# apivar



## frazzledfozzle (May 26, 2010)

Apivar is used widely in New Zealand.

Treatment period of 10 to 12 weeks, works very well with no problems so far.

Apivar comes in strip form and is applied 2 strips per brood box


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

One of a number of recent threads using Search.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?276658-Apiver-feedback-please&highlight=apivar


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## frazzledfozzle (May 26, 2010)

Just to add that a comment was made that Apivar kills the mite directly when from what I've read Amitraz causes paralysis in the mite, it falls off the bee and starves to death.

Here's another link with lots of info http://www.apivar.co.nz/FAQs.htm


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

Amitraz is the chemical ingredient in Apivar, so action on the mites is the same.


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## frazzledfozzle (May 26, 2010)

mgolden said:


> Amitraz is the chemical ingredient in Apivar, so action on the mites is the same.


I realise that Mgolden thats why I mentioned that the mite dies from starvation due to paralysis rather than being killed on the bee and falling off as was alluded too in one of the posts


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

good results from here, got to make sure the strips are in complete contact with the hive cluster at all times. Also you have to keep the strips in the hive for the full treatment period .


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Amitraz is a chemical class of it's own, and is used as a miticide, not just for varroa but it's also used in animal drenches to rid sheep, cattle, etc of mites and ticks.

As per Frazz it causes paralysis of the mite. If you examine a testing board a day a fter an apistan treatment (assuming the mites are not immune), the mites on it are dead. But a day after an apivar treatment, many of the mites can be seen to be alive and kicking, but have been paralysed enough to cause them to drop off the bees & they perish within a few days.

My own experience with Apivar is it is slow to kill the mites, you don't get them all the first, or even second brood cycle, it is nessecary to leave the strips in (for me) for 10 weeks to reduce mite load to close to zero. This of course brings up questions about immunity, but strangely, little mite resistance to apivar (amitraz) has been reported. Where it has occurred, is believed to be due to non label applications of amitraz dosed from cattle drench and wrongly applied.


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## chillardbee (May 26, 2005)

I used apivar last year from beginning of june to mid july (I wasn't producing honey last year because I was building up from the last years devestating losses). The bees were in good shape before treatment but I just wanted to eliminate the mite equation. I went into winter with 40 hives and only lost 2 hives. the rest of the hives are in really good shape and are brooding amazingly for this time of year where i'm located, I'm finally going to have a good year. 

It seems to me that apivar is doing like what apistan did for us back in the 90's and if that is the case, it will sure be good to get back to some kind of normality.

There may also be other factors to my high survival rate too though. I am going back to honey production and out of pollination which I think will make a big difference on the state of the hives at the end of the season.


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