# Heat treatment of varroa mites, anyone have any reviews?



## Jackchapmanjr (Nov 17, 2014)

I know there has been talk about the topic, just wondering if there is anyone actively using heat as a form of mite treatment and if so hows it going?

Thanks,
Jack


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## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

There has been some discussion about the "Solar Hive", you'll have to look around for it but it's here somewhere.

It seems like a 'gimmick' to me, and a little of a pie-in-the-sky idea. I'm going to stick with what's working for me already.


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## R_V (Aug 20, 2016)

I've seen this but not in action http://www.greenbeehives.com/thevictor.html


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## WesternWilson (Jul 18, 2012)

The Thermosolar hive is supposed to be shipping in April. Only via field trials can we see if the heat method is effective, and which units work best. If we can get effective mite kill with this method, it opens up a truly non-toxic treatment for those uneasy with or unwilling to use any of the miticides. 

That is a goal worth checking out! 

I am hoping to trial the Thermosolar setup this season and will report back if/when we get it and run some test treatments.

Regards,
Janet


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## R_V (Aug 20, 2016)

As I recall, there was also a thread about SHB and the temp they require to reproduce and that hives in full sun did better possibly due to the hive temp being higher.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Doesn't it take a while to heat up? And once heated, take a good while to kill the mites? Does the hive need to be closed during usage?


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Will the brood survive that temperature? are mites under cappings killed? I seem to remember some video in German perhaps where the bees, removed from frames, were treated successfully but that is not the problem for the most part: 80% or so of the mites in a colony are under brood during the critical treatment times.

The devil is in the details; always read the fine print!

Have a read of this link and see what I mean about details! https://badbeekeepingblog.com/2014/12/29/honey-bee-sauna-keeps-bees-from-roaring/


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

I am a little late to this party but I am in my second week of use with Mitey Mite Killers that I purchased from the owner of Beehive Thermal Industries. So far, I am noticing an immediate mite drop in the range of at least 2 dozen and in some hives more on the heat plates at the end of the treatment which take between 3 to 3 1/2 hours depending upon outside temperature, the size of the hive, and any heat losses due to cracks or open area of the box to the outside. I am also seeing a LOT of dead hive beetles and the beetles that manage to escape under the heat plate are easily killed when I pull out the plastic congregated screen bottom board closer. This treatment as I understand it also kills much of the tracheal mites. 

I purchased mine here:

https://www.beehivethermalindustries.com/

I am treating 6 hives at a time so it will take me a bit to get through all 80 hives. I will post more of my observations as I get more experience with it and learn more about it. So far it looks promising. :thumbsup:


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## b2bnz (Apr 5, 2009)

I have seen the Mite Zapper, which is a plastic drone brood capture frame with electrical wire imbedded in the frame. The idea was to have drone brood, and lots of mites in the drone cells, heat up the electrical wires and cook the drones and the mites at the same time. The bees would then clean out the dead drones and mites and leave the clean frame ready for the queen to lay another set of drone eggs. http://www.mitezapper.com/
Maybe this would be better than heating up the whole hive?


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

Live Oak;
I am treating 6 hives at a time so it will take me a bit to get through all 80 hives. I will post more of my observations as I get more experience with it and learn more about it. So far it looks promising. :thumbsup:[/QUOTE said:


> May I may a suggestion.... You've got a lot of hives, leave some untreated as a control, treat some with a standard treatment like OAV and treat some with your new heaters.
> 
> Alcohol wash and mite count from all three sets and compare. There is no point in guessing or anecdotal reports. You've done 6, treat 6 some other way and pick 6 untreated for your control
> and actually count the mites. What you find will be extreme beneficial to the rest of us in beesource. I remember the group that really proved vaping with mineral oil was really not effective.
> ...


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

I can't imagine spending three and a half hours to kill a couple dozen mites. I would think that the killing process takes place during the treatment and that's all the mites you're going to see in a fall off perhaps a few more over the next few days. Not impressed unless I am missing something here? J


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

I have posted some pics of my results with respect to immediate mite drop here:

https://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?341558-varroa-heat-treatment/page2

I have also noted that large numbers of small hive beetles are also killed with this treatment. Mite drop varies widely from hive to hive. Some hives apparently have high foretic mite populations while others don't. These pics show far more than a couple of dozen mites. What you don't see is the larva in the capped brood where the mites were killed which is the most important aspect of this treatment. Killing the reproductive mites in the brood is far more effective in my opinion than just treating for foretic mites.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

I guess you will have to prove to me that mites are being killed under the cappings if you only have a couple dozen phoretic mites fall off during treatment. J


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Fivej said:


> I guess you will have to prove to me that mites are being killed under the cappings if you only have a couple dozen phoretic mites fall off during treatment. J


That is your right to be skeptical. I was too at first..........VERY skeptical. However, I think it logical and reasonable to go according to fact and proven results. If you looked at the pics I posted in the link, you will see FAR more than a couple of dozen dead mites. Provided that legal and officially approved mite treatments are utilized, there is no right or wrong mite treatment. I go by what I can see and prove to be highly effective. I have used many other legal mite treatments and NONE of them result in mite drops like in the pics I posted. I have treated 38 hives so far and I am seeing consistent results. 

