# What is your varroa treatment method?



## hex0rz (Jan 14, 2014)

Coach62 said:


> First, is there such a thing as a mite free hive?
> 
> Last, how do you define success in treating them?


I believe Africanized bees are virtually mite free. Maybe That's partly why they do so well. I know they have a huge swarming tendency though which probably is just as as effective add their aggression.

Successful treatment means mites are dead and your bees are not! 😁


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## Coach62 (Mar 26, 2016)

hex0rz said:


> Successful treatment means mites are dead and your bees are not! &#55357;&#56833;


But you're never going to get 100% knockdown, correct? What level of mites is everyone willing to accept?

Just curious, I'm getting ready to start my first treatment, I'd like to know how to measure if it's successful or not.

Like I said, my state bee inspector says anything over 2% of bees with a mite needs treated. I'd never heard of the ether method, only powdered sugar and alcohol. 

It seems that the bees treated with ether might have a halfway decent survival rate, even 50% survival is a lot better than soaking them in alcohol.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

one half cup of bees is generally the accepted way to measure 100 bees. you want nurse bees off a comb with young brood as those are where the mites are going to be doing the most damage.

Powdered sugar won't kill the bees, ether or alcohol does. 100 bees isn't the end of the world unless you go and check for mites every single day. 

3% is probably a good treatment threshold.

I use Mite Away Quick Strips (formic acid) once a year in August with good luck so far. Oxalic acid will work well if you use the vapor properly (three times at one week intervals when the amount of brood is low).

You should time your treatments so that overwintering bees are produced when there are very few mites in the hive, as most of the damage due to mites is really from the virus infections they vector, not the actual parasitic activity of the mites.

Peter


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## dixieswife (Apr 15, 2013)

Gentle correction: 1/2 c is ~300 bees, not 100. Unless those are really big bees. 

I don't think there's such a thing as being mite-free. Success (to us) is defined as not losing colones to mite-created problems and keeping mite counts under dangerous thresholds.

Personally we've used Thymol strips in the summer post-honey with good results. We are planning on investing in an OAV wand.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

For the last two years I've used Apivar and have 100% survival over winter into spring. Before that I was trying to be TF and lost 50 to 85+% over winter every year for five years or more.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

hex0rz said:


> I believe Africanized bees are virtually mite free. Maybe That's partly why they do so well. I know they have a huge swarming tendency though which probably is just as as effective add their aggression.
> 
> Successful treatment means mites are dead and your bees are not! &#55357;&#56833;


This is incorrect and grossly oversimplified. Africanized bees are plagued by Varroa and tracheal mites as much as any honeybee. In fact studies have showed that varroa have inhibited their spread!


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

When Tests tell me it is needed which unfortunately is usually in the spring shortly after buildup, And I want to be putting supers on. I treat with Mite away quick strips, As they can be used with supers on. then in when they ge high again usually around September, I treat with Oxalic acid vapor. I would like to treat during mid summer dearth when the queen quits laying for a while, But of late mite counts have been low still during that period, and last season very few of my queens ever quit.


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## schmism (Feb 7, 2009)

Coach62 said:


> First, is there such a thing as a mite free hive?
> Second, what are you using (with success) to treat, including your rotation of products?
> Last, how do you define success in treating them?


1) yep, any hive in Australia is mite free - in the US - NO
2) Screened bottom boards and frozen drone comb (last year I bought green frames, previous to that i just used a frame of mostly drone comb) both those methods help control mites but dont actively "get rid of them" for that i use vaporized oxalic acid
3) success is measured in low mite counts and overwinted hives.


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## Dabbler (Aug 9, 2015)

Coach62 said:


> Second, what are you using (with success) to treat, including your rotation of products?
> 
> Last, how do you define success in treating them?
> 
> ...


