# Starting treatment with apilife-var today.



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

After going in my hives this morning and finding mites in a section of capped drone cells, and after seeing bees with deformed wings, and husk-like shells on some bees, I was told that this is mite related problems. I had been checking with a non-sticky, sticky board for mite drop counts and they were around 1 or 2 mited per 24hr period. I had neglected to do any sugar shake tests for the fact that I had not seen ANY mites on bees on guard or foraging or drones coming and going. I was assuming that if I see mite drop counts slipping upwards, say around 5-10 for a 24hr period, that I would do the sugar shake test and decide from there.Now, this colony is in one deep and started from a swarm I caught back on July 5th on the sprayboom of a JD highboy sprayer. It was about a 2lb swarm. I put them in a deep with plastic cell foundation and two drawn frames (honey/pollen and brood) of wired wax foundation out of a 5 frame nuc I had just purchased. The bees loved the wired wax foundation and stayed away from the plastic foundation. After about a week , I went back and found the queen was laying a good pattern and the bees had drawn out a small bit of two frames of the plastic cell. I took out the remaining plastic cell foundation and swapped it for wired wax foundation. That was a smart move! The bees then started to work drawing out the wired wax and left the plastic cell alone again. I learned a leason that bees like wired wax foundation over the plastic cell stuff and will abandon the plastic if given a chance.  But , the colony was slow to build comb and just sat there doing nothing , while my other two hives were working hard bringing home pollen and sucking down sugar syrup.( I have been feeding sugar syrup on the rate of about two-three quarts a day everyday since I got the first bees back in June. So, I had the bright idea to switch hives with the 5-frame nuc hive which was doing great. This resulted in strengening the weaker swarm hive , but since the foragers of the weak swarm hive came back with no gifts or presents or pollen they had a big fight with the nuc hive and in two days time, I found lots of dead bees and the queen dead out in the grass in front of the hive I bought another queen and in about 7 days or so, this colony had a new laying queen. The weak swarm hive seemed to be doing good for a week or two, but then started slowing down again. The mite drop count still around 1 or 2 for 24hrs.This leads me back to were I am now. So today, I put in apilife-var in both hives to get a hold on the mite problem, if any. I read the posts ( 34 pages worth) labeled "24hr mite drop", where there were lots of good info and some bets going on about when the colony would die. Anyway, that person did daily mite drop counts for the forum ( which seemed to defy all odds) through out the year. I will attempt to do the same thing with this colony and I hope to obtain a similar result, to over-winter this hive with success. The apilife var package states to cut the strips lengthwise in half and then cut in half again. This being enough for two colonies. Place the four peices of one strip in screen cages( this was not on the label anywhere) and place at the four corners of the brood area. Leave them for 7-10 days and repeat for 7-10 more days then a third treatment for 12 days. Treatment #1 started today at 5:30 PM 8/19/2007 on the swarm hive in one deep, and in the nuc hive which is in a deep and a medium with eggs in the medium. I cleaned and greased up (crisco) the plastic sticky boards and inserted them under the hives. Tomorow I will start updating with the mite drop counts updated.


----------



## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

Do I understand that you STILL haven't done a sugar shake? WHY???


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day one mite counts*

First 24 hours of treatment of apilife-var in two hives.
Swarm hive--114
Nuc Hive-----44

Iddee, I was depending on natural mite drop on a non-sticky board to make me do a sugar shake. It seems that I should have been doing sugar shakes all along,but now seeing deformed wings and bees with a snake skin -like covering, and being told it is mite related, I skipped the sugar shake and treated. I am not one to use lots of chemicals ( except roundup) and I don't even like going in the hives unless its called for because the bees eat honey they can't afford to consume right now. This hive will probably not make it unless they get going soon. A new queen could make a big difference.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*2nd day mite counts*

These are the 2nd day mite counts.

Swarm hive---93
nuc hive------80


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*3rd day of treatment*

Swarm hive---38
Nuc Hive-----40


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day four of treatment*

Day four of treatment.
Swarm hive-----19
Nuc hive--------36


----------



## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

You can expect the numbers to jump higher again when you put the second treament on the hives. After which the numbers will dwindle down.


----------



## Bee Draggle (Apr 5, 2006)

The apilife var instructions are very confusing. Here is the deal. It takes 1 1/2 packets to treat one hive 3 times or so I have been told by forum members.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*fith day of treatment*

Fifth day of treatment
Swarm hive-----21
Nuc Hive-------23
Noticed some wax moth worms on the sticky board and a couple of dead adults.

I agree that the instructions should be better. They were in very small print and I had to re-read them several times to try to understand how much to put it. I had also inadvertently crushed the package so when I opened it, it crumbled to small pieces.This made it even harder to determine how much to use. For those who don't know, this stuff looks like the stuff they put in artificial flowers to hold them in place. The green styrofoam looking stuff. It is soaked in the chemical and is wet with it, and it looks like a green sugar daddy. There are two of these in a package.It has a very familiar smell, but I can't place it. I hope wax worms choke on it!