Bottom line is use the mite treatment that works best for you but treat your bees.

The original poster of this threat asked:

*I know there has been talk about the topic, just wondering if there is anyone actively using heat as a form of mite treatment and if so hows it going?*

I am actively using heat as a form of mite treatment and posted the results I am seeing. 

If anyone else has any questions about using this method of varroa mite treatment, I am by NO means an expert in this area but I am willing and available to answer questions and discuss issue associated with this method of treatment.


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

The president of our local beekeeper club has been using the Mighty Mite Killer and swears by it. He started using one early this spring and has reported a major decrease in the mite population in the hives he has treated. He has started a control group of hives for comparison since there is very little scientific evidence so far that it is as effective as reported. Once he releases his findings to the club I'll pass it on.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I've seen a video using this method. Drop rates weren't very high, but they seemed impressed they would get around 60-70 to drop for a few days after treatment. I see higher natural drop rates than that at times, so I really didn't understand how they were thinking that's an impressive number.


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

I've had a badly infected hive that dropped mites in the hundreds with an Apivar treatment. The bottom tray looked like it was painted with brown metallic paint after 48 hours. The hive was hit by mites, DWV, and then beetles. Took a lot of work and it survived and is my best honey producer this year. Go figure. 
I'm staying on the fence with heat treatment for mites till more information comes in.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

B-boy. Do you know how he is running his control hives? If he is not treating them at all it is not a very useful comparison in my opinion. I would be more interested in seeing an alcohol wash before treatment and then every 7 days for two weeks. For the sake of argument I'm going to assume that the heat kills at least some phoretic mites. I really want to know if it kills them under the cappings. Of course he could do one treatment and then open up all the capped brood and see if the mites are dead. That would be a really good test if he is willing to do that. J


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

From what he said two meetings ago he is working with a sideliner who has a yard of about 20 hives where he can run a small study. They are doing a weekly 3 day mite drop count on all of the hives to develop a base line and plan to heat treat 10 hives leaving the other 10 as a control. After that they will continue with the weekly drop count to monitor what effects the heat treatment had on the mite population over time. All the hives are single deeps and come from the same genetic background. They might be planning a second heat treatment as a follow up which is recommended but it hasn't been mentioned yet.
The general consensus from the manufacturer is that the 2 hour dwell of heat is long enough to kill a large percent of the mites that are still in the capped brood as well as killing some of the phoretic mites. Any brood that has been weakened by mites can get killed during the treatment also.
He thinks that a mite count over a set time is more accurate than an alcohol or ether wash with only 300 bees. After bee keeping for 25 years I"m not one to tell anyone what to do, I just listen, keep my mouth shut and weigh options. I do mite drop counts in my yard just because I don't like killing bees and I'm set up with trays under my home made SBBs which makes monitoring simpler.
I would think that treating with OAV after a heat treatment would be the most effective in reducing the mite load. 
The club is meeting this week, I'll see if anything new is going on with the study. I agree it would be very informative to pull the capped brood and check for mite mortality.


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Beeboy01 said:


> From what he said two meetings ago he is working with a sideliner who has a yard of about 20 hives where he can run a small study. They are doing a weekly 3 day mite drop count on all of the hives to develop a base line and plan to heat treat 10 hives leaving the other 10 as a control. After that they will continue with the weekly drop count to monitor what effects the heat treatment had on the mite population over time. All the hives are single deeps and come from the same genetic background. They might be planning a second heat treatment as a follow up which is recommended but it hasn't been mentioned yet.
> The general consensus from the manufacturer is that the 2 hour dwell of heat is long enough to kill a large percent of the mites that are still in the capped brood as well as killing some of the phoretic mites. Any brood that has been weakened by mites can get killed during the treatment also.
> He thinks that a mite count over a set time is more accurate than an alcohol or ether wash with only 300 bees. After bee keeping for 25 years I"m not one to tell anyone what to do, I just listen, keep my mouth shut and weigh options. I do mite drop counts in my yard just because I don't like killing bees and I'm set up with trays under my home made SBBs which makes monitoring simpler.
> I would think that treating with OAV after a heat treatment would be the most effective in reducing the mite load.
> The club is meeting this week, I'll see if anything new is going on with the study. I agree it would be very informative to pull the capped brood and check for mite mortality.