Coach This link does a good job of covering different sampling and treatment techniques:
http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/...15/08/HBHC Guide_Varroa_Interactive_23Sep.pdf


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## Coach62 (Mar 26, 2016)

Dabbler said:


> Coach This link does a good job of covering different sampling and treatment techniques:
> http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/...15/08/HBHC Guide_Varroa_Interactive_23Sep.pdf


Thanks for that link dabler


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## Coach62 (Mar 26, 2016)

Tenbears said:


> When Tests tell me it is needed which unfortunately is usually in the spring shortly after buildup, And I want to be putting supers on. I treat with Mite away quick strips, As they can be used with supers on. then in when they ge high again usually around September, I treat with Oxalic acid vapor. I would like to treat during mid summer dearth when the queen quits laying for a while, But of late mite counts have been low still during that period, and last season very few of my queens ever quit.


Thanks ten bears. I understand that the Formic acid kills a lot of brood, is that true?


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## Planner (Apr 3, 2016)

Dabbler said:


> Coach This link does a good job of covering different sampling and treatment techniques:
> http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/...15/08/HBHC Guide_Varroa_Interactive_23Sep.pdf


This link is excellent and a good source for the review of various treatments.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I)No, no mite-fee hives.

2) Constant monitoring (sticky boards weekly, year-round and sugar rolls monthly, during warm-enough weather) allows me to treat the least amount with the most control. I also put effort to into controlling robbing. I use OAV (broodless period and fall series) and MAQS (if midsummer control is needed), at various times of the year. 

3) Success is low-enough counts all year, no evidence of mite-vectored viruses, and strong, healthy and long-lived colonies.

Enj.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

I will use Apiguard after honey harvest. It helps with keeping the mite population low while the hive makes its winter bees

I also do a single OAV treatment in the late Fall when the hive is broodless. Doesn't hurt the bees but really _hammers_ the mites. Once I get more experience with using OAV, I will experiment with doing just one OAV treatment per hive per year as the only mite control.

I checked about 30 drone larvae last week for mites in one hive, and didn't see a single one. I am not saying I don't have mites, just saying that the single OAV treatment in the broodless Fall is super effective.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>First, is there such a thing as a mite free hive?

Not in North America...

>Second, what are you using (with success) to treat, including your rotation of products?

Nothing whatsoever.

>Last, how do you define success in treating them?

They keep surviving.

>I believe Africanized bees are virtually mite free.

Not at all. But they are surviving them.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Coach62 said:


> Thanks ten bears. I understand that the Formic acid kills a lot of brood, is that true?


It can! It can also occasionally damage the queen so that she quits laying. It has been my experience that this is most prevalent in cases when it was used in a manner inconsistent with labeling. This product is not one that should be used with the philosophy if one strip will Kill 99% of the mites in two weeks then two should get them all in a few days. I have had good results using it with minimal problems.


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## libhart (Apr 22, 2010)

I just checked the MAQS (formic strips) label and it's saying 50-85 for daytime highs. In my experience this is where the queen issues can come in. I look for 3 straight days of preferably high 70s, lows 80s are ok. That can be tough in August here. If the forecast is saying those 3 days are coming, I'm getting those strips on even if I have to take off work to do it. I wouldn't use MAQS any later than August personally simply because August still gives them enough time to raise a queen if the treatment causes that. Any later and I'd worry. This year I'm switching to OAV. I've used MAQS the last few years and like them, but using MAQS more would just be breeding resistant mites if I haven't already...I need a new mode of action.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

The strategy is to rotate the various form of treatment so that
the mites cannot be resistant to them. Last late Autumn I treated
my hives on a few round of oav using my homemade oav gadget under
the hive. That did not get rid of the mites completely. But enough to allow
them to overwinter in our mild winter area. Right now I seldom use my oav
gadget anymore as the mites are under control. I plan to only treat when needed
to without causing the mite load to be overwhelming that the colony will crash.
Face the fact that the mites are here to stay. All you can do is to control them using
various means when possible. So far oav is the most natural treatment form to use.


