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Thread: Low varroa counts

  1. #11
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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  2. #12
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    Treated 2 hives with a homemade formic acid evaporator, 7 day course of 80ml dropped about 800bugs each over the 2week since. I went through both of them today and both queens have started laying again ok. Seemed quite a high count but I didn't see a single dwv
    As an aside I was going through each frame and and before I got to the end I was enveloped in what I think are a carnica type robbers, though I'm not sure of the type as the locals are dark.
    Last edited by nemphlar; 30-08-2014 at 10:51 PM. Reason: Addition

  3. #13

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    was a bit concerned at the low drop rate with apivar life and treating with MAQS at present-getting a drop of approx 90 mites per box after 3 days of treatment-the bees definitely do not like the treatment but i hoped to avoid absconding/queen rejecting/supersedures problems by leaving the treatment to later in season-will see the outcome after 7 days

  4. #14
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    I think the concentration of the formic acid and its effect on evaporation rate must play a large part I don't know what the Maqs are but users in the US find 60% conc effective without the queen loss. The 7 I've tried so far are averaging 400 over the first 7 days. Judging by the heat on the top boards the queens do seem to have gone back on to lay.

  5. #15
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    I treated 5 good healthy hive with MAQS, big varroa drop, but on checking hives on Sunday (2 weeks after treatment) I had lost 2 out of 5 queens. This was disappointing, at end of season, so have used a nuc with laying queen to save one hive and I think I will need to combine another.
    They did not swarm as there were supercedure cells (opened), so looked for virgins, but they were elusive.
    I shook all bees out into garden as I could not find virgins before I merged. Hoping the virgin would not fly back. I am a little bit worried she may fly back, but Greengumbo thinks the laying queen would kill off the virgin, so take his word for it.
    Have other members lost queens? I do not think I did anything wrong--- or did I?
    Another lesson learned.

  6. #16
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Talking to be local small commercial beekeeper about MAQS. She says she doesnt believe it is proven that it works. Although the drop is high she has seen several hives that were treated last year and have very high rate of varroa again this year. My swarm hive which I have just treated also was treated for varroa with MAQS last year (I know where it came from) and i have never seen such a high count here before - other years just drops in single figures but this hive riddled though no DWV. Anyone else heard of this? Of course this is only its second year for general purchase.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Samsalar View Post
    I am a little bit worried she may fly back,
    It all depends on when she emerged. A virgin starts to take orientation flights from day 4 or 5 after emergence from the cell. If she was older than that she will likely have orientated and will fly back.

  8. #18
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    B I believe I started this year with the lowest count I've seen in years, this from floor and drone uncappings. It's been a very good year and I now find high counts in the most successful colonies, 3weeks after the first formic Acid day I'm looking at counts of 1000v, but I only seen dwv in 1 nuc.
    Where brood rearing is continuous I think you can expect varroa to expand accordingly. The autumn treatment was about healthy winter bees. They will be getting an OA treatment come December

  9. #19
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    Happy new year
    Like FS seeing low counts after OA treatment, I'm surprised to find that the clearer boards are awfully warm for this time of year and suspect a lot of them still have brood. A complete change from last year where they seemed to be closed down for months.

  10. #20
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    I have had low counts since my second year 2011. I only treat with home made thymol mix in Autumn and have never used any formic or oxalic acid..

    I measured drops over a week in my langs last week: 0,1 and 4..Which is roughly what I expect this time of year.

    I don't cull drones or conduct any form of IPM..

    Maybe I am lucky - as I am fairly hands off, I can hardly claim great skill!

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