----------



## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

The smell you recognise is camphor/menthol. Sort of smells like Hall's mentho rub, used to treat for colds, and congestion. It is made of the same material as the flower holder stuff. I have found a lot of crushed packages, it is not an issue, just place the pieces around the brood nest, however the bees can carry the smaller pieces away (but it usually takes a day or 2).


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day six of treatment*

Day six of treatment

Swarm hive-------16
Nuc hive----------20

I did not get a chance to count yesterday at 5:30pm like all the other counts. I had to wait until this morning to count. So I would expect today's (day 7) counts to be really low as there will only be about 9 hours of elapsed time in stead of 24hrs.
Still saw two little worms(wax moths?) on the sticky board. I hope they are not taking over the hive.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*day eight of treatment*

Day eight of treatment
This count is actually about 36hrs.
swarm hive----11
nuc hive-------21
Double deep that has not been treated, just natural mite drop---31
I will start treatment when I do the second part for the other hives.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day nine of treatment*

Day nine of treatment

Swarm Hive------9
Nuc Hive---------4
Double Deep natural drop-----24
I hope tomorrow to get the second part of the treatment started and to start the double deep treatment.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day 10 of treatment*

Day ten of treatment.
Swarm Hive-------6
Nuc Hive----------3
Double deep natural drop-------26

I started the second part of the treatment on the hives and started the first treatment on the double deep hive. I had added a medium super on top of the double deeps , but they had drawn no comb. The second super is VERY heavy All I could do to lift it! Is the apilife-var a contact treatment of vapor? They had tried to propalize the screen wire and one hive had done a very good job of it. If it is contact, then doesn't the screen prevent full efficacy?


----------



## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

It is a vapor, and contact is not necessary. With Apiguard they say contact is necessary for it to vaporize. 

A screened envelop probably makes the used ones easier to remove, but they are unnecessary if you don't want to use them. 

Wax moth worms on trays are common. They seem to eat fallen wax and the bees can't get to them to remove them. No problem.


----------



## Billy Y. (Feb 1, 2005)

*no supers on!*

Am I understanding you right in that you have honey super on those hives still?

You should remove them before treatment or your honey may get a slight listerine taste.

Also, are your daytime high temps staying below 90 deg there in NC?

Your mite drop info puzzles me. Usually I don't see increased drops for several days after applying the api life.

There should be two wafers per package. Cut each wafer into quarters and place on top of frames in upper brood box.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day Eleven of treatment*

DAy eleven of treatment
This is the first day of the second part of the treatment for the Swarm hive and the Nuc hive and the first day of treatment for the double deep.

Swarm hive------3
Nuc Hive--------17
Double deep-----88

There is a medium super on the double deep. I was hoping they would draw the comb before the cold weather, but it ain't happening. I'll take it off if they don't get to it by end of October.

I did notice something strange. I had added a medium super to the Nuc hive and they had started drawing it out. After they had about 3 frames drawn, the queen laid at least one frame mostly full of eggs. When I went back in yesterday expecting to find sealed brood, All I found was honey! No eggs anywhere! Did the bees move the eggs or eat them. They must have because I found nothing but honey in the super. I don't care if she laid there or not, I give it to them to make more winter stores. But where's the eggs?


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day twelve of treatment*

Day twelve of treatment

Swarm Hive------13
Nuc Hive---------27
Double Deep------69


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day Thirteen of treatment*

Day thirteen of treatment

Swarm Hive-------5
Nuc Hive----------7
Double Deep------48

I don't think the swarm hive is going to make it thru the winter. They are not doing anything. I say this because they are not foraging and this is backed up by the lack of debris on the sticky board. There was only a little clear wax on the board. There was no darker cappings that would indicate newly hatched bees, no pollen. There are about 3 frames of bees there. There is also some of that danged plastic cell foundation , that the bees seem to hate. The little section of comb that had been built in the frame with the plastic foundation, was actually over the foundation, and not attached to it. I need to burn this stuff and put in wax foundation.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day Fourteen of treatment*

Day fourteen of treatment.
Swarm Hive------0
Nuc Hive--------10
Double deep-----17

The two strong hives are bringing in pollen and feeding as hard as they can. Fanning and a nice hum coming from them.The swarm hive is just washboarding. Only a few foragers. Nothing to see on the sticky board, almost as clean as when I put it in.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*day fifteen of treatment*

Day fifteen of treatment
Swarm Hive-------3
Nuc Hive----------8
Double Deep------8


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day sixteen of treatment*

Day sixteen of treatment

Swarm Hive----0
Nuc Hive-------7
Double Deep---38

I wonder if I need to complete the third phase of treatment on the swarm and nuc hives.


