# Honey-B-Healthy and Verroa Mites



## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Do we have a new mite?
Never heard of a "Verroa" mite.
Has your drench method been tested for efficacy wherever this new mite came from?
Otherwise, I would stop wasting time and go to www.scientificbeekeeping.com and read some really good effective methods of mite control.


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

New Ky Beekeeper said:


> I have used Honey-B-Healthy applied as a drench using a sprayer. I have used it 3 times on my hives this year and always with no supers on. I use it in a 1:1 syrup at 12 tsp per quart. Does anyone else use Honey-B-Healthy? If so, how?
> Also, if I am drenching my bees 4 times per year, do I need to apply sugar to get the bees to clean themselves (and knock mites off)???


Some of us are not so concerned over spelling. In answer to your question, HBH does not specifically and directly aid with varroa mite control. It DOES however stimulate your bees to consume and store more sugar syrup which does definitely aid with keeping the bees in good health. Healthy bees are more likely to survive and be more resistant to varroa mites. Some research indicates that the mites don't like the smell of various essential oils and in some cases the essential oils are toxic to them such as wintergreen, thyme, and tea tree essential oils. 

Drenching your bees may have some limited effectivness in removing varroa mites in a similar fashion that dusting with powdered sugar does.

Your best defense against varroa mites and SHB's is keeping healthy bees. 

I use a number of measures to combat varroa mites, during dearths in nectar I feed sugar syrup treated with HBH and wintergreen or Thyme essential oils. You can do searches to find the various mix rates others have used and had success with. I will treat with Hopguard in the near future. In the fall went temps lower I treat with Miteaway II formic acid pads (I bought a lot of them before they were taken off the market) or you can use Mite Away Quick Strips which has replaced them. 

The bottom line is that varroa mites are becoming resistant to conventional pest treatments so you will have to try various methods and employ an integrated pest management system to find what works best for you. I personally prefer to use natural varroa mite treatments or at least use materials that are food grade and safe to consume when done so properly. 

Good luck! I think it is an on going war with just about every beekeeper.


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## psisk (Jul 21, 2011)

I have used powdered sugar and had relatively small mite drops all summer. But I pulled some drones from burr comb the other day and got a shock at the mite numbers. As soon as my daytime temps get below 95-100 during the day I will go with MQS to hopefully eliminate them in the brood cells. I had as many as six mites in some cells but still see none on the bees when working them. I have put drone comb in my hives also. Wanted to avoid chemicals but would rather avoid colony collapse more!!


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## Kazzandra (Jul 7, 2010)

I use Honey Bee Healthy drenches. Then there was this one night that we had an unusually cold (58 degrees) night after drenched. 30 dead bees on the ground the next day when I came out. That could have been just from the cold, but now I think about the fact that I am chilling them a bit with liquids.

I think it helps with mites but I'm not sure how much. I think Vitagreen does a better job, as it has thyme oil right in it, and also adjusts the sugar ph back down to honey level.

I have some Api Life VAR if I need it over the next few weeks. Even when my mite counts are within threshold, I get paranoid. 30 in three days sounds like too much. :<


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## Seymore (May 1, 2009)

Has anyone mixed HBH and something else - like Vitagreen? I have both - wonder what would be the harm? Maybe too hard to get proportions, but I doubt it.


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## rmar1205 (Jun 23, 2011)

I use hbh-same recipe as on the website, use it neat on the hives 4 pints of hbh sugar mixture with 20ml of vitafeed gold added, the bees went crazy for it, took the whole lot in 24 hours, gave two lots in 2 days.
no signs of any harm to the bees, seeming to thrive on it-only downside is wasps-lots of them-reduced the opening to stop robbing.


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## ces76 (Mar 28, 2014)

I have drenched HBH but with the intention of hopefully controlling Nosema. I don't believe that the studies on HBH drench were for mites.If I'm not mistaken they were done for Nosema Carnae. However I agree with LiveOak that keeping healthy bees helps with mites. I've only used powdered sugar for mites as I don't like introducing chemicals into my hives.


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