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From:
David Eyre <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Fri, 10 Sep 1999 22:31:45 -0400
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I have been working all year on alternative Varroa treatments and
think it's only fair I should share the results.
        During the winter of '98-'99 after the devastating demise of a lot
of our hives to Varroa, plus our dislike of chemicals, it was decided
that we needed a different approach than the official one, Formic
acid in the spring and Apistan in the fall.
        We reasoned that a lot of damage was done to the bee population by
Varroa during the summer months while the supers were in place,
leading to diseases that Apistan could not control when placed in the
hive in the fall. Which might explain the loss of hives in the winter
even using Apistan.
        Our aim, to find a series of treatments which could be used on an
ongoing basis even during the time supers were on the hives, to keep
the Varroa population in check and avoid excessive bee damage by
Varroa.
        We decided that we needed a treatment that could be applied to the
hive before the weather improved enough for us to open the hives and
spring inspection. It is well known that brooding can start as early
as Jan, and by mid April the Varroa population could be quite
extensive. With all that in mind we decided on essential oil  (a la
James Amrine) as a spring stimulation feed and later FGMO (a la Dr.R)
as a summer treatment.
        The essential oil treatment went as follows. James states that
wintergreen oil stratifies in sugar syrup and causes problems when
fed to bees, he also states that honey is a natural emulsifier and
that wintergreen oil will be absorbed quite readily. Using this
information we added 100 drops of wintergreen to one half pound of
honey and stirred till absorbed, this we added to one gallon of 1-1
sugar syrup. The oil mixed very easily and we didn't find any
separating of the oil and water.
        This resulting mixture was fed to the bees over a period of time in
small quart jars (1/16th holes in the lid) inverted over the inner
cover, even while snow covered. Our records show that every hive
regardless of size or condition received at least 3 jars over a
period of a few weeks. The thinking, is that wintergreen fed to the
hive, first feeds the brood, then the adult bees and finally the
remains go into stores. The mixture fed to brood changes the smell
and confuses the chemical sensors of the Varroa, preventing a
breeding place.
        Once nectar becomes available in any quantity the bees will ignore
internal feed and so this treatment was dispensed with when dandelion
flow commenced, which also coincides with spring inspections.
        Food Grade Mineral Oil has been discussed on this list many times,
but the method and frequency of treatment seemed a trifle ambiguous
to us. We decided to use a squeeze bear with a tiny hole in the
spout, and a stream across the top bars, and settled on a weekly
treatment or every time the hive was opened. You might recall we are
breeders and break and open our hives fairly frequently.
        I must be frank, looking back it is possible that I could have been
more diligent in the weekly application. Pressures and priorities
tend to throw chaos onto good intentions.
        Over the summer it became a routine, open the hive, do what wanted
doing, before adding the inner cover a quick zip across all the top
bars. Once, and only once I sloshed some across the lower box top
bars of two hives, figuring as bee keepers do that 'more is even
better'. Next day I found a queen with her red hat on, outside on the
alighting board, dead. "Now I remember Dr.R said, "don't get any on
the queen"".
        On starting this program we decided on the end of Aug to assess
wether it had been successful or not. To help with that decision a
drop test with Apistan would be performed on two hives. A regular 3
box hive and a drone mother, the latter, just to see if there really
is a problem with excess mite production with lots of drones.
        We performed a drop test at the end of Aug and to be frank was
disappointed initially with the results, mainly as we had no
experience with Varroa numbers. The regular hive had a drop of approx
100 mites over 24 hours and the drone mother 150-200 mites in the
collection tray, sprayed with Pam to prevent walk out. I felt that
given the amount of treatment that these numbers were too high. So I
grumbled and cussed some, until I had the bright idea of asking a
customer to perform a similar drop test on a non treated hive.
        This hive of his, similar size, close in proximty, Apistan treated
in the spring and strips removed 24th May, since that time no other
treatment. I suppose the purists would insist I allowed one of my
hives to go untreated completely, just to prove I have Varroa.
Anyway, the drop test was performed in exactly the same way and the
results were astounding. There were thousands and I mean thousands of
Varroa in the tray, the whole surface was literally covered.
        So, my hives and drop test showed Varroa, but relatively few, where
the other test hive without alternative treatments was literally
infested.
        Where to from here? Because of the devastating loss of so many hives
and the interminable amount of hours involved with dealing with dead
outs, I chickened out and each hive has Apistan. Next year, I will be
more diligent in the treatment, and if as successful as this year
will allow some hives to go without Apistan and note the results.
        There has been a number of posts deriding FGMO, but I firmly believe
it has promise, but needs a well regimented approach to it's use.



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The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2,
Orillia, Ontario, Canada.L3V 6H1.
Phone (705)326 7171 Fax (705)325 3461
David Eyre,
e-mail<[log in to unmask]>
http://www.beeworks.com
This months special:-Vest/veil combination
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