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Sorry to hear about the varroa Kate.:( We’ve had a few close shaves up here because people intending to bring bees in didn’t know about varroa or that we are free of it. I expected it to arrive here years ago. I now count each varroa free year as a bonus.
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It is too late DR.
There will be untreatable ferals and beekeepers who don't treat.
This has all been tried before and it never works.
All you can do is control it and slow down the advance to other areas as much as possible.
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The "natural drop" method of measuring is not reliable.
Usually only a few before Apiguard etc., hundreds after.
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All your comments are much appreciated ~ thank you so much. This will help to inform our members too. There will be a sharp learning curve for those who meet Varroa for the first time.
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Kate
A very sad situation given all you have done.
As you don't know the source, I would recommend you assume they have resistance to Apistan and Bayvarol, and don't use them unless you first test for resistance. You need to start an IPM program ASAP.
I know of one beekeeper who got bees from an infected beekeeper who had really hit them with formic. I have done a sugar roll test, and there has been no mite drop for 2? years, so perhaps it is possible to clear one colony. But with the number already infected, I would say there is little hope of clearing the area.
Phil
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I agree with Phil they will be resistant to apistan
MAQS strips are new + thymol treatments both are for periods when there is brood-- oxalic in broodless periods or on swarms
there must always have been a boundary zone between varroa infested and non infested
Can you establish a new varroa free zone it might be smaller now
Everyone needs to check by inserting something now like Api var or MAQS to find out where they have got to
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It would make sense at this stage to go overboard with treatments to very strongly reduce the mite populations - just to slow any further spread from the site. But as there are other apiaries in the area it will have spread already. Apivar should be good (from the Dumfries vet, reported to be highly effective for now anyway) and Apiguard should be helpful though its efficacy is variable.
(now I'm the slow typist!)
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Hi Kate what’s the latest news on the arrival of varroa in your area. Has it spread very far over the summer and what treatments are being carried out at the moment?
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Hi Lindsay
A depressing Summer here as far as varroa's concerned. Within Lochaber, varroa has been found in Acharacle, Kilchoan, Strontian, Mallaig and Morar. The first three of these areas are linked by the distribution of colonies by a beekeeper moving away (no idea how his bees became infested) and someone is known to have brought bees into the Morar/Mallaig area, presumably bringing varroa with them. A couple of other areas are believed to have the mite but this has not yet been confirmed by members.
MAQ strips were used on a number of colonies which had tested negative with careful sugar rolling and drone uncapping and, in two of these cases, varroa showed up. Goes to show how hard it can be to identify varroa in the early stages unless the mites are knocked down with a varroacide. Few of our colonies are housed over mesh floors (there's been no need) so monitoring floor debris is not straightforward.
For treatment, some have used MAQS (one queen was killed by the strips, perhaps with insufficient ventilation on a hard floor) and others Apiguard, though it's late to use that after the heather. We'll help everyone treat with oxalic trickling come mid-Winter. None of the mite levels were very high.
Look out for a request for the latest varroa information in The Scottish Beekeeper some time soon. Gavin has kindly agreed to update the map published last year though we still hope the information will be available on BeeBase one of these days.
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Hi Kate
Sorry to hear about the queen done in by the MAQS -- but as far as I know it's the only treatment that can be applied with supers still on
If you use the oxalic trickle in winter it can remove a high % maybe 95% of mites
The varrox vaporiser can be used twice during winter so that can mean 95% on the first pass and then 95% of the survivors in the second pass
A good treatment program is 2 passes of thymol at about 70% effectiveness each pass in autumn
Then two passes of oxalic vapour in winter
say 1000 mites first drop leaves 300 second drop leaves 90 (it will be more if they are breeding)
Assuming numbers treble before oxalic 270 becomes 27 after first oxalic then 5 mites left after second oxalic
Course if you have a neighbour doesn't bother treating then his mites will be invading your hives next year