I have treated 60 of my hives so far with the Mitey Mite Killer. The mite drops vary widely. What I am finding is that the bees will almost immediately clean the varroa mites off of the heat plate. They leave the dead small hive beetles but clean up the varroa mites almost immediately. I am doing a study with some specially made mite drop plates made of aluminum that has a fine mesh netting covering it secured in place with velcro around the edges so the bees cannot remove the dead varroa mites. Apparently ants find dead varroa mites like fillet mignon as well and will carry them off quickly when they find them. 

I am averaging killing about 30 small hive beetles with the MMK and 40 to 50 SHB's that are hiding on the lower plastic closer board under the screened bottom board and on the insulation board when I remove it from the queen excluder. This is per hive. The treatment process puts a BIG dent in the SHB populations in addition to varroa mite kills. The hives I am finding the lowest varrao mite drops are the hives that I treated with Apivar this Spring and removed about a month ago. 

I have about 20 more hives to treat and I will done with this round of heat treatment for my hives. I may treat again in late October or November just to make sure I have ensured my Winter bees are as much mite free as I can get them. Each round of heat treatment saves me about $390 in Apivar. I will use OAV if required during Winter when the brood population is at the minimum or not present. I will also be conducting spot monitoring with Broodminder kits as well to keep an eye on what is going on inside the hives during Winter.


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

"Each round of heat treatment saves me about $390 in Apivar" sounds like the equipment is paying for itself already. I'm only running 5 hives so it will take a bit longer to pay off a unit. Going to put one on my wish list for now.


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Not exactly yet. I purchased 7 of the Mitey Mite Killers so I can treat 7 hives at the same time. This is the most a Honda EU2000i Inverter generator can safely run without overloading the generator. The new Honda EU2200i's can run 8. I recently purchased a Honda EU2200i Companion Inverter Generator so I can run both generators in parrallel if I need to and to run a Pro Vap 110. I have to install the tachometer/hour meter and neodium magnet oil dipstick before I start using the EU2200i. Then I may purchase 1 more MMK so I can treat 8 hives at once. It just takes far too long to treat all of these hives with 1 MMK.

Over a few rotations of treatments these MMK's will pay for themselves from the results I am seeing.


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## olehounddog (Feb 22, 2018)

Just ordered 1 and the guy from Mighty Mite said he would come on here and answer questions.


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## Kingdaddybee (Oct 11, 2017)

i'm the inventor of the mighty mite killer anyone with questions feel free to contact me at 803-504-9313 the concept has been proven as early as the SARE/usda funded one year study in 1997 https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/lne96-066/ also Dr. Linhart and Prof. Bicik have studies that have been going on for several years. which i have posted on our website https://www.beehivethermalindustries.com/resources/studies/mite-elimination-thermotherapy-2015/ in one year we now have 400 thermal mite killers working flawlessly out with our customers call if you need more info,


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

olehounddog said:


> Just ordered 1 and the guy from Mighty Mite said he would come on here and answer questions.


I am confident you will be very satisfied with it. Watch the set up videos and review the instructions (that is what I did) and your treatment will go the same.

I have finish treating my hives. I believe it was 78 in all. I put just over 55 hours on my Honda EU2000i generator performing all of the treatments. A few hives had really heavy mite drops but most were pretty moderate. On average I believe I killed about 75 small hive beetles per hive. I have tried a LOT of things to control SHB's and NOTHING I have tried has ever worked as well as the Mite Mite Killer. I am observing the hives in my apiary to see how they respond over time to these treatments and I will post what I observe.


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## FLGibsonJr (Jan 28, 2018)

Any updates on the thermal heat treatments?


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

78 hives in 55 hours? I don't see how this is an efficient method even if it kills some of your small Hive beetles. What am I missing here? A wand or a pro vapp would do those hives in 1/10 of the time. While they don't kill small Hive beetles which I don't have fortunately don't you get them back in a matter of a couple of weeks? Just seems like a very expensive and time-consuming way to me. J


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

FLGibsonJr said:


> Any updates on the thermal heat treatments?


Since my last post in this thread, my hive populations exploded after about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. 

