Beekeeping Mite Control Mistakes You MUST Avoid At All Cost

Beekeeping is better when you can avoid mistakes when trying to reduce your varroa mites in your hive. These mites are the single most deadly issue that bees are struggling with today.
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Whoa, you made it all the way down here! Thank you ♥️ Love you

[@beekeeper8474]

I made mistakes with varrora last year. I will not be letting that happen again. I'm coming for you mites.

[@johnreynolds614]

Really starting seeing sucess after I started taking care of the mites

[@joeelam1]

Thanks, great direction that makes me get busy in the beeyard

[@thomaskoppenhaver2758]

Great video David, thank you!

[@beek]

My pleasure!

[@luisaelizondom]

Excellent all 7 tips! Testing is key, something so simple but totally needed to measure your effectiveness or know how to react.

[@beek]

Exactly

[@WoodsleeSummercraftwoodturning]

Im about to start my second year, my bees survived the winter so far… i will admit i didnt test for mites last year, i did treat with apivar strips in the fall after i removed the supers, although I understand i don’t know if it worked or was needed, i do have a shaker, oxalic acid and a vaporizer, i need to do better this year

[@BucksBeesS.C.]

I have seen the peppermint has helped me in Darlington S.C. with hive beetles but I also use the beetle bee gone from better bee kind of like dryer sheets

[@Sergeant1001]

You are getting rain, up here in Mason Michigan we are getting snow with a possible low of 28°. Winter 🥶 is back.

[@b2bogster]

We have bees in Modesto right now. It got warm enough to bloom and put the bees in the orchards, then it proceeds to rain for the next week. We had to stay an extra 3 day because the passes where closed on the way to Oregon. It accidentally snowing right now in oregon. It's been a crazy winter. Thank-you for the great info 👍

[@beek]

Wow, crazy weather and glad you are enjoying the weather

[@charliegioe3158]

Davit wow on the weather at least it’s just rain. We are expecting 6 inches of snow by tomorrow morning Charlie PA but I do have a question on an inner cover. The ones that you could feed through and put a pile Patty throws. Could you use a copper screen like the ones for household?

[@jimmygentry2649]

Thank you for this message I have not gotten my bees yet but I am going to learn how to make them happy bees when I get them

[@beek]

Best of luck!

[@jay90374]

Me too, just ordered my first 2 nucs seeing how I had no luck catching a swarm last year! 🍯🐝

[@CentralCoastBeeMan]

Looks like you caught the California rain storm. We had that weather last week. Going to hit 70deg next week. Saw my first drone on the landing board today. Do you think next week would be time for a walk away split?

[@agpizz]

what mite control treatment would you use with a screened bottom board? would you put the inserts in or leave em off?

[@jayglosser2014]

David, I agree with your approach on testing. I tested my hives 4 times last yr , treatment applied and retested. Results were ZERO. Will the same this year. Received 8 inches of snow overnight with lots of rain at times, spring not here.

[@beek]

Nice mite control and yes, winter is not over for us in northern states

[@mr_approachable4759]

In one of your videos you said you were not going to add a pollen Patty to a hive cause there were a lot of small hive beetles and they would put their larva in it. If you know the time frame that small hive beetle mature, could you put in a patty then take it out before they do and freeze it to kill them? After it freezes give it back to the hive

[@DavidWilliams-wr4wb]

I’m old school and I lean towards natural everything and I’ve maintained 500 colonies of bees naturally with no treatment, but that was back in the 70’s , beekeeping I thought was a lot of work but now that I’ve decided to get back into beekeeping after a 25 year break I know I’m going to have to do treatment of some sort to keep the bees healthy, whether it’s brood/drone management or apiguard, I like thyme based products which can be expensive if you buy it commercially, one of the benefits I have is is acres of land to grow my own thyme and make my own extracts, which I managed to save my corn with last year as well , cottonseed oil and thyme oil , it just takes a little effort and wisdom to make it work , but the big picture here is I guess to try to treat and kill off as many mites as possible because a 10 mile stretch of farm land might have many neighboring bees that commingle and transfer mites and viruses back and forth , im going to try to breed some hygienic bloodlines into my area also , it’s great to watch hygienic bees in action!