----------



## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

Do you have any capped drone brood in them? If so that where most of the mites will be. Most of the mites should be cleaned out of the worker brood. However to be on the safe side, I would continue treatment until the full hive has completed the second course of treatment.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*day seventeen of treatment*

Day seventeen of treatment
Swarm HIve---------0
Nuc Hive------------8
Double Deep--------42


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*day eighteen of treatment*

day eighteen of treatment

Swarm Hive--------0
nuc hive-----------1
Double Deep-------20

There were alot of bees doing orientation flights at the swarm hive. This is a good sign!


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day 19 thru 24 of treatment*

Day 19 thru 24 of treatment
I've been on vacation and have not been able to check mite count until this morning.

Nuc Hive---------3
Swarm Hive------0
Double Deep------0

I don't understand these counts. They should be higher than a single day but they are not. I suspended the treatment on the swarm hive before I left because of consistent low counts. I expected the swarm to haver about 30 and the double deep to have about 125. What MAY be the answer; There was a layer of hive debris on the sticky boards effectively making it not sticky. Maybe the mites just crawled away? The ones found in the Nuc hive were right at the end of the sticky board, but shouldn't there be a count from the first day I was away that would have been stuck in the crisco? Another thing that may have happened is that the bees may have propalized the screen cages that the apilife-var is in. I did not smell any of the chemical when I was out there. Any thoughts?


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day tweny-five of treatment*

Day twenty-five of treatment
Nuc Hive-------1
Swarm Hive-----0
Double deep-----7


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day twenty-six 0f treatment*

Day twenty-six of treatment.

Nuc Hive------2
Swarm Hive---1
Double Deep---7

This should be the end for the treatment on the Nuc hive. (I stopped the treatment on the swarm hive after the second part because of low mite counts.) The bees had really propalized the screen wire in the Nuc hive. I had some apivar already in screens from last week that did not get used that had dried out somewhat. So I put two new peices along with two of the dried out pieces in the Nuc and double deep hives. As it stands, The Swarm hive has four empty frames of wax foundation that I had just put in. That is in one deep body. The Nuc Hive is now only four frames left to draw in the medium super. It is in a deep and a medium. The double deep is of course in two deeps.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day Twenty-seven of treatment*

Day twenty-seven of treatment

Nuc Hive--------0
Swarm Hive-----0
Double Deep----28
This actually day 16 for the double deep.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day Twenty-eight*

Day twenty-eight of treatment
Nuc Hive----------1
Swarm HIve-------0
Double Deep-------1

I really don't understand these low numbers on the double deep. I suspect they are propalizing the screens because I cannot smell the menthol like I could when I first started the treatments when I'm out doing the mite counts. The temperatures are alot lower now though. I would like to think that the mites are going away fast, but I just can't believe it. It really is funny to watch the bees do orientation flights on windy days. There were landing in the grass and blowing right by the hive.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day twenty-nine of treatment*

Day twenty-nine of treatment
Nuc Hive--------1
Swarm Hive-----0
Double Deep----7

(day eighteen on the double deep)


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day Thirty-five of treatment*

Day thirty-five of treatment
Day 24 for the double deep
Nuc Hive---------3
Swarm Hive------1
Double Deep-----2

I have been unable to count mites for the last six days. Again, I expected the counts to be a high number representing the accumalative counts for six days. They are low just as the previous time that I had several days between counts. Again, I contribute this to the build-up of hive debris on top of the sticky board, enabling the mites to crawl away. If anyone else has another idea, I'd love to here it. I put in the third treatment of apilife-var in the double deep hive. I also forgot to get the nuc hive treatment out, but will try to do so asap. I expect the numbers to be higher on the double deep this week.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Day thirty-six of treatment*

Day thirty-six of treatment
Day 25 on the double deep


Nuc Hive--------2
Swarm Hive-----0
Double Deep-----5

Swarm hive has almost zero hive debris on board. What are these bees doing?


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*day 37 of treatment*

Day 37 of treatment 
Day 26 for the double deep.

Nuc Hive--------1
Swarm Hive-----0
Double Deep-----1

I could smell the menthol in the double deep so It should be working


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*day thirty-eight of treatment*

Day thirty-eight of treatment
Day 27 on the double deep.

Nuc Hive--------2
swarm hive------0
double deep-----2


----------



## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

From your reports it sounds like you have the mites under control, hopefully the small one will have enough time to hatch enough healthy bees to survive your winter.


----------



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

*Last count for the forum and grand totals!*

The last count for the forum,,,,,,
Nuc Hive-------1
Swarm Hive----0
Double Deep----4

Grand totals-----(drum roll please)

Nuc Hive---------373
Swarm Hive------353
Double Deep-----475

Does not sound like alot to me, what do you guys think?


----------

