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  • From: Walter Starks <walterstarks AT icloud.com>
  • To: Erika Wittchen <erika48 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] varroa count and treatment question (Api Life Var)
  • Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 11:14:14 -0400

Apiguard can be used with high temps up to 105F. I usually try not to use it above 95F just to be safe, but I think we won't see anymore days that hot this year. I already have it on my hives.

______

Walter




Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 25, 2015, at 10:56 AM, Erika Wittchen <erika48 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Randall,

I wanted to follow up on this thread. We’ve been waiting for cooler temps to treat our hives but unfortunately after inspecting this weekend (8/23)  it appears our formerly strong hive (the one with the high mite count back in July) has suddenly lost a large chunk of it’s population and we are seeing significant level of mites. We’re also seeing a lot of bees with deformed wings on the ground near the hive (deformed wing virus). Our second hive still appears to be doing well. I’m worried that if we wait much longer (for cooler weather) it will be too late to save the hive with any treatment. With a few days in the 10 day forecast still entering the low 90’s is it close enough to treat the hives?  The fact that we already see a lot of bees with deformed wings, and such a catastrophic population drop, we are resigned that it may already be a lost cause.

Another quick note, it’s amazing how dramatically fast the impact on the [formerly] strong hive has been since a previous quick inspection the week before last (8/15). We’re wondering if something else happened for us to see that large of a population decrease so quickly.  At that inspection, we started feeding 1:1 syrup on both hives because they had little to no food stores, so we don't think they would have absconded due to starvation. We also confirmed the presence of eggs and some capped brood in that hive (during our inspection Sun 8/23), just not a lot of it.

Any thoughts on proceeding with treatment and any other suggestions from anyone would be welcomed.

Thanks,

Erika and Rob


On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 4:49 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:
Erika,

Great questions. The short answers:

1) Yes, treat both hives with an effective miticide such as ApiLife Var, ApiGuard or MiteAway Quick Strips. Treating all of them isn't to prevent robbing; it because mites drift from hive to hive on drifting bees. That behavior is a key part of the mites' propagation strategy. So you should treat your bee yard as a unit, not just a few hives within it.

2) Definitely yes, wait until the temperature allows you to treat per the label instructions. The temperature usually begins to cooperate around late August. The 3 fumigation-type treatments mentioned above are all temperature sensitive and can cause harm to the colony if applied when the temperature is too hot. Follow the directions carefully.

More information is <here>, <here> and <here>. Take a look and let me know if you have further questions.

Randall


On 7/21/2015 1:51 PM, Erika Wittchen wrote:
Hi all, was wondering if anyone has any advice for us re: varroa load and treatment options. 

Having just harvested our honey a few weeks ago, we did a powdered sugar test this weekend and found a mite count of 17 in one hive, and 1 in another.  From what I understand, 17 is on the threshold for treatment, correct?

We bought some Api Life Var tablets, but upon reading the instructions it advises that treatment above temperatures of 90F can be very stressful and might lead to absconding.  I also read that other hives should be treated simultaneously to prevent robbing. We have only one other hive, and it only had a mite count of 1.

Anyone have experience with this product?  Would it be better to treat now and risk the hive, or wait until when--it will likely be September before the daily highs are below 90. And if we do treat, do we treat both hives?

Other than the somewhat high mite count, the hive is doing really well in my opinion.
I'm interested in hearing what others think.

Thanks as always!
Erika


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