Battling varroa mites

[Latestarter]

Day #4 mite numbers decreased further and became more centered on the drop board, almost oval shaped under brood frames. Still hundreds of mites.

 

[Latestarter]

Day # 5 mite numbers and drop zone similar to yesterday. Liking what I see so far. Looks like some/quite a few lighter colored mites are now dropping. Wonder if those are newly hatched.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I checked mine yesterday too, and my counts are going down also. It's nice to see them dropping though, less to be in there bothering the bees!

 

[Maggiesdad]

Just found this thread, lol

In the middle of three treatments, 5 days apart here... using OAV. Mites be falling!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Interesting hive comparison. I treated all 3 of my hives for mites, using Apiguard. (2nd treatment last week) My 2 established hives (the 3rd is a captured swarm from this year), one is dropping mites like crazy. The other, virtually no mites. 2nd hive was a split off of the 1st hive a year ago, but they never raised a queen, so I purchased a queen from the same beekeeper that the 1st hive was from. I will be interested to compare honey production between these 2 hives next year.

 

[babsbag]

I am going to do the oxalic acid dribble this year, but need to wait until there is less brood, probably end of Oct. I also need 3 screened bottom boards...I never intended to have 5 hives.

I am going to feed the Dadant winter pattie to all my hives. Better safe than sorry and they are easy to use.

 

[NadineBurch]

Varroa mites are the dangerous enemy of honey bees. It weakens the bees and eventually kills them. My neighbor does beekeeping and has faced an infestation of these harmful mites. He has used a special screened bottom board with a sticky floor. This approach did not eliminate the mites but kept their numbers down to an acceptable level. But after few days his beehives were infested again, this time badly. Analysing the urgency, my neighbor decided to consult pest control services to help him protect his honey bees.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH @NadineBurch from NE TX! So glad you joined us. I hope you'll consider taking a minute to visit the new member's thread and introduce yourself so folks can welcome you properly. https://www.backyardherds.com/forums/new-member-introductions.17/ There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Please make yourself at home!

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[DexterThompson]

Tahnks for sharing.

 

[Cmclean]

Where do you buy the mite treatment?