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## shelly0312 (May 3, 2015)

http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/...15/08/HBHC Guide_Varroa_Interactive_23Sep.pdf

This seems to infer that HopGuardII CAN be used over brood? I thought I had read "somewhere" not to use over brood. If not HopGuardII--what can be used over brood? Thanks from a Freshman BeeKeep.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

The oxalis acid or oav can be use over the open broods.
The acid will not go in the comb to kill the mites so you have
to use another form of treatment.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

How does your inspector know how many mites your bees can handle? Some bees are crawling with DWV with a mite load of 3 per 100, others can handle 3+ times the ammount. I don't treat with anything for mites, if you do plan to treat I would monitor your mite loads to determine your own thresholds and treat when there is indication you need to and not base it off some arbitrary number


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

They just don't!
The beekeeper has to decide when to treat on the high infestation.
I'm tying the thought that DWV is related to the old dark comb when the 
mite load is low 6 per 100. What if I give them all brand new comb from this
season. How will the DWV affect the capped broods? That is another one of my
little bee experiments that I will try one day.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

There for sure are mite-free bee hives in the USA. They're at the store and don't have bees in them yet. 


The beekeepers I keep meeting who "don't have mites" or "didn't have mites" have dead bees because they didn't treat their bees. Apparently you have to check the bees for mites.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

There are beekeepers here and the ones on the net who claim
that they have the tf survivor bees. Their apiary is expanding rather
than contracting into the hundreds and growing every year. How do they do it and
what kind of bees do they keep? That you need to find out and get some
tf genetics from them. I have ordered a vsh queen in a tf operation this season.
How well they fight the mites and incorporate with the algogrooming bees that I have
will be interesting. Maybe later this season I will get the mite biting bees too. If all
these are done and I don't have a tf operation then I will give up on beekeeping on my
5th year. But I have confidence that my operation will not crash seeing how the big
operation with thousands of hives crashed and came back. There are many such claim
on the net hoping that you will stumble on them to get the good resistant genetics. I have!


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## Coach62 (Mar 26, 2016)

FSU (Florida State U) claims they have bred some mite resistant bees. I'm going to try to see if I can finagle some of those somehow.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Coach62 said:


> FSU (Florida State U) claims they have bred some mite resistant bees. I'm going to try to see if I can finagle some of those somehow.


Yeah, let us know how that works out. A billion dollar bee. I doubt they give them away, or sell them, if they are indeed the real deal.

I wanted a blight resistant American Chestnut tree. I found out if you gave them $10,000 you could get a seed.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

There is such a tree and bees exist.
Deep in the eastern forest where once there stood many such a tree.
Then the disease caused their death except one old hundred years old tree that
is still thriving. It is resistant to the blight disease when all of its neighboring 
trees infected with this disease are all dead. They are trying to grow the seeds from
this old tree hoping that one day they can replant the entire forest with this good resistant
genetics. Maybe one day they can sell the trees or seeds too. The pol-line mated with the
vsh breeders is such a bee. Yes, they are here also. The trick is how can you find her to put
one in your own apiary.


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## Beesncherrytrees (May 29, 2016)

Dabbler said:


> Coach This link does a good job of covering different sampling and treatment techniques:
> http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/...15/08/HBHC Guide_Varroa_Interactive_23Sep.pdf


For anybody who uses them-where do you get the fancy, sticky grid boards to put under your screened bb?


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Harley Craig said:


> How does your inspector know how many mites your bees can handle? Some bees are crawling with DWV with a mite load of 3 per 100, others can handle 3+ times the ammount. I don't treat with anything for mites, if you do plan to treat I would monitor your mite loads to determine your own thresholds and treat when there is indication you need to and not base it off some arbitrary number


Would you mind sharing what type of losses you had last winter? Me? I lost 3/26. The ones I lost were untreated colonies. (Used MAQ's)


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