Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

I'm still a newbee and have been focusing most of my attention trying to keeps my hives from swarming and finding good locations with plentiful forage.  Until today I was pretty unaware of a rising problem in at least one of my hives....mites.   I opened up a few drone cells in one hive only to find 5-6 mites in one cell!!!  I found similar numbers in 3 or 4 cells of maybe 7-10 drone cells that I checked.  The hive appears strong with a good laying queen and very docile bees.  I have no experience but I know this is probably a pretty severe infestation.  What do I do now?  I have honey supers on and they are maybe 1/3 capped so I cant really take them off.

I have a couple frames of mostly drone cells which I will try to remove and freeze.

I can try the powdered sugar dusting.

What else can I do with honey supers on? 

How urgent is this?  Can the mites destroy a colony quickly or could I wait a month until after I pull my supers to treat?

I feel terrible that I have been so oblivious to let it get this bad

thanks for the advice.
Jay

First...DON'T PANIC! If it were me, I'd pull the capped frames and extract. The uncapped frames I'd remove only long enough to vaporize with oxalic acid and replace if your flow is still strong. Conventional mite treatments are not meant to be used during the flows. I have no problem with OA, but if you do you can always feed those frames back to the bees.

I'm sure others will chime in...pick what works best for you.

Scott

5-6 mites in one cell is a serious infestation.  You can cut out all of the drone cells and throw them away.  In the end you need a plan to deal with Varroa.  With no plan you'll lose them.  My plan is I use natural and small cell comb.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm)
In my experience when I did not, they all died from Varroa unless treated.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessctheories.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beessctheories.htm)
When treated with Fluvalinate (Apistan) they still all died from Varroa.  When treated with Oxalic vapor, it was very effective at killing mites.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm#varroa (http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm#varroa)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesvarroatreatments.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesvarroatreatments.htm)

Thanks for the replies. 


I removed 2 drone combs from one hive and destroyed drone cells, in another.  I would pull my honey supers but I'm barely 1/2 capped so I really want to wait until I get that capped then I will try the oxylic treatment...I've started reading about it, is the vapor or drip method better? 

Where are some links to complete instructions?  I've read bits and pieces here and there but no real step by step explanation of how to treat using the oxylic acid.

thanks, Jay

I don't use it anymore. But I vaporized.  But there are many web sites with information on it.  Hysler sells a vaporizer that works well.

Here is a thread on the oxalic drip methid which I used and am happy with:

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,28028.msg222305.html#msg222305 (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,28028.msg222305.html#msg222305)


All you need is the chemical, scale to weigh it, a large syringe, rubber gloves and a glass jar to mix it in.  Real simple, but you really need to do it when you are broodless and can only do it once a year.  I guess if you were in danger of losing your bees anyway you could destroy all the drone comb and drip or vaporize to get as many as you can.  Then repeat when you are broodless and just take the loss.  Or if you get a vaporizer you can do it more than once.

This thread has a video showing the drip method:

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,25445.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,25445.0.html)

I made a vaporizer for about $2 or so from the hardware store (same place I bought the OA from...it's sold as wood bleach). It's just some plumbing parts that measure the dose. I stick the business end in the entrance and hit it with a propane torch for about a minute and move on to the next hive. I only use it once a year when the brood is as small as I think it will get (we never get a total brood break here in established colonies). It takes a while to do if you've got more than a couple of hives but it only costs 2 or 3 cents per application.

I'll try to get a pic of my "device" and post it for you tomorrow...nothing is simpler IMO.

Scott

Thank you all!  I found a few good websites explaining OA treatment and spent a couple hours reading them.  I bought myself some OA and put together a vaporizer which I tested last night.  Hopefully this evening I'll go treat my hives.  Thanks for the advice and ideas.
Jay 

Here are a couple of youtube videos of how I did the vapor method. Worked well both ways. Very easy and cheap.First time did it as a response to a very high mite count like you are. Probably didn't need to do the second time which was done with the idea of doing it as a routine but I haven't done one since, haven't had the need and decided not to treat unless needed.

This is a video of the first time I did it:
Beekeeping - Oxalic Acid Treatment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSmxYIzuuU0&feature=related#)

Here is how I did it the next time with a shim so that I could see the vapor:
Beekeeping - Oxalic Acid Treatment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpktnn9lZU4#)

Hope this helps.

Thanks Alfred, I had actually already found them and watched them, very helpful to see it done.

So I did my first treatment today through the bottom entrance, I did a mite count 10-11 hours later and came up with about 100 mites.  I assume this means it is working?  I couldn't see the vapors or smell anything, I just seemed like such a small amount.

I applied 3-4 grams to the two deep brood nest.  Waited about 10 minutes then released the bees.

I'm wondering if it is better to apply through the top? 

Any other tips I'm going to do a couple more hives in a few days..

Thanks

I wouldn't use more than 1 gram of oxalic crystals per 10 frame deep hive body. I do occasionally treat with oxalic vapor, but usually when brood production is at it's least (Dec-Feb here) and only once a year. New swarms and cut outs may get a treatment right off the bat if they need.

Scott

One question, Do your frames look white or new after using the "wood bleach"?   Second questions, the wood bleach that you buy at the big box store, is it liquid or in crystal form?  Third question, does that stuff stay in the wood, wax, hive for how long?   Hours, days, years, or can you detect it forever?

I used crystals I bought from ACE hardware in a tub labeled Wood Bleach. At the time I was using all black plastic Pierco frames.
I saw no change in the frames except that there was sort of a 'dusting' of residue all throughout the hive. the residue dissapeared within a week. My guess is that the girls cleaned it out.

From my understanding oxcylic acid is naturally found in Honey in small amounts. So detection would be a matter of degree rather than simply is it there or not. I belive that it is also naturally found in many plants such as rhubarb. Obviously it is poison in sufficient amounts which is why you don't want to do this with supers on. The best time to treat is in winter during the brood break anyway.

I have not done any lab testing. I suppose that you would need to do a before and after, probably several afters, to track the life of any residue. I have not seen the need myself. I have eaten honey from the hive that I treated with no apparent ill effect. Of course I know that that is not a really usefull test. I do know that it is a fairly well accepted treatment in many regions of the world. Many use the dripp method which would seem to leave even more traces.