Hello Tom
 
At 07:49 19/11/1998 GMT, you wrote:
>Hello All
>
>This is my second year with bees, and one of my apiaries - 3 hives - has
>been stricken with Acarine.
>
I'm sorry your bees are affected by Acarine.  I don't know about Ireland but
in UK there is no approved treatment for Acarine.  I suppose you can try
Thymo but even this is not a benign substance. One look at the ingredients
for Frow mixture will show you that it is a horrid substance.  Highly
inflammable and carcinogenic.  Quite correctly banned.
 
Thanks to Brother Adam's influence MOST of UK bees are immune to Acarine so
the best treatment we have is to requeen with home reared queens  And make
sure the old queen is exterminated.
 
Unfortunately, some UK beekeepers like to import Italian derived bees most
of which are bred in New Zealand where at the end of their beekeeping season
they are happy to sell their surplus queens to European/UK beekeepers  when
our season is just starting.   These Queens have been shown time and again
to be very Acarine susceptible.  Bringing these genes in to UK weakens the
valuable acarine immune strains we have here.
 
If Ireland has a good record of Acarine immunity then cull your susceptible
queens.  Forget treatments;  we should try to manage without them if we can
- there are enough to contend with for other bee pests.
 
Glyn Davies
Ashburton Devon UK