> I know many of you have emailed me and said you don't have to treat for
> Acarine. If you are using a dark bee i am sure you are correct. My Italian
> strain IS susceptible. My tests confirm they are.... If you are using
> Italians you might think about my observations.

I might add that I have a report from a neighbour who uses Hawaiian carniolans
that he put 1,200 hives into winter and took 300 out.  Moreover he was losing
the remainder fast until he applied formic pads.

That's all I know about that, but I might also add that -- on a hunch -- I used
formic last fall, as BEE-L readers probably already know, along with Apistan,
and had average losses.  I have never found a need for acarine control in the
past -- sampling has not indicated infestations above 10% -- but due to the
number of imported yellow queens I have been adding to my outfit, I thought that
I had better just treat and not wait for lab results.

allen
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