[@beek]

Good plan David

[@kentcostello5286]

Hay I been thanking. Can we look outside outside of the box in this ? Let's look outside the hives . I mean how can we keep them out .I love your videos.

[@halfcircleworkshop]

I'm going to add drone comb to my mite management. How many green drone combs do I need in a double deep hive?

[@anthonypeterson3112]

Oh that rain was heavy a couple hours north of you in Bedford Park too. My whole trailer was wet just backing into a dock to get loaded.

[@beek]

Wow

[@anthonypeterson3112]

@David Burns the wife and I just completed your basic beekeeping course and mailed the test to you. Is there any way to get a certificate for both of us? Guess it's not a big deal if only one of us can get it but she did watch and learn everything with me.

[@joer5627]

Warm winters in Ga means we are into year round treatments. Brood never really drop much

[@beek]

Will be interesting.

[@BucksBeesS.C.]

Is there anyway to treat varola with something cheaper. I use oa Witch is cheap but do you think essential oils help in any way? The others are expensive for backyard bee keeper

[@BeesNTrees47]

I learned at my last meeting part of why oxalic acid vaporization isn't completely efficacious even during brood breaks. It is because when the mites are parasitizing an adult bee and they are nested between the scales of the bees abdomen they may avoid harm from oxalic acid. The acid needs to interact with the foot pads of the mite so if the mite is not actively walking around it may not be harmed by the treatment, especially if its feet pads are nested within the body of the bee.

[@beek]

Makes some sense to me

[@BucksBeesS.C.]

I have asked alot but do you think that oa vape shuts queen down any?

[@paulgroth5414]

Hi David, great content! I am near lansing mi. When do you think the winter bees are being made?what triggers the change in physiology from summer be to winterbee? Is it photoperiod? I have always thought August, if it's photoperiod then timing would be almost the same every year in a specific location

[@beek]

No not daylight length. It is triggered by a loss of incoming nectar/pollen. In some countries, there is no winter, but bees begin raising bees of "dearth physiology" in hot, dry seasons without floral sources.

[@caleblandry1780]

Just subscribed I have 2 nucs ordered and have to pick them up next month what would you recommend is the best mite treatment I could buy? Would rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it

[@caleblandry1780]

Also smart with the bee sacrifice thing your dead on with that brother.. just made me feel a hell of a lot better about doin that Also amazing tips and appreciate you taking the time to inform us.. and to let you know as a first time beekeeper I have nothing but time for them and will be able to do the Mite rest when need be ASAP

[@brianbennett4374]

What treatment do you use. Thanks

[@beek]

IPM. I start without treatments then if my tests are high counts, I use treatments based on the climate at that moment.

[@garyRt23Bees]

I love and understand how to use green drone frames properly to reduce mites ! My question is this. If the beekeeper just places the green drone frame in the hive and it ends up laid full of capped drone brood and they FAIL to remove it to freeze and kill the mites, would that not then actually make the mite issue worse??? By failing to remove and freeze the frame, it seems to me that you are now actually providing a breeding ground for the mites! Being that mites prefer drone cells and larvae to feed on and drones are under caps the longest, using them the wrong way would actually harm the colony.

[@beek]

Yes Gary, that is why they are GREEN, to remind the beekeeper not to forget.

[@ncfarmchick]

I realize I need to test more often even though I have been very lucky with my bees. I am unsure how to coordinate mite treatments with harvesting honey since some treatments cannot be done with honey supers on. Any advice?

[@beek]

Hi Dawn, this can be tricky. Most of us try to plan to have low mite counts going into our honey season. However, if you need to treat with supers on you can use formic pro according to the label with honey supers on.

