BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Missed varroa treatment. What would you do?

  • Honeybee pests and diseases.
Honeybee pests and diseases.
 #5132  by AdamD
 02 Nov 2019, 12:10
I had a call from a beekeeper this morning who missed treating his two colonies. Options could be

a) leave until Oxalic Acid time in December/January
b) use Bayvarol/Apistan (resistance may be an issue).
c) use Apivar or an amitraz based insecticide
d) use something else
e) do nothing and hope they're OK 'till spring
 #5135  by NigelP
 02 Nov 2019, 17:19
Perhaps first thing is to assess severity by seeing how many varroa are dropping. Or find someone with an OA vaporiser to do an oxalic acid "accelerated drop" on them.
 #5151  by AdamD
 06 Nov 2019, 10:43
I'm not sure how realistic a drop count would be at this time of year - but might indicate a horror story or not. I guess icing sugar dusting (remember that?) might give some indication of the severity of an infestation although it's not the time of year for that. Without a vaporiser, maybe some Amitraz based treatment as something that won't disturb the colony too much.