# Trying Hopguard II



## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

7/24/16 - 24 hour mite drop (1 day after application). 170 mites
7/25/16 - 24 hour mite drop ( day 2 after application) 42 mites
7/26/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 3 after application) 14 mites


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## Bkwoodsbees (Feb 8, 2014)

Thanks For posting


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## vtbeeguy (Jun 10, 2016)

Thanks for the post been considering trying hopguard. The mite drop counts are interesting are you going to try another sugar roll at the end of the treatment also? If so be interested if you posted that # as well. Thanks for the info


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

Hi bkwoodsbees and vtbeeguy

Yes. I plan to do another sugar roll at 7 days and 14 days, and possibly do a progressive 7-10 day follow up treatment based on what they show. I'll continue to post my updates daily this week and weekly over the next few (I'll be working out of town)


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

7/24/16 - 24 hour mite drop (1 day after application). 170 mites
7/25/16 - 24 hour mite drop ( day 2 after application) 42 mites
7/26/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 3 after application) 14 mites
7/27/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 4 after application) 7 mites


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Something to be aware of here is this is not really a lot of mites, and that at any time when broodnest is normal, around 80% of mites are within the brood.

So based on the numbers, hopguard has killed some mites, but likely only a small portion.

Hopguard has had quite a few unfavorable comments as regarding it's efficacy.


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## razerback55 (Apr 12, 2015)

So you killed about 250 mites out of a hive that has 30 to 40 thousand bees in it.
I know the drone brood has most of the mites , does this hopguard kill any of that?


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

Razerback55 

According to the maker, it only kills mites on hatched bees. From what I gather it needs to be used progressively and match the brood cycle, i.e. Multiple applications over a 25-30 day cycle. My first sugar roll indicated about a 2% mite infestation. My 250 mite drop and what I expect to see over the next few days would indicate about a 50% efficacy, which is what Randy Oliver at Scientific Beekeeping saw with his first treatment. 

One funny thing to note was that I was planning on having an integrated pest management approach using multiple techniques including green drone frames and culling the drone brood. My bees drew out my green drone frames and the queen didn't lay in them but they packed them with honey


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## Dave Burrup (Jul 22, 2008)

What I found with hopguard is it is only effective as long as the strips are wet. In our environment that is 3 days. The decreasing mite drop costigaj is seeing is likely not really from declining mite numbers as the mites are emerging from cells daily. The decline is from the decreased efficacy of the treatments due to drying. BIP found an increased loss of hives using Hopguard over other mite treatments. My spin on this is it did not work and beekeepers did not check mite levels after treatment. So hives went into the winter with high mite counts.


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

Dave Burrup said:


> What I found with hopguard is it is only effective as long as the strips are wet. In our environment that is 3 days. The decreasing mite drop costigaj is seeing is likely not really from declining mite numbers as the mites are emerging from cells daily. The decline is from the decreased efficacy of the treatments due to drying. BIP found an increased loss of hives using Hopguard over other mite treatments. My spin on this is it did not work and beekeepers did not check mite levels after treatment. So hives went into the winter with high mite counts.


Thanks for your input. Yes. I read this and that's why I am likely to repeat the treatment over the brood cycle. Randy Oliver's observations would validate your observations. He saw a 50% reduction in the "number" of mites but without further treatments the mites came back at the same "rate" in his control hives. Pre winter, I plan to use a more effective broader treatment


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

7/24/16 - 24 hour mite drop (1 day after application). 170 mites
7/25/16 - 24 hour mite drop ( day 2 after application) 42 mites
7/26/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 3 after application) 14 mites
7/27/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 4 after application) 7 miteS
7/28/16 - Heavy rain all day - no count
7/29/16 - 48 hour mite drop (day 6 after application) 35 mites

So the mite level has risen. Much of the substrate has been shredded and removed by the bees. I'll be sugar rolling again tomorrow and will report my findings.


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

24/16 - 24 hour mite drop (1 day after application). 170 mites
7/25/16 - 24 hour mite drop ( day 2 after application) 42 mites
7/26/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 3 after application) 14 mites
7/27/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 4 after application) 7 miteS
7/28/16 - Heavy rain all day - no count
7/29/16 - 48 hour mite drop (day 6 after application) 35 mites
7/30/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 7 after application) 5 mites (1 hive beetle found). Sugar roll of 1/2 cup of bees showed 4 mites. Removed chewed HopGuard strips and replaced them with new ones for another 7 day treatment. Added Beetle Blasters to proactively go after any new hive beetles. Treated the ground under the hive with Diatomaceous Earth.


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

7/24/16 - 24 hour mite drop (1 day after application). 170 mites
7/25/16 - 24 hour mite drop ( day 2 after application) 42 mites
7/26/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 3 after application) 14 mites
7/27/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 4 after application) 7 miteS
7/28/16 - Heavy rain all day - no count
7/29/16 - 48 hour mite drop (day 6 after application) 35 mites
7/30/16 - 24 hour mite drop (day 7 after application) 5 mites (1 hive beetle found). Sugar roll of 1/2 cup of bees showed 4 mites. Removed chewed HopGuard strips and replaced them with new ones for another 7 day treatment. Added Beetle Blasters to proactively go after any new hive beetles. Treated the ground under the hive with Diatomaceous Earth.

8/6/16 - 7 Day mite drop after new application on 7/30/2016 (I was out of town) 202 mites The bees had chewed the cardboard off the majority of the substrate. Performed two sugar rolls today of 1/2 cup ea of bees over the brood frames, one in the lower medium and one in the second medium showed 3 mites and 5 mites respectively. Found a total of 3 beetles in the Beetle Blasters. Observation, there is a good amount of capped brood on the middle 6 frames of each of the lower two mediums medium and some new larvae. There was only one frame of brood in the third medium. The middle frames were empty and side frames of each were filled with a mix of nectar and pollen. Only one tiny section of drone brood on one frame. Top medium honey super is packed with honey.


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## arcowandbeegirl (Oct 11, 2010)

Thank you so much for posting all of your info!


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