How does this sound?

[Mklangelo]

I did a sugar shake today and the mite count in the three colonies was, 1,0,0, respectively.


I had the State of Wisconsin apiary inspector tell me to do this before doing a full blown Apiguard treatment:


Take a piece of butcher paper and cut it to the size of the inside of the bottom board and rub it with vegetable oil and place it the hive (the mites will stick to it but the bees can still walk on it).  Then take a tin of Apiguard and leave it in it's normal place and wait 24 hours.  If I see more than 15 mites, then I can justify doing a full treatment. 

This sounds sensible to me.  Has anyone ever tried this?  I think Thymol is the lesser of two or more evils in killing the mites.  The apiairist said that they did not certify Coumaphos  (CheckMite) in Wisconsin because is simply doesn't work very well anymore, at least around here. 

[Scadsobees]

It sounds good...however....

The some of the worst effects of the thymol are in the first 24 hours or so.  Chewing pupae out, some agitation, bearding, etc.

If you are pretty confident that your counts are low, then don't treat at all.  Otherwise just do the treatment for the full cycle.

Just be sure that your sugar shake was accurate, do you mean a sugar shake on a small sample of bees in a jar or a full hive PS treatment?

Rick

[Mklangelo]

It sounds good...however....

The some of the worst effects of the thymol are in the first 24 hours or so.  Chewing pupae out, some agitation, bearding, etc.

If you are pretty confident that your counts are low, then don't treat at all.  Otherwise just do the treatment for the full cycle.

Just be sure that your sugar shake was accurate, do you mean a sugar shake on a small sample of bees in a jar or a full hive PS treatment?

Rick

We did a shake of about 200 bees in a jar.  The bees were taken from those working on/around the larval pre-capped stage brood.  Three hives and the counts were 0,0, and 1 (which is exactly what they were in spring except a different colony had the 1 count along with two zeros)    I'm leaning toward not doing anything.  No problem requires no solution.

[Scadsobees]

If you want to be sure, do a full powder sugar treatment on your hive with the butcher paper on the bottom (I assume you don't have SBB?).  That will drop a lot of mites from the whole hive. 

From what you describe they sound pretty good, though.

Rick