away again. They treated the brood free hive with OA vapor and killed the Varroa. After the bees hatched they also treated them with OA vapor and than brought the bees and the empty combs back to the original hive and combined them with newspaper.
It works perfect and the colony had a mite free start. No weaken of the colony.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

An easy way, if you don't mind another hive, is to do a cut down split:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#cutdown

But if you don't want a split, confining the queen will work
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#confiningqueen

Assuming you do it at the right time it can greatly increase your harvest. Two weeks before the flow would be perfect.

But it seems like it's just as easy to put the queen somewhere she can continue (with some open brood and stores) and let the old hive raise a new queen. You get a new queen, more honey and less Varroa.


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## apemarco (Jan 27, 2009)

Hello, I live in northern Italy near Swiss border; last year I stopped brood by cageing about 120 queens in my apiary first week of July. I left them in cages for 18-21 days, afterwards I drippled oxalic acid; the mite drop was between 500-4000 units x hive. Most interesting thing was that after freeing the queen she started laying just as in springtime and I prepared strong colonies for the winter. At the moment they look very promising and I hope to reach an outstanding haevest!
P.S. vision some shots of the cage on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apemarco/sets/72157605472184333/


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## db_land (Aug 29, 2003)

Greetings apemarco, very nice photos. I'm curious about the queen cage you use for confining the queen: are the spaces between bars wide enough for worker/nurse bees to enter/leave, but narrow enough (like a queen-excluder) to confine the queen? Thanx


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## Aspera (Aug 1, 2005)

I had been caging my queens at the beginning of white clover flow to interrupt the brood cycle and help control varroa. This was a useful technique for breeding, splitting and swarm control. Last year I did not do this as all of my Russian hybrids seemed to interrupt the brrod cycle on their own, although the timing was not quite what I had hoped. I used push in queen cages and now consider them an essential management tool..


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## fatscher (Apr 18, 2008)

Apemarco, bravo, your photos are bellissimo!

With your permission, may I use some of them in a presentation I'll be giving to school children in April?

Also, thank you for your words of wisdom and for posting here. 

I visited Italy last summer in June 2008, and bought some honey while at Pompei. I believe it was Miele Italiano di Castagno. The label says "Consorzio Prodotti Agricoli Irpini." And it is made by Copai. It appears to be extracted from the bee yards of Apicoltori Campani. Is that anywhere near you?


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## apemarco (Jan 27, 2009)

Thanks for your kind words. Thespace between bars in the cage works like a queen excluder and inside it the queen can lay eggs. You put the cage into the frame by cutting a piece of comb and you leave it for many years; the cost is about 4 euros each.
I will be glad if you use my picture for your activities, if you need them at higher resolution just let me know. I live in northern Italy on the Alps, 800 miles away from Pompei where you were. I also produce chestnut honey, as well as acacia, alpenrose and linden.


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## paul.h (Aug 9, 2008)

Best bee pictures I have seen on the net. I would like to be able to download the set to show at our next bee club meeting and beekeeping classes.


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

Apemarco,

Have you submitted your photos for publication in magazines? If not, you should. 

Neil


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