# New Bayer mite treatment



## Coach62

I hadn't seen this on here or anywhere else. Anyone seen this? Looks interesting, hope it isn't too expensive. 
https://beecare.bayer.com/media-cen...w-way-of-protecting-bees-against-varroa-mites


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## jwcarlson

That's from three years ago.

This is a more recent lecture:





I'll confess to not having watched more than a few minutes of it some months ago, so unsure of the content.


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## Phoebee

Bayer gave a talk at our bee club about 3 years back. Realizing that they have their own agenda to deflect criticism of neonics, the gist of their talk was that the real culprit in CCD and other bee problems is varroa. And once the hollering is done, yeah, we really do know that varroa is the root of most of our grief.

I'd guess the decision to back mite treatments is an attempt to get on the good side of the honeybee issue. For sure, their honeybee researchers have the same grudge against varroa as we do.


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## deknow

Uhhh, checkmite + strips are manufactured by bayer...I don't think it really is accurate to imply that mite treatment is a new thing on their agenda in order to deflect Neonic concerns.


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## Phoebee

After reviewing the article, I have a few questions.

Highest on my mind, is this contraption a pollen trap? Are the bees going to knock off their pollen baskets when coming thru? They mention using these at the end of summer. We don't get much nectar during that period, but the bees are still finding lots of pollen, and will need it to raise healthy winter bees.

These passages look too small for queens and drones. What are the effects of this gizmo on bees breeding? Timing will be important. 

Is late summer really the most important time for horizontal transmission routes? For us, we're eyeing the Autumn Olive, due to bloom soon, with a large and popular patch located right between us and a commercial outyard just back from the almonds. This strikes me as a great opportunity for the mites to move between apiaries, just as the drones start flying, swarms start forming, and traffic at the entrances demand that we remove entrance reducers completely.


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## Pete O

Three years have passed since the original announcement; why aren't these "gates" available? Perhaps some continuing research uncovered a major problem.


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## jim lyon

Or perhaps it was just a dumb idea from a company looking for some favorable publicity.


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## kaizen

Phoebee said:


> After reviewing the article, I have a few questions.
> 
> Highest on my mind, is this contraption a pollen trap? Are the bees going to knock off their pollen baskets when coming thru? They mention using these at the end of summer. We don't get much nectar during that period, but the bees are still finding lots of pollen, and will need it to raise healthy winter bees.
> 
> These passages look too small for queens and drones. What are the effects of this gizmo on bees breeding? Timing will be important.
> 
> Is late summer really the most important time for horizontal transmission routes? For us, we're eyeing the Autumn Olive, due to bloom soon, with a large and popular patch located right between us and a commercial outyard just back from the almonds. This strikes me as a great opportunity for the mites to move between apiaries, just as the drones start flying, swarms start forming, and traffic at the entrances demand that we remove entrance reducers completely.


I had thought before about something passive like this hole and an oil trap beneath but quickly discarded the idea as it definitely would fill with pollen in hours. not to mention not much pollen getting into the hive.


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## D Coates

jim lyon said:


> Or perhaps it was just a dumb idea from a company looking for some favorable publicity.


Could have also turned out in testing that it didn't work as they expected.


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