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Author Topic: question about treating for mites  (Read 2933 times)

Offline rober

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question about treating for mites
« on: September 27, 2012, 10:29:44 am »
when i did a 2 day drop test 2 of my hives were loaded with mites. there were also some bees with deformed wings. so i relunctantly decided to treat those 2 hives. i used mite-away but only used 1 strip per hive insted of 2. not a full treatment but it had to put a dent in the mite population. i know it's common for the queen to quit laying when you treat. does the hive sometimes read that as the queen is not up to par? i'm asking because 1 of the treated hives has around 15 queen cells, 1/2 of them are capped. could that be the result treating? i did not see the queen which does not mean she is mot there & there was not any new brood present which is also common when you treat, so the normal clues do not apply for now. also-how long before the queen starts laying again?

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2012, 12:40:24 pm »
The first question that I have is what were the day time temps when you used the mite away. I bought the Mite Away 2 last year. After I read the directions and tried it on an empty hive I sealed up thecontainer and never touched it again. If it is too hot you will kill your bees. It also destroys any metal in the hive (Screen Bottom and Top Boards).
Where are the Q cells located? Are they hanging off the bottom or are they drawn from existing cells. My guess would be the latter which means they are emergency Q cells.
If the cells are capped and they haven't swarmed, again it sounds like emergency Q cells.
Jim
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Offline rober

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2012, 06:07:10 pm »
the temperatures were moderate. high 70's-mid 80's daytime & high 40's to mid 60's at night. the cells were emergency cells. sound like the queen bit the dust?. here's what i ended up doing. i just got a new queen for a weaker queenless hive. i took the queen cells from the treated hive & put those in the weak hive. i also added some brood ( from an untreated hive ) & a removal colony thati just brought home last night to the weak colony. i then installed the new queen in the treated colony. the mite-away was removed from that hive 3 days ago. i also taped over the candy plug to slow down the acceptance process.  i'm still seeing quite a few drones so i'm hoping any queens that emerge from those emergency cells will get mated.

Offline Vance G

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2012, 10:34:42 pm »
I have a question along this line.  I put Apiguard on Tuesday (seventies during the day most of the time) but before the treatment is done, daytime temps are forecast in the forties with cold and snow.  Since I put the card in between two brood boxes of strong bees, won't they be maintaining a 90 degree temp anyway??

Offline buzzbee

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2012, 11:04:55 am »
I have a question along this line.  I put Apiguard on Tuesday (seventies during the day most of the time) but before the treatment is done, daytime temps are forecast in the forties with cold and snow.  Since I put the card in between two brood boxes of strong bees, won't they be maintaining a 90 degree temp anyway??
Probably

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2012, 04:57:30 pm »
" 2 of my hives were loaded with mites" is not exactly an objective number... how many?

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Offline rober

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2012, 08:01:14 pm »
michael-too many to count. in a 3"x3" patch 40 or more mites. 15% of bees with deformed wings/ my other hives had around 10 mites in the same size area. when i treated the drop was around 30 per sq inch

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2012, 09:54:49 pm »
I guess "loaded with mites" will work.  It just doesn't have a clear meaning...
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Offline RHBee

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Re: question about treating for mites
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2012, 01:39:13 pm »
So mite away quick strips destroy metal and can render you queenless. I guess I'm gonna find out. I just treated my hives. Day time temps are predicted to be 83degF during the treatment time. This is within specs.
I also had deformed wing virus and visible mites on the bees. Saw no choice but to treat.
Later,
Ray

 

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