To Treat or not to Treat

bwallace23350 · August 05, 2016, 09:39:02 AM

I have two beekeeping friends around here. One never treats and his hives do fine. He might lose a couple of the 8 or so he has but never a big loss. The other people treat and they lose some also. Both have let hives starve to death that leads to hive loss. So what is the consensus here. Treat or not to treat for mites?

iddee · August 05, 2016, 09:53:40 AM

FEED, and check for mites. Treat only when necessary.

bwallace23350 · August 05, 2016, 09:57:46 AM

I will check for mites. I plan on inspecting next week. They also harvest all their honey and I do not plan on doing that and I will only take a bit for me even when I do start harvesting.

GSF · August 05, 2016, 03:40:21 PM

I've always OAV'd all of mine.

rookie2531 · August 05, 2016, 05:49:42 PM

I've treated ever since my first year. When hearing about winter loses due to varroa, I started studying up and haven't looked back. I have lost one in the winter due to starvation, but that's all. Most my loses are when I split in the spring and lose them to wax moth and shb, because they are too weak or she never made it back from mating. But, after I treat, it makes me feel good to see all those dead mites laying on my IPM board.

Michael Bush · August 05, 2016, 10:42:26 PM

The last time I treated any of my hives for Varroa was 13 years ago. The last time I treated some of them was 15 years ago.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnotreatments.htm

BeeMaster2 · August 06, 2016, 07:58:04 AM

I do not treat.
Jim

Colobee · August 06, 2016, 10:08:10 AM

I monitor for mites, and am ready to OAV if needed.

little john · August 06, 2016, 11:07:25 AM

I don't treat bees, but do treat mites (VOA only).
LJ

divemaster1963 · August 06, 2016, 01:11:14 PM

I don't treat also. I have used powder sugar dusting if I have a hive that is inundated with verro. to me sugar dusting is not chemically treating because it is just powder sugar.

john

Acebird · August 07, 2016, 09:06:49 AM

Quote from: bwallace23350 on August 05, 2016, 09:39:02 AM
One never treats and his hives do fine. He might lose a couple of the 8 or so he has but never a big loss. The other people treat and they lose some also.

This is the reason I don't treat. I don't feed bees ... I may give them back some honey. I have lost hives to verroa, SHB and countless number of beekeeper mistakes. I don't think I have lost any to starvation.

bwallace23350 · August 07, 2016, 09:33:21 AM

I will observe. If I see a problem I might treat but I am not 100% sure what I will do until the time comes. If I lose a hive I might just try to capture that wild hive if it throws off a swarm this year.

Jim134 · August 08, 2016, 02:47:04 AM

IMO Anything I put in the hive to help bees handle whatever problem the bees have . Is a treatment.. Any kind of woodenware I put in the hive is beekeeping.

When you getting sick and tired of keeping mites and not keeping bees . I would suggest you go to a certified Russian queen bees. Remember this is just my opinion.

BEE HAPPY Jim. 134

herbhome · August 08, 2016, 10:14:31 PM

I am very pleased with my Russians for this reason