I built 46 nucleus colonies from the 2nd brood boxes of these hive and I filled each nucleus colony with 3 frames of capped brood and 2 frames of honey/pollen. No empty frames. Most of the donor brood boxes that pulled frames from had between 5 to 7 frames of brood in varying states of development. I chose only capped brood and left the uncapped in the donor hive. I queened all of these nucs with Saskatraz queens to experiment with some different genetics in my apiary. 

Nearly all of the nucs have a second deep box installed and several have a 3rd deep box installed. I conducted hive inspections while I was treating the hives since I was already inside the box which accounted for some of the 55 hours I spent treating. I have 8 Might Mite Killer treatment units now which will speed things up a bit and the first time I did the treatments I was taking my time to observe as much as possible and be extra careful. The small hive beetle populations are noticably going down since the thermal treatments but they are nearly impossible to get rid of. I am currently feeding my hives with 1 gallon bucket feeders on top of the hive. This is where the guard bees are trapping the SHB's and I kill them each time I refill the bucket. The the 10 and 8 frame hives are draining the bucket in about 3 - 4 days. So I am feeding a 55 gallon barrel of sugar per week. 

I replaced all of the frames that I took to build my nucs with empty frames with wood framed black plastic foundation which the bees are rapidly drawing out. This helps me to rotate old comb out of the hives gradually. 

I find that this method of varroa mite thermal treatment doesn't take much longer if any than when I install Apivar strips. I choose not to use OAV in my hives while they have so much brood in them as this is very hard on the brood, especially uncapped brood in my opinion. I use OAV in my Pro vap 110 during times of little to no brood usually during mid winter and very early Spring. I tried using the provap wand. I used 4 of them at the same time rotating them between hives as they completed the treatment. This method was excruciatingly slow and a pain in the butt. 

To treat my hives with Apivar which now number 111, most of which are double deep or nearly equivalent would take approximately 400 Apivar strips give or take. More or less that is 8 fifty packs of Apivar which would cost if I got them on sale at $117.95 per 50 pack, about $944. Using the Might Mite Killers costs me roughly the cost of 5 gallons of gas at $4 a gallon (I perfer to buy premium ethanol free gas) which costs me $20. Each time I treat my bees with the Might Mite Killer it saves me about $944. The Might Mite Killer nucleus colony size treatment units should be available for sale sometime in October depending upon the damage caused by Hurricane Florence. I can still treat my nucleus colonies in the meantime by temporarily transfering the frames to a 10 frame box and treat them and then return them or just leave them in the 10 frame deep boxes for the Winter. All the while the Might Mite thermal treatment does not take me much longer than my normal chemical treatment (Apivar) for this time of year. It is still far too hot to use MAQS or Formic Pro. 

I will begin one last thermal Mighty Mite treatement towards the end of September which would be about 3 months from when I began the first thermal treatments. This hopefully will carry them through the Winter but I will have to observe and report back my findings. 

If you want a very effective chemical free varroa mite treatment then the Might Mite Killer is the way to go in my opinion. For hobby beekeepers with small numbers of hives this may not be the most economical way to go in the short term but it is chemical free. For folks with large numbers of hives the Mighty Mite Killer can be a very effective and economical option which could pay for itself in a short number of years depending upon how many are purchased and how many hives are being treated. For beekeeping clubs/organizations the Mighty Mite Killer is a great option for their members to use and share the cost in my opinion. It is a very effective option in my opinion and observation. For some it may not be the best choice due to cost and just a few hives to treat. 

Again in my opinion, the greatest benefit presented by treating varroa mites with thermal treatment is that the reproductive varroa mites and the newly hatched varroa mites that have attached themselves to the larva are killed beneath the capped brood cells. This makes the successive rotations of brood that hatch out nearly varroa mite free and the losses of larva due to varroa mite infestation and diseases they carry is substantially reduced. 

I would recommend that everyone go to the Might Mite Thermal Treatment Users Group on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/275791919813444/

Read the comments and contact and discuss the results that other Mighty Mite Users are observing.


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## FLGibsonJr (Jan 28, 2018)

Thank you very much Live Oak for the comprehensive answer. I look forward to future updates. My Dad and I have decided to purchase a unit for our medium 8-frame hives and share it, so I will offer my own feedback as well. If you have 3 8-frame medium brood boxes, do you place the heat sensor on top of the 3rd medium?

