I only treat my bees once a year around the start of December when broodless with an oa dribble. Over the last 4 or 5 years I have had good overwintering with very low losses. I run around 50 production hives and 30 or so nucs. I used to keep a bottle of varromed in incase I needed to treat any in early spring but now I don’t as it doesn’t appear to be required. When I used to treat two or more times a year I used to see more chalk brood in colony’s. Now I see zero chalk brood. (I’m no expert, just from what I see)One of my neighbouring bee keepers, stopped treating altogether about 5 yrs ago… he had losses but now seems to be stable. Cornwall UK
What about Integrated Pest Management in which non chemical methods are used then chemical methods are used less often, after all we want to not breed resistance into the varroah
Hives with high humidity the mites don't do well. Try putting your bees close to a stream . Cage queen for two weeks,,and then treat with oxalic acid. Here in N. Ireland we get a lot of rain so the season is short.
I wouldn't advise a small scale bee keeper with less than around 40 hives to go completely treatment free. Even a bee keeper with plenty of colonies going 100% treatment free will find themselves having to produce quite a number of nucs to replace their losses. However, a hobby bee keeper with 3 or 4 hives can very successfully go chemical treatment free by using the Varroa shook swarm method. A strong colony given the Varroa shook swarm treatment in August (and well fed as part of the process) will easily survive a normal UK winter and as likely as not be fairly free of mites for two years to come. In the early spring a strong colony can also be given a Varroa shook swarm treatment to set them up for the season to come. The brood removed can be given to a weaker colony that then in turn gets a shook swarm later in the season. Both colonies will be improved. The strong colony will have very few mites and be on new wax and very happy for that. The weaker colony will be given a real boost in the number bees and be happy for that. Those beekeepers with fifteen to twenty colonies could start with just one apiary of half a dozen hives being kept chemical free by using the Varroa shook swarm process.
I'm not a massive fan of early shook swarms, but I have seen it work and the bees did great. I guess you have to be lucky with the weather, and maybe not targeting an early crop. Lots of different ways to keep bees!
@stevedonohoe I must admit that I take off very little early honey. I start taking honey off around first or second week of August and finish about the end of the first week of September. Autumn and spring honey is left to feed the bees. I don'y feed my honey producing hives sugar and keep some frames of honey over winter to give to those hives in early spring. I wouldn't give a honey producing hive a Varroa shook swarm treatment as my method involves heavy feeding.
Well, not all. Bee farming, producing honey for my customers, running vigorous healthy colonies, pollinating flowers...I don't know how likely it is for varroa to become resistant to formic and oxalic acid, but the science suggests not very.
I explained the problem from my perspective. I respect anybody's decision to disagree with me, of course. I often find it amusing that when many people consider what is natural, and "supposed" to happen, they don't factor in that humans are natural too. Our activity is part of nature. We are not something separate.
I only treat my bees once a year around the start of December when broodless with an oa dribble. Over the last 4 or 5 years I have had good overwintering with very low losses. I run around 50 production hives and 30 or so nucs. I used to keep a bottle of varromed in incase I needed to treat any in early spring but now I don’t as it doesn’t appear to be required. When I used to treat two or more times a year I used to see more chalk brood in colony’s. Now I see zero chalk brood. (I’m no expert, just from what I see)One of my neighbouring bee keepers, stopped treating altogether about 5 yrs ago… he had losses but now seems to be stable. Cornwall UK
Sounds great, if you have gentle productive bees as well.
What about Integrated Pest Management in which non chemical methods are used then chemical methods are used less often, after all we want to not breed resistance into the varroah
Hives with high humidity the mites don't do well. Try putting your bees close to a stream . Cage queen for two weeks,,and then treat with oxalic acid. Here in N. Ireland we get a lot of rain so the season is short.
I must admit, every time I have been to Ireland it rained!
Here in the states we have VSH Pol 2.2 queen and Nuc dealers. I am getting 2 nucs this spring.
Hope it goes well!
I wouldn't advise a small scale bee keeper with less than around 40 hives to go completely treatment free. Even a bee keeper with plenty of colonies going 100% treatment free will find themselves having to produce quite a number of nucs to replace their losses.
However, a hobby bee keeper with 3 or 4 hives can very successfully go chemical treatment free by using the Varroa shook swarm method.
A strong colony given the Varroa shook swarm treatment in August (and well fed as part of the process) will easily survive a normal UK winter and as likely as not be fairly free of mites for two years to come.
In the early spring a strong colony can also be given a Varroa shook swarm treatment to set them up for the season to come. The brood removed can be given to a weaker colony that then in turn gets a shook swarm later in the season. Both colonies will be improved. The strong colony will have very few mites and be on new wax and very happy for that. The weaker colony will be given a real boost in the number bees and be happy for that.
Those beekeepers with fifteen to twenty colonies could start with just one apiary of half a dozen hives being kept chemical free by using the Varroa shook swarm process.
I'm not a massive fan of early shook swarms, but I have seen it work and the bees did great. I guess you have to be lucky with the weather, and maybe not targeting an early crop. Lots of different ways to keep bees!
@stevedonohoe I must admit that I take off very little early honey. I start taking honey off around first or second week of August and finish about the end of the first week of September. Autumn and spring honey is left to feed the bees. I don'y feed my honey producing hives sugar and keep some frames of honey over winter to give to those hives in early spring.
I wouldn't give a honey producing hive a Varroa shook swarm treatment as my method involves heavy feeding.
All you are doing is selecting for resistant mites...
Well, not all. Bee farming, producing honey for my customers, running vigorous healthy colonies, pollinating flowers...I don't know how likely it is for varroa to become resistant to formic and oxalic acid, but the science suggests not very.
7:02 So what? That is exactly ehat is suposed to happen if a organism is facing a drastic change in enviroment.
I explained the problem from my perspective. I respect anybody's decision to disagree with me, of course. I often find it amusing that when many people consider what is natural, and "supposed" to happen, they don't factor in that humans are natural too. Our activity is part of nature. We are not something separate.
Oscar perone...if yu understand Spanish. Maybe you cheng ideas. Nice tok❤