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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] post-treatment testing
  • Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2016 17:32:28 -0400

Rob,

There is still time to use MiteAway Quick Strips (formic acid).  The full treatment course lasts only 7 days and it does well in 70-ish degree weather. They are 10% off at Bailey's Bee Supply this month (October) so get it tomorrow, Saturday or Monday to save some $$$. It would have been much better to have treated a couple of months ago so the overwintering bees would be healthy, but better late than never. We work with what we've got.

The ApiGuard isn't being licked off by the mites; it doesn't work that way. But it isn't clear why a number of people have reported high mite numbers after treating with ApiGuard this fall. One possible explanation, among dozens of things, could be that the weather we had this fall made it vaporize/evaporate more quickly than usual, leaving fewer exposure-days. But that may have nothing at all to do with it, in fact it probably doesn't. Another theoretical explanation could be that we picked up massive infestations from other failing colonies in our neighborhoods after we had cleaned our colonies up, i.e. so-called mite bombs. These have been studied by the USDA ARS bee lab in Tuscon and are a concern, however I'm not convinced that explains everybody's problems. Yet another theoretical cause could be some sort of manufacturing issue with the product itself. If anybody actually does know, not just speculation, I'd like to hear it.

Randall Austin


On 10/27/2016 5:05 PM, Rob Cook wrote:
1999822646.104122.1477602311510 AT mail.yahoo.com" type="cite">
So if you are not going to use the oxalic due to capped brood and apiguard is being licked off by the mites than what are the other options?

Rob Crook


On Monday, October 24, 2016 12:44 PM, John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com> wrote:


Jim,
Thanks for this. OCBA's hives at Carrboro High School were also treated with Apiguard his fall. The 10-day post-treatment sugar shake revealed one hive with a 2% residual mite load and the other with greater than 5%. The 5% concerns me and makes me question the efficacy of thymol. Perhaps this is the beginning of mite resistance to thymol.

Post-treatment testing is important.

John Rintoul
No trees or bees were killed in the distribution of this message, but countless electrons were seriously inconvenienced.

On Oct 24, 2016, at 9:33 AM, Jim Evans <jevans20 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Good morning all,

I'll tag onto this message thread from several weeks ago.  I applied Apiguard from August 15 - September 15.  Yesterday, (10/23) I tested and found three of four hives absolutely infested with Varroa.  Weather should be good enough this week to treat with MAQS so will apply this afternoon.  For those of us who are trying to do the right things at the right times, the Varroa counts are very discouraging.

Hope others' colonies are faring better!

Jim Evans
jevans20 AT gmail.com
919-949-7362 (mobile)
919-913-1971 (office)


On Sat, Oct 1, 2016 at 5:29 PM, Randall Austin <s.randall.austin AT gmail.com> wrote:
Just an FYI...

Sorry to say, I'm often cavalier about pre- and/or post-treatment varroa testing. Procrastination was going to get the better of me this time too and I was going to forego my post-treatment check because "I know the treatment works." But I had a 1st Year Cluster member visiting my bee yard today so I decided to follow my own wise advice and do a post-treatment assessment.

I had treated in March this year with MAQS and with ApiGuard the previous fall.

I applied ApiGuard on August 23rd this year and re-applied (second dose) on September 6th. The full treatment course ended September 20th. I sampled today (Oct 1st). In the first hive I sampled, I found 11 mites (on 300 bees). In the second hive I had 13 mites. I figured that was enough (2 hives out of 10, consistent results) so didn't do any more sampling. I was shocked -- I was expecting the hives to test clean.

I refuse to go into winter with an 8% infestation rate (Sue Cobey math: N/300, then multiply by 2 to account for mites under cappings). I'll be retreating with something other than ApiGuard. My colonies still have lots of capped brood so oxalic acid isn't a good option. I have no idea why the ApiGuard failed or at least failed to impress... I followed the directions to the letter.

Just saying, that advice to do post-treatment checks isn't bad advice after all!

Randall



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