Thanks again,

FLGibsonJr


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

I'm using one now, Going to get a second one to reduce the total time to work my small apiary. I've used OAV and found if very effective and fast. It doesn't kill mites in brood. But nothing kills the SHB and that's what I'm working on. For me the jury is still out on it's effectiveness on SHB. Thou I do find some dead shb with each treatment. The effectiveness on 
mites is obvious. Also the time isn't that big a deal, set it and set the timer on your phone and go do something else. Inspect other hives, graft, mow the lawn, watch a football game, whatever. It's very expensive, but if it kills SHB and nothing else does, I'm all for it. I've got oil trays and every other SHB trap known to man. I've still got them in spades. 
That's my .02 worth.


The sensor is suppose to go on the top of the bottom brood box. 
I use 2 and 3 medium boxes for my hives. All supers off right now. I don't pull the boxes, sometimes I pull a frame, usually I don't. I just run the sensor down the correct length to be at the top of the bottom box. Pretty simple and fast.


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

FLGibsonJr said:


> Thank you very much Live Oak for the comprehensive answer. I look forward to future updates. My Dad and I have decided to purchase a unit for our medium 8-frame hives and share it, so I will offer my own feedback as well. If you have 3 8-frame medium brood boxes, do you place the heat sensor on top of the 3rd medium?
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> FLGibsonJr


No, DO NOT do that as it could result in over heating the hive and damaging or killing the bees. ALWAYS place the heat sensor on top of the middle frame bar in the middle on the bottom brood box. Remember, the bees inside the hive will fan the air inside the hive a great deal in an attempt to cool the hive temperature which will evenly distribute the heat. Remember that you only want to treat the boxes in your hive stack that actually have brood in them. Does all 3 of the medium boxes have brood in them? Place the insulation board on top of the upper most box in the stack that has brood and then set the rest of the boxes on top of the insulation board. 

https://www.beehivethermalindustries.com/how-it-works/


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

I suppose if you have more time than money and have a shb problem, this could be an option. J


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## FLGibsonJr (Jan 28, 2018)

Thanks again Live Oak.


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Robbin said:


> I'm using one now, Going to get a second one to reduce the total time to work my small apiary. I've used OAV and found if very effective and fast. It doesn't kill mites in brood. But nothing kills the SHB and that's what I'm working on. For me the jury is still out on it's effectiveness on SHB. Thou I do find some dead shb with each treatment. The effectiveness on
> mites is obvious. Also the time isn't that big a deal, set it and set the timer on your phone and go do something else. Inspect other hives, graft, mow the lawn, watch a football game, whatever. It's very expensive, but if it kills SHB and nothing else does, I'm all for it. I've got oil trays and every other SHB trap known to man. I've still got them in spades.
> That's my .02 worth.
> 
> ...


Hi Robbin, 

It has been almost 4 months, I wanted to follow up with you to ask if you had any questions, comments, or complaints about the Mighty Mite Killers you have been using? You are in a much warmer climate than I am. How is the SHB problem doing?


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

I used it on all my hives and some of my nucs. Mite drop was good for just the number that fell during the treatment. I didn't put in a sticky board to test the drop over several days. But it's obviously killing mites.
SHB weren't so obvious. I often found 3 to 5 on the board following treatment, but what I really need to do is find a hive with a lot, and treat it and see what it's like the next day. I did see SHB leaving the hive.
But impossible to tell how many or how many where in a given hive. I've got some more experimenting to do in the spring before I'll really have a feel. If it effects the SHB numbers it's worth the time and effort. 
If not, OAV is lots faster. First Hive I find in the spring with a load of SHB, we'll find out. I also bought a net to cover the hive with that is small enough mesh to catch SHB so I can tell if they are escaping in large numbers or not. By March we'll be back going full tilt and I'll find out and let you know.


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## JustinS (Jul 17, 2018)

I like the idea of not using any chemicals in hives. I have heard that there are people using mighty mite killer that run 100+ hives. As far as cost when broken down it's not a whole lot more for going to a chemical free treatment, besides just using OA (the cheapest treatment that I know of)

Here is a simple breakdown of using heat vs oxalic acid or even apivar for 100 hives and finish in 1 day treatment using mighty mite

100 hives treating 4 hives per heating pad with all hives having the sensor 

Initial investment for heat treatment
Heating pad $299.99 each (25)
Heat sensor $29.99 each (100)

Heating pad cost $7,499.95
Heat sensor cost $2,999.00

Total (without shipping) $10498.95 (100 hives) $7,499.95 if you wanted to change the sensors between hives

Cost per hive $104.98 or $74.99 swapping sensors
Cost per treatment (3) $34.99 or 24.99 first year
(No more investment after this initial investment, unless replacement parts)

Total run/treatment time to treat all hives 12hrs (approximately 3hrs per hive)

