Winter mite treatment advice

[u/island_harriet]

Hi everyone, this is my first winter with a hive. I'm located in the Pacific Northwest. I've been advised to treat again for mites over the next week, because we're in for a clear, rain free stretch of weather. Last fall, I did an OA dribble, and prior to that did formic pro patties.

What would you suggest to treat with this time around, knowing the weather will be colder? It's not a super strong hive, as going in the the cold weather, I had a bear get in to my hives and I only have one left of the survivers.

Thanks for your help!

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[u/Allrightnevermind]

Good time for OAV. Pick the warmest day

[u/island_harriet → u/Allrightnevermind]

Is the dribble ok, considering they'll be a bit wet from it?

[u/Outdoorsman_ne → u/island_harriet]

Yes. Keep the solution at room temperature until just prior to using it. My ideal day is 45F.

Prior to treatment, don’t forget to practice doing 5ML lines with plain sugar water in a sink.

[u/Allrightnevermind → u/island_harriet]

It’s ok but since you’ve already done one it’s not a good idea to do another

[u/Quirky-Plantain-2080 → u/island_harriet]

You need to carry this out between -5 and 5 C.

Colder than this and the cluster is too tight for the OA to propagate.

Warmer than this and the cluster is too diffuse.

[u/Mammoth-Banana3621 → u/island_harriet]

No! You did that in fall. The recommendation for dribble is one time for the life of the bees. So you can do this in spring and then in fall because that’s two generations (technically) not then you couldn’t do that same bee hive again in the Spring. Why are you treating ? If you did the dribble and they were bloodless you won’t need another treatment til early spring.

[u/island_harriet → u/Mammoth-Banana3621]

It was recommended by the local bee keeper I got my bee's from. She does oa vapor in the fall, then said to treat now, then again in the spring... If not using an OA dribble, what do you recommend? Apivar? I've read formic pro is not good to use in the colder months? Should I just leave them until the spring? Totally new at this

[u/Mammoth-Banana3621 → u/island_harriet]

I love that you are being mindful. She’s saying treat because she uses OAV which you can repeat each month, each week or whenever. My first question would be do you know your counts for mites percentage after that fall treatment ? Before the dribble ? They aren’t making brood during winter—well not much depending on your temps and such. I guess it does depend on location for that statement. Southern beeks don’t really have a winter but they still have some sort of dearth. Either way. Typically one shot of dribble during winter and you are good til spring.

I don’t use Apivar as I’m using Organic acids and thymol and such that isn’t “chemical”. So my options are apiguard, formic, and oxalic in all its forms. I don’t use the hop stuff because it doesn’t have consistent good results. You can make sheets of oxalic acid and place those on in spring. But you should be ok until buildup starts.

[u/island_harriet → u/Mammoth-Banana3621]

Thank you! This is very informative. Before treatment, I did the icing sugar test and on the plate was 10 mites. After treatment, I had none going in to winter when I wrapped up the hive. I'm located on Vancouver Island , so it's not super cold, but my area does go down to -6 and sometimes colder. It's been very mild lately though, not a typical winter.

I'd prefer not to use any chemicals in my hive, what do you recommend for colder weather treatment?

[u/Mammoth-Banana3621 → u/island_harriet]

I will say to be mindful that almost all “organic” type treatments are fumigating type treatments. So most of them shut down the queen. Formic and apiguard do that. Personally, I am going to try oxalic acid strips. Which you can make but that off label in most states. They are making strip commercially for this but they are expensive and not made for hobby beekeepers (too Many in a box). I want to say if you go off label you are breaking the law. Tread how you want for that but I am not encouraging it per se. Those seem to be very effective and the don’t shit the queen down. I will also note that some recent research suggests to cut the recommended pads into four instead of two. This has the same surface area but spreads them through the chamber better and those seem to have better results. Which work well anyway. The timeframe to leave them in place is very lose as limited research has been conducted. My goal in spring is to control mites but not shut down my queen and don’t use a chemical treatment. So normally Apivar or something else like it would be used in spring because it keeps mites low (not good knockdown) but doesn’t shut down the queen. I think these strips accomplish that. But if you aren’t getting bigger and trying to split for increase then shutting down the queen isn’t going to be an issue. Might be what you are shooting for. So I would use formic pro in those instances (watch temps to be sure the lower end is achieved for effectiveness) this treatment kills below the cappings (where the mites breed and increase population) and in my opinion this treatment is safer during Spring. But you really have to make sure you are watching your lower temps. Otherwise; its effectiveness is significantly lowered, but choosing this treatment during spring is safer for the bees because formic can kill colonies in the heat. I don’t want to shut them down though so I’m going with oxalic pads. And doing formic after honey is off. I want to shut her down at that time because I do singles. So I want her to stop for a time so I can get sugar on them for winter. I feed 2:1 in September. Treat in late July or August with formic. Now I have to really watch temps for that treatment. And I have to be careful. If it kills a queen they may be dead. Because it gets problematic to get her mated if needed. So it’s a balance. I plan to have extra queens at that time ; possibly banked by then to replace if needed. So I have a complicated plan that is a little harder for a newer keeper.

[u/NumCustosApes → u/island_harriet]

You should only do a dribble once a year on a hive that has the same queen. Since you did one last fall I don’t recommend one now unless it’s your only option. I reserve OAD treatments for periods when there is no capped brood present, like a mid winter treatment if the weather permits opening the hive. If you don’t have a vaporizer then Varroxsan may be a better choice this soon after doing an OAD.

[u/drones_on_about_bees]

There are some Nordic studies...2 or 3 of them if I recall... that show oav to be very effective right down to about freezing. As long as you are at or above freezing, you're good for vape.

[u/island_harriet → u/drones_on_about_bees]

What about the dribble oa technique? Is that ok in colder weather?

[u/drones_on_about_bees → u/island_harriet]

I've honestly never done it. My understanding is once per year it's all you can do with dribble.

[u/Many_Bonus554]

You can use the dribble method only once oer season. It’s to harsh for the bees, you burn their mouth because of the acid. It’s been said that when using it twice on the same bees, lot’s off bees will die. I never tried it but I believe them.

Dribbling once should do the job. It only works when the bees are broodless (and clustered). If this was the case, leave them alone.