Here is what is happening as of Sept 22/2012 in my Hives. I decided to treat my hives going into the winter with Mite Away II Strips. These are Formic Acid soaked pads that release the vapor and kills the dreaded varroa mite. There is supposed to be a slight kill of the bees but this 7 day treatment is supposed to kill the mite in the capped cell. I opened up the 2 hives in the Garden and put the pads in with no problems. I was wearing a vapor mask and using heavy duty protective gloves as the formic is very toxic (what do the bees think!!!) I treated 2 of the 3 hives at home but when i opened the last hive there were no bees! I did find the queen wandering around with a few attendants. Fearing that my hive might have succumbed to AFB i quickly closed the hive up and sealed it to prevent robbing. I have called the regional inspector but am still waiting on a call back.I hope it is not AFB as that could be devastating to the other colonys if it has infected them.
I check the mite boards below the screened bottom boards on the hives in the garden and this is what i saw on the 2nd day from what I think is one of the strongest colonies of them all
MITES
Here are all the boards after 1 week of treatment
Yellow hive at Still Creek
Blue hive at garden
Brown hive at home
Blue hive at home
So you can notice that each hive has quite a difference in the amount of mite drop. I was quite worried that the treatment was going to affect the bees but by the last day of treatment when i removed the dry formic pads the bees were coming and going like before.
Bees after treatment
All in all I think that the treatment is successful. This week I will be checking in to see if the queen has started laying again as the weather here as been amazing! Monday October 8th it was 20 Celcius, hot enough for shorts and t-shirts outside. Still no word on when the bee inspector will be coming so I still don’t know what to do with the empty hive.
On another totally side note, I grew quinoa this year and from one 11 foot row in the garden I managed to harvest about 1 kilo of quinoa! At close to 9 feet tall these plants were beautiful and easy to care for. Give them a try if you can
Quinoa harvest
Good luck with your varroa treatments. Hope it doesn’t turn out to be the feared AFB. Was there any sign of brood disease?
There was no sign of brood disease that i could see. I would like to use the frames of honey to feed my other hives but only if i get the OK from the bee inspector.
I’m wondering if robbing might have already occured. What was the state of the frames? Were there any honey stores? If it were something like AFB or disease there would be a distinct odeur…. Good luck with the inspector.
I don’t think robbing had occured, as there was no evidence of any cells being ripped open to steal the honey. I did take a look to see if there was any sunken capped brood cells and I couldn’t see any. Also i did the toothpick test on some remaining capped brood and there was no evidence of the “ropey, sticky” larval remains. All the capped brood I checked on was developing properly.
Good luck with the AFB. Sounds like you don’t have the symptoms. Where did you buy your mite away quick strips?
That is pretty good going!
Got the Strips from Urban Beekeeping supplies in Tsawassen they come in a bucket of 20 strips, 10 application if you use the 2 strips per hive as recommended.
Thanks. I’m comparison shopping between Urban Bee and the new Homesteader’s Emporium on Hastings. I expect I will use a combination of both though it’s nice to have a neighbourhood bee equipment store.
I have 10 strips left if you would like to purchase them. Although it might be a little late for treatment as it needs to be at least 10 degrees for it to work correctly
Good luck with AFB treatments – know this feeling when we had a similar scare at the start of the year – hope the colony can recover.
How did your bees make out? I hope it was not AFB. What did the bee inspector say? This would be a great post to share with my readers on my beekeeping blog hop. Check it out! http://www.beverlybees.com/beeline-buzz-hop-1/
Well the bee inspector never managed to come by, but i took a closer look at the hive an have decided on my own that it is not AFB as there are no indications that it was.
My other hives are well and tucked in for the winter.
Hi there. I started a hive in the spring in the Cambie area, and I was going to try and treat for mites with oxalic acid after Xmas. I have missed the temp window for formic acid, and apparently with the less toxic oxalic treatment, you can recoup uneaten stores in the spring. I noticed you are trying formic acid this year: were you unhappy with the results of your de-miting last winter?
Also, I am wondering how your bees are doing right now: I am seeing a significant die-off right now in front of the entrance, which I have cleaned out twice now. I put a clean piece of plywood down on the ground on Sunday (the 18th), and counted about a hundred dead bees on it tonight, including the ones clogging the entrance and piled up behind the reducer. This rate of mortality has been going on for about two weeks now, and seems to be increasing. No streaking on the landing pad or other signs of dysentery, and the mite count on the catch pan was pretty low.
This is the 2nd year I have done the Formic treatments. This year was the first for using the Miteaway strips. I thought the treatment went well but i would do it earlier next year as the colonys did not have enough time to fully recover before the winter started to set in.
The bees are doing ok it seems. The last days it was warm and sunny they were flying and actually bring in pollen! One of my hives though seems a little slow and might not make it. This might be due to the treatment but am unsure. Last season i had a lot of dead bees infront of the hives but not so much this year.
Not much you can do but wait until it gets warmer to look in the hive and see what is going on.
STeve
“Not much you can do but wait”… Yes, this seems to be the comment I see over and over posted to newbies like me worried about winter stuff… Thanks Steve, I think I will try an oxalic drip treatment in January, especially if the weather cooperates… Looking forward to spring now! -D.
If you are interested I will be doing an oxalic treatment with a vaporizer in jan. I have the equipment and can assist you with yours. Just let me know.
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