Oxalic acid treatment 

Initial investment for OA
Provap 110 $499.99 (one time)
OA bag 25lbs $89.99 (every 14 years or so)

Total (without shipping) $589.98

11,339 grams per 25 lbs
2 gram per hive each treatment (2 brood chambers)
4 treatments per year 

8 grams per hive (4 treatments)
800 grams per year (100 hives)
25 lbs would last 14.25 years approx 

Cost per hive .56 per year + $4.99 the first year (cost of vaporizer split over 100 hives)

Cost per year $56 (100 hives)

Total run time approx 7 minutes per 4 hives 2.8 hours 

By far the cheapest of options that I know of 

Initial investment for Apivar (ongoing)

2 strips per brood box (2 brood box set up 4 strips total per treatment) 

3 treatments per year (1200 strips)

$3118.80 cost per year (100 hives)

Cost per hive $31.18

Time 1 minute per hive 
1 hour 40 minutes to put in
1 hour 40 minutes to take out 

3.3 hours per treatment 

OA treatment (2) apivar treatment (1)

Apivar treatment $10.39 (1)
OA treatments $.58 (2)

$10.97 cost per hive 
$1097 cost per year

These are pretty basic numbers nothing hard set simple math 

I was just wondering why the thermal treatment is not more popular. Is it a time thing? Besides only doing OA treatments (which I think most do some type of a mix for treatment, so not to gain resistance) it would be 4 years and they pay for themselves. So if they last 12 years (I have no idea how long they last) you would be 2 times as much in money for chemical treatment. 

The initial investment for a large operation may not be feasible but someone with a few hives and growing or just starting out this would be a viable option to get going. Maybe not treatment free but chemical free is a start. 

I have just started to look into this setup. I do not currently have one or have used one nor am I a spokes person for them either. I just think this is a doable option for mites when people put the numbers to it.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

I imagine another issue is no electricity, or the lack of enough of it. Most beekeepers, especially side liners/commercials do not have their hives within extension cord distance of their hives. Running the heaters for over 3 hrs, especially up to 25 at a time would be nearly impossible without another expense like a large generator. I think the product (if it works as advertised) is fine for someone with a few hives next to their house, but impractical for most. J


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

JustinS said:


> I like the idea of not using any chemicals in hives. I have heard that there are people using mighty mite killer that run 100+ hives. As far as cost when broken down it's not a whole lot more for going to a chemical free treatment, besides just using OA (the cheapest treatment that I know of)
> 
> Here is a simple breakdown of using heat vs oxalic acid or even apivar for 100 hives and finish in 1 day treatment using mighty mite
> 
> ...


It is. One thing you did not consider in your comparison that is critical. The Mighty Mite Killer is one of 2 other treatments on the market currently that effectively treat for "foundress or reproductive" varroa mites that is in the capped brood. OAV does NOT along with just about all other treatments with the exceptions of MAQS and Formic Pro treat effectively for reproductive varroa mites to my knowledge. In my opinion and experience, effectively breaking the varroa mites reproductive cycle is the most effective means of treating and minimizing the varroa mite count in the beehive. MAQS and Formic Pro although very effective at killing both phoretic and reproductive mites is extremely hard on the brood, queen, and hive in general. This 2 treatments also have a very limited temperature window for treatment application. The Mighty Mite Killer can be used in temperatures as low as 70 degrees F and I am experimenting with hive insulation that may allow significantly lower temperatures to safely treat at. For now 70 degrees F for single deeps and 80 degrees for double deeps is the specified and recommended temperature minimums for effective treatment.


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Fivej said:


> I imagine another issue is no electricity, or the lack of enough of it. Most beekeepers, especially side liners/commercials do not have their hives within extension cord distance of their hives. Running the heaters for over 3 hrs, especially up to 25 at a time would be nearly impossible without another expense like a large generator. I think the product (if it works as advertised) is fine for someone with a few hives next to their house, but impractical for most. J


None of my hives are within a distance that an extension cord could cover. 

Each Mighty Mite Killer draws 225 watts. Two Honda EU 2200 generators can safetly run 16 Mighty Mite Killers. 3 of these generators can run 24 MMK's. 

I can run eight 10 frame Mighty Mite Killers on a single Honda EU 2200. I have 2 Honda EU's. For those who may not want to spend the money for a Honda, Ryobi makes a very good generator in this class size. I can treat 16 hives per day if I get an early start. I have a mix of about 65 10 & 8 frame hives and about 40 nucleus colonies. I have eight 10 frame, two 8 frame, and six 5 frame Mighty Mite Killers. Allowing myself a day off here and there for weather and what not, I believe I can treat ALL of my hives in about 10 days using generators. 

