As far a I can see the main problem with treating varroa is the mites within
the brood cells. One suggestion I heard recently was to immerse the
infested frames in hot water for a length of time hopefully killing all the
mites as well as the brood. (If you have plenty of time you could put the
frames in the freezer overnight) The method would be:
Shake all the bees from brood chamber onto new brood chamber (no brood and
no varroa mites) I think this would be best done in the early spring when
there is very little brood and few bees. Insert apistan/bavarol strips into
the chamber to kill mites on the bees. It might be possible to increase the
number of strips per hive. These strips need only be left in the chamber
for a short length of time since they only require to kill the mites on the
bees (possibly only a day!) The frames from the old brood chamber are then
immersed in hot water to kill the mites in the cells and the procedure
repeated using the now sterile frames in the next hive. I would think that
the apistan strips could be re-used for numerous hives using this method.
If you think smoke or acid would get rid of the mites on the bees then you
could use this rather then apistan. The advantage of this method is that
the hive is only exposed to chemicals for a short space of time which would
minimise the fears associated with using these chemicals.
What does the group think?
Harry,
Scottish Bee Issues:- http://www.luichartwoollens.freeserve.co.uk