# treating varroa mites post MAQS



## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

Hi Carrie,

You might be better off posting your question in the "Diseases and Pests" section of the forum, as this is the treatment free section. Maybe an admin. will see the post and move it. Good luck with your bees.


----------



## GrizzlyPeakBeek (Jun 10, 2016)

O, thanks Nordak! 

Also- wondering how treatment free bee keepers handle varroa mites? Are there other effective options like grease patties with essential oils? ( read about those somewhere ). What do you do?


----------



## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

I am in the apparently rare minority that doesn't have to do anything particularly to manage mites. I am diligent at keeping up with normal management, making sure I stay queen right. My bees basically take care of any mite problems themselves. I utilized swarm traps to catch feral bees for my introduction to beekeeping. I've been at it for 3 years, so far so good. There is lots of information you can gather in this forum section on techniques for Treatment Free (TF) beekeeping if you're interested in perusing some of the information. Most people are interested in propagating mite resistant bees. The methods you mentioned, E.O.s and grease patties would be considered treatments. There is truly no consensus on a single way of keeping bees off of treatments, and you will find TF beekeeping is no different than general beekeeping in that regard. Best of luck.


----------