Last season I treated about 80 10 & 8 frame hives with my Mighty Mite Killers and a single Honda EU 2000 in about 21 days treating up to 6 hives at once twice. I used roughly 7 gallons of gas each time. I do these treatments by myself without any help with the exception of the Kaptarlift which has proven to be a HUGE help and worth every penny. I have another Kaptarlift coming for the wife for when I teach her how to perform the mite treatments, this Kaptarlift has a chain drive mechanism that is an upgrade replacing the cable drive mechanism which can be problematic if you don't watch it closely. 
The price on the Kaptarlift is more competitive as well with the oversea shipping now available. With proper planning and grouping of hives, using the Mighty Mite Killer can be worked into the IPM plan very efficiently and effectively.


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## Kingdaddybee (Oct 11, 2017)

JustinS said:


> I like the idea of not using any chemicals in hives. I have heard that there are people using mighty mite killer that run 100+ hives. As far as cost when broken down it's not a whole lot more for going to a chemical free treatment, besides just using OA (the cheapest treatment that I know of)
> 
> Here is a simple breakdown of using heat vs oxalic acid or even apivar for 100 hives and finish in 1 day treatment using mighty mite
> 
> ...


Ok for 100 hives you only need 2-3 thermal units. that's $ 900 extra sensors are not required. there are several commercial beekeepers using the Mighty Mite Killer with success. set up and completion is 3 hours when one has started you set up the second one then the Third. in relation to time beekeepers are tending to other duties for their hives while the thermal treatment is doing it's mite kill. Temperature terminates the Varroa Mite under the capped brood with flowing air from the entrance you have no harm to the bees, eggs, or Larvae. so what's your hive worth to a beekeeper. 3 units you have $ 9.00 invested per hive and you never have continue buying any more chemicals. Year in Year out.


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## Kingdaddybee (Oct 11, 2017)

it is popular in 16 months over 600 units being used by beekeepers join our facebook page to witness the results https://www.facebook.com/groups/275791919813444/


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## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

> By observation of more than two dozen heat-treatments performed in the course of this project it is clear that perhaps 5-20 percent of mites falling from the heat-treated bees and landing on the 50 degree plus catchment pan can be observed crawling around. Furthermore, heated mites salvaged by the coordinator and kept in a lidded plastic tub easily survived for more than 24 hours at room temperature. These mites immediately attached to new host bees introduced to the container of mites. LNE96_066_Final_Report


I don't know is the above is true for all heat treatment procedures, but if it is - then the prospect of survivor re-infestation would concern me greatly.
LJ


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## Kingdaddybee (Oct 11, 2017)

the Sare report was done in 1997 with a light bulb with today's technology of using industrial controls and maintaining 106F plus or minus two tenths of one degree is total different the Europeans Dr. Linhart & Prof. Bicik picked up on the Sare study and have published studies for years now. they are the ones that discovered with a controlled temperature and correct amount of time you terminate the mite under the capped brood. e mail me at [email protected] and i can furnish in pdf format his study.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Live Oak said:


> None of my hives are within a distance that an extension cord could cover.
> 
> Each Mighty Mite Killer draws 225 watts. Two Honda EU 2200 generators can safetly run 16 Mighty Mite Killers. 3 of these generators can run 24 MMK's.
> 
> ...


Sounds like a lot of time, equipment,money and work. It's almost time to treat again after you have spent 21 days treating. But if it works for you, great. Would be interested in seeing your results. 
J


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Fivej said:


> Sounds like a lot of time, equipment,money and work. It's almost time to treat again after you have spent 21 days treating. But if it works for you, great. Would be interested in seeing your results.
> J


Actually it is expected to be 10 day or less. Each time I treat with the Mighty Mite Killer it saves me over $1,000 in the cost I would otherwise have to pay for Apivar. I treat roughly every 90 to 120 days depending upon mite counts and the amount of brood raised. Treatment stimulates brood production. Last season I was about to build about 50 nucs from the excess brood which will be going towards apiary expansion.


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## JustinS (Jul 17, 2018)

Kingdaddybee I was just stating in a 100 hive production to get done in 1 day you could do it and that's the cost roughly. 1 man 1 12 hour day. 1000 hive operation treated in 10 days your savings would be something like 20k that first year. No way is any person making 20k in 10 days working for a beekeeper. With Apivar treatments you would have spent more money in a little over 2-3 years depending on what situation you choose to do in a 100 hive operation if you wanted to do it all in 1 day. Everything after that would basically be free treating. All other forms are a year to year expense. Most say oh it's too much. Well you spend that type of money already if you treat just spread out over 2-3 years with a 100 hive operation. Just very few people actually put numbers down on paper and figure out the actual cost of what they spend to keep bees IMO. 

