Hello Pete & All,


Pete said:
> By the way, I agree that mites have
to be held at bay. Any colony that is crawling with mites is not a healthy
colony.

I agree!

 Wisdom from the varroa front lines:

We learned years ago when Dr. Shiminuki told us about virus and bees and
named parasitic mite syndrome (PMS) that if you control mites you control
virus.

Above a certain level of varroa control (say 98-99%) virus has never been a
serious  issue with honeybees.

Which brings me to the subject of this post.

Apiguard & api life Var.

 I have done quite a few posts on BEE-L about Api life var (search Bob
Harrison & api life var)

 I was to my knowledge the first to use in Missouri and test. I have said
little about apiguard but was given apiguard to test a full two years before
available to beekeepers.

I have used both these products with success. However I feel I need to at
least comment about my observations although I am friends with the sellers
of both products. Hopefully I will not see their wrath for sharing my
observations on these products.

When api life var first hit the market the treatment was 2 treatments (first
year) but with my testing was not quite enough at times to get a good kill.
The next year the dosage went to 3 treatments and my experiments showed a
much better efficacy. Not sure if my recommendation was a factor but the
change has stood.

Last fall when apiguard went on sale the dosage was higher (50 gram) and 2
treatments. The 2 treatments made apiguard the pick over api life var for
many commercial beekeepers simple because of only two treatments needed (as
opposed to 3).

 My testing has shown (at least to me) that like the early api life var
,apiguard really needs 3 treatments for a high efficacy. I recommend a label
change to read three 25 gram treatments (instead of 2 50 gram).

Last fall many beekeepers had made the decision to use apiguard ( over api
life var mainly because of only two treatments needed).

For thymol to be effective in the Midwest you really need to use before
thresholds get too high. Thymol is a slower kill than what apistan &
checkmite did when they had a high efficacy.

Last fall when the ideal treatment time came beekeepers could not get
apiguard (back ordered). By the time supplies came in most beekeepers were
30 days late on treatments (which is problematic).

The second issue was only using 2 treatments. Yes varroa kill was had but
not at the level (my opinion) that would have been had with 3 treatments.

Although after treatment the above hives were not crawling with mites (
using Pete's words) they still had high enough varroa levels to let virus
issues start causing weakened immune systems.

I believe the above could have been a factor in the die off last winter.

conclusion:
I highly recommend using 3 treatments of apiguard instead of 2 as long as
researchers think we have got a virus issue in our bees. I practice what I
preach. The hives I treated this fall with apiguard are getting 3
treatments. It is my opinion that you will get a better kill with 3
correctly timed treatments and well worth the extra trip to the bees. The
maker has said we can use 3 treatments if we feel we need the control.

Best of luck this fall and winter with your bees!
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison



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