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Thread: Varroa estimations during winter.

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  1. #1
    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Default Varroa estimations during winter.

    I placed some sticky screens under the brood box's and left them in for 3 days, i have now removed them, one hive had 4 mites and the other had 9 mites, Both hives were treated with Apiguard in September, Today its 12 degres and bees are flying and bringing in Pollen from Ivy.
    Is there a formula for working out the infestation levels during winter as i cannot do sugar roll with 300 bees this time of year.

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/publi...appresults.cfm

    Average Daily Mite Fall = 3.0 varroa mites
    The number of days over which you collected/counted mites is less than seven. This might give a poor estimate of mite numbers, so the predictions must be treated with caution.Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 1200
    Treatment is recommended as soon as practically possible.


    Mite drop is very hit and miss ...

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Just treat with Oxalic late December and whether you have 50 mites or 500 mites it will kill most of them.

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Tks lads Ill go with the treatment just before christmas and fingers crossed I will not kill the queen. 5mls per frame of brood so four frames =20ml in total using a large syringe because I only have 3 hives.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greengage View Post
    Tks lads Ill go with the treatment just before christmas and fingers crossed I will not kill the queen.
    I have treated numerous colonies with Oxalic over the past few years and to the best of my knowledge I have never killed a queen with this treatment.
    I have one queen going into her 5th season and several going into their 4th who have had Oxalic every December. Very little downside with Oxalic treatment.

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    I have read somewhere that there are two problems using the dribble method, One I have to open the hive which will effect temperatures inside and secondly bees can ingest some of the syrup leading to supressed brood rearing and toxicity but this can be overcome using a vapouriser which I dont have. If iam quick with the treatment this should not effect temp and if the temp drops below 5 degrees I should have no brood but at the moment in Dublin the temps are 10 to 12degrees and the bees are still flying and bringing in ivy pollen, thats not supposed to be happening this time of year anyway having said that i will go with your advice and buy Apibioxal for treatment when temp drops.

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    If I remember correctly Arnia did a pilot project with Scottish beekeepers a number of years ago who were given their monitors for free
    There was a guy from Arnia who did a presentation at an SBA meeting
    From my recollection it was hive sounds that were the most interesting results as it could be used to predict when the hive was about to swarm
    Have heard nothing since. Perhaps some SBA member who got the equipment might know more


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    was talking to the aria chap at greenmount conference and yes there is a sound measuring device for swarming based on the woods apidictor, as was said earlier, the stuff is wild expensive and for the hobby beek it would take many years to recover the cost - if ever !

    Best if some clever chap could programme a PIC18 for hive weight and theft control as i think this is really all one needs

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    Member Wmfd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    If I remember correctly Arnia did a pilot project with Scottish beekeepers a number of years ago who were given their monitors for free
    There was a guy from Arnia who did a presentation at an SBA meeting
    From my recollection it was hive sounds that were the most interesting results as it could be used to predict when the hive was about to swarm
    Have heard nothing since. Perhaps some SBA member who got the equipment might know more


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    They seem to be making progress (in conjunction with the bee farmers etc)

    http://www.swarmonitor.com/

    David

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Profits must be low if they can't get a website hosting company that doesn't have a popup on every page carrying adverts!
    And related ... I emailed Arnia for some specifics recently and didn't get a reply. Perhaps their batteries have run out?

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