Of course you can buy fewer pads and spread it out which I think most would do and in most peoples budgets. Build up over time. I think I remember reading somewhere also the average keeper has 50 or less hives. So if you had 3-4 going that is really just 2 weekends starting on Friday after you get off work all for like you said $900-$1200. You can find generators that don't cost a lot of money to get going that will handle 4 plugs 

I look at it more as a business stand point and not a hobby I guess. If you have it set up as a business it's all a write off anyways. If you sell your wax you could also potentially go after makeup and pharmaceutical markets also for they seek chemical free wax. People in my area will pay more for honey if they know 100% that chemicals of any kind did not come in contact with hives. Chemical free treating could open up an untouched market in peoples areas if they start looking at it from a business stand point.


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## newbeek79 (Mar 21, 2017)

There is a brand new study on this process. I use the process and have good results similar to this study. I am attaching it to the post.
View attachment 6-15-18 Mighty Mite Thermal Treatment Case Study_.pdf


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## GreenBeehives (Oct 28, 2012)

We sampled a dozen capped brood, after treatment with The Victor by Greenbeehives.com and found dead mites on half of them and no mites on the others. You can do this test yourself risk free with our 30 day money back trial, and kill as many brood as you would like to inspect. We followed the test with a mite count board for 14 days, which showed an even fall each day until the 14th day which dropped precipitously. That is because as each days brood hatched, the mites that died during the 3 hour treatment were then able to fall.


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## Dflynn (Aug 11, 2017)

Hello everyone. I just found this thread. I’d like to share that I treat 75 hives plus nucs thermally every year. I’m 100% thermal using Mighty Mite product after doing extensive research. The AC powered unit is very temperature stable and has built in safeties. I do run multiple units by house power and generator depending on the locations. 

For those that are concerned about time, get these things installed and go do something else. The auto off timer turns unit off when finished. 100% chemical free. No hive losses anymore unless it’s a small hive that gets robbed out when I’m not watching. 

No more repeat chemical treatments. Incomplete Mite kills, no worries about honey, no suffocating masks on hot days and my all time favorite - kills mites under capped brood at Mite peak when it’s too hot to use anything else. 👍😎👍


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

What about the phoretic mites? From pics/vids I have seen, the bees are eager to leave the hive during treatment and fly off or beard. It seems to me that while the treatment may be effective on mites in capped brood, isn't the hive quickly repopulated with mites because it is not killing phoretic mites? I have read the "study" linked and it leaves me with a lot of unanswered questions. I would like to see someone do a more long term study before I get too excited about this type of treatment. J


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## Dflynn (Aug 11, 2017)

In one of my tests, the bearding bees were recorded on video. It was very interesting to watch them come and go inside the hive. Obviously we can video identify each bee but there is certainly exposure to Mite kill temps. Next we noticed bees coming and going from the vent in the top. Regular mite counts and monitoring board counts continued through 14 on most hives then ceased. I’ve seen a report on a heavility infested hive take up to 21 days for Mite fall to cease. 

I agree, it would be great if our bee labs would take a break from their chemical infatuation and study this. 

I have lots of unanswered questions also. For now, the Mighty Mite product remains Beekeeper Tested and Approved. There’s no longer any doubt about that. I’m 100% chemical free 2 years and 75 hives now thanks to it.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Years ago, probably 25, some Russians built a device for heating bees..and killing varroa. It looked like a rock tumbler, but the cylinder was #8 screen. There was a heater of some kind. The broodless colony was shaken from the combs and into the cylinder. After heating to a temperature, the bees were returned to the hive. A beekeeper in Vermont built one not long after the Russians and used it for, I think, a couple years. Doesn't use it anymore. By the time our bees are broodless, it's cold and almost winter. Tough shaking.


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## Dflynn (Aug 11, 2017)

You are correct. It’s been a long slow journey since the heat discovery in the late 80’s and the the USDA funded study in the mid 90’s. We knew it worked but was impractical. In Europe they progressed in control but was a huge piece of furniture. Then solar followed by DC powered. Both suffered wide temperature swings and were inconsistent. When Mighty Mite arrived, we were eager to test it. I’ve never looked back. I’ve not seen colony health like this since the 80’s. 

Michael - the Mighty Mite effectively terminates Varroa Unser capped brood. Pretty amazing.


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