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  • varroa treatment in a communal apiary

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #4456  by colinr
 11 Aug 2019, 18:39
I keep my colinies in a communal apiary with several other beekeepers. I know that, ideally , we should all carry out our Autumn varroa treatments at the same time to avoid reinfestation but:
1. Must they all be started on the same day? Can they all be started within a week of each other? two weeks? Does anyone know? Any online references that anyone knows of?
2. Do the treatments all have to be the same type ie do we all have to use apiguard or MAQS or can we have a mixture?

Any thoughts or documentation would be appreciated.
 #4460  by Chrisbarlow
 11 Aug 2019, 23:11
Overlapping I suspect wouldn't be an issue with most treatments as most go on for 4-6weeks. They tend to go on for so long to kill varroa from emerging brood, so drift shouldn't be an issue.

The exception would be MAQS as it lasts for only one week and kills varroa on sealed brood. So could be reinfested quite easily from a colony that has a treatment in that lasts 6 week's for instance
 #4467  by AdamD
 12 Aug 2019, 09:15
I tend to feed and treat over an extended period although there is generally some overlap and don't have any problems as far as I have been aware. I think the odd stray bee is not a problem. A colony robbing out a failing one is, and that could happen with your bees robbing a colony a mile away of which you have no control.
3 or 4 years ago I had treated my colonies and found later in the season that one that was piling in the stores. In retrospect their performance was too good to be true! My suspicion is that they were robbing a weak hive from elsewhere as they were dead by varroa in spring. Despite a mid-winter oxalic acid treatment.