> From: James Fischer > In a similar vein, if we could somehow dehumidify our beehives, we could > desiccate varroa to death. This dehumidification would likely also kill > an entire "generation" of brood in the process, but it would be a great > non-toxic way to kill varroa if one could accept the collateral damage > of a serious break in the brood cycle. If willing to drop a brood cycle, perhaps a portable deep freeze would work -- drop the brood chambers in after artificially swarming the bees onto "backup" hive bodies, then replace after 48 hrs and move the freezer to the next yard. While you are at it, drop in your 48 hr strip to treat the broodless bees (although, if you were doing this, you might want to go to a 4 day treatment, to fully kill the mites). At the end of the season, dump all the backup brood chambers and draw out new ones with swarms in the spring (sell the swarms as packages or use to replenish any bees killed over the winter). > But caging the queen means an extra trip > to each hive before one treats the hive, so it is yet another > labor-intensive approach. Extremely so, unless combined with fall requeening (but, then you don't want to treat when dropping in the new queen -- a dilemma --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::