Hello,
I am Karen and live in Maine, USA and am a reader, not a writer of this list. I manage around 50 hives for a beek who has had bees since 1931, Stan will be 90 next week. I am doing this as a mentor and have learned a great deal. I have been a hobby beek since 1979 but working with two hives verses 50 with someone who has had bees for 78 years has taught me more than I ever learned in my years of going it alone. Especially this year, the weather has been dreadful here.
There has been allot of talk on Varroa control and I am looking at options that will not break the bank of my friend. We have left our supers on longer than usual because the fall has finally given some weather where the bees can work, goldenrod and knotweed. This week we are pulling off supers and will treat for varroa and I know we have two hives that have mites, I have seen them in drone cells. The other hives must have mites but I have not seen or found them by pulling out drone brood through the summer and fall. The hives are in several locations not in one bee yard. What we have in the shop right now is some Api Life Var, enough for three hives, three treatments and Apistan strips. Apistan is affordable and not as labor intensive as the Api but so many say do not use it it doesn't work. Stan says put it on he has seen it work.
My question is this formula below which I can make at a reasonable price. Also I do have a bottle of essential oil Thymus vulgaris and wonder if I can use that in substitute for the EO's listed here. Would this be fine to put in the hives where I have seen no problems, but am sure there must be mites, and then something more potent on the two that visibly have mites. The temperatures here are down 40's at night to high 60's day but we will soon be in the 30's at night.
The mixture came from this web site:
http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/info/info/disease/varroa.shtml
The "Magic"T Formula is:
170g beeswax
450g coconut oil (or any vegetable cooking oil)
15g essential oil (we have tried eucalyptus, nutmeg, peppermint and spearmint)
Preparation
1. Break the beeswax into small pieces.
2. Melt in a double boiler (a large pot with water containing a small pot with the wax) with the coconut oil.
3. Stir until the wax melts completely and allow to cool to 42-45°C. If a thermometer is not available, cool until the mixture just starts to harden at the surface, but is still quite fluid.
4. At this point stir the essential oil into the mixture until thoroughly blended.
Treatment
The above mixture should be sufficient for 50 hives if applied as follows:
1. Cut strips from any of the following: bamboo, Bristol board, cardboard, plastic containers, plywood, or tins. The strips should between two and five cm wide by 20 cm long.
2. On one side of the strip spread one or two teaspoons of the miticide mixture, distributing it evenly.
3. Leave a 1 cm section at each end of the strip clean to avoid getting it on yourself.
4. Push the strip deep into the entrance of the hive undergoing treatment, preferably before 0900 hours on a hot, sunny day. If Varroa is present, the first effects of the treatment (dead or terminally ill mites on the bottom board) can be seen within 2-4 hours. Presumably the hotter and drier the weather, the faster the effects.
5. After 24 hours (longer for lower temperatures), the treatment is over and a number of dead Varroa can be seen under the brood chamber. Also, and possibly for the first time, white males can be observed dead on the bottom board or groggily walking about in a totally uncharacteristic behaviour (normally his whole life takes place within an invaded brood cell).
Thanks for having this list I enjoy reading all your thoughts and experiences.
Karen
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