[@29Megs]

Navy showers… I remember them well.

[@beek]

Indeed

[@timrector7824]

Indiana got slammed as well with high winds.

[@CMPearrow]

I treat in the fall because the brood count is going down and

[@jay90374]

Your comment seems to be cut off!

[@francinekeane9900]

Hi David from Australia. I put the drone comb in my hive 2nd from the end and the girls just filled it with honey, how can you prevent that? They had plenty of empty honey supers to use so wasn't that.

[@beek]

This is a great question to be asked on the livestream tonight, 7pm Central Time: Here's the link: kzbin.infofI_qVqcF0BI

[@francinekeane9900]

@@beek Thanks David

[@francinekeane9900]

@@beek Hi David couldnt get to your live stream sorry. I watched the live stream but couldn't see where you answered my question. Your thoughts on my question please.

[@jay90374]

Please put a link to the video you mentioned, not everyone is on a touchscreen and can follow a link imbedded in the video! 😀

[@beek]

Good point

[@eliinthewolverinestate6729]

You start with mite prevention. I char my used equipment. I plant high oxalic plants. I use a misting bottle of sugar water and thymol oil. It starts a cleaning spree in the hive. And wet sticky bees can't fly and if bee pulls a sticky mites leg off it dies. I let my bees swarm. Remote county only 9000 people. They want to colonize by nature. My 10 acres I figure 5 Lazutin hives. How many hives per acre should there be. High populations and limited resources suck. Look at the hood or ghetto. I realize this is based on resources. And plant and blooming times in my given region. I will get some queen cages for brood breaks. I use white wash on my wood. The lichen on the lime helps produces a propolis high in oxalic acid. I have never seen one of my 15 frame Lazutin hives filled. Seems my bees swarm when resources are coming in. I spread my hives out to prevent bee drift. Thanks for the tips on mite treatment. I only get 9-14 days at a time with my bees being 6.5 hours north. So my bees get no help from Oct-May.

[@timbervalleyhomestead]

I’m curious, how much thymol oil to sugar water?

[@BucksBeesS.C.]

Only problem i don't want to get queen tangled in the sheet of beetle be gone

[@fpfpsandrapalmer-snellin7660]

Do you think mites eat into our bees underneath so we must test. Mites on their backs are not the indicator

[@beek]

More mites are under the bees than on top, so if you just test by looking for mites, you will not see most mites.

[@fredflinderman]

Are there any natural way that work regarding treatment

[@beek]

Yes, I mentioned and showed breaking the queen's brood cycle, powdered sugar and screen bottom boards. But you will only know how effective by testing.

[@NielsenValleyFarms]

Do I need to test every colony every 30 days?

[@beek]

Yup, to be accurate

[@gerrydertinger7447]

David, for the backyard hobbyist with say 3 hives, are you testing each hive every time, or just one and assuming if it exceeds your threshold they all will?

[@beek]

It is best to test each individually because they can be very different.

[@user-hp7gj5fd3e]

Why not just ALWAYS take action in spring and fall, testing or NOT?? Just treat??

[@beek]

Without testing you aren’t sure how bad the mites are or did the treatment work

[@richardhyatt-beekeeping]

Bee #1, What if I sting the bear I'm going to die! Yikes!

[@richardhyatt-beekeeping]

BTW, the storms just crossed over us as you were posting this video. Still a bit of it here in Western North Carolina but, sunshine shortly!

[@williambrancato9773]

David Been loosing hives way to long. I think I just keep the you & the other bee distributors in business. Lol. Have a hive or two survive the Chicago despite me the beekeeper. Do these hives that survive the winter still have mites? Now I did one mite check, just happened to be on a very hot day. Swore I give up beekeeping before I ever do a mite check again. Do you know how to make the device Randy Oliver uses? I’m sure you don’t sit there on a hot day and do 25 hives or am I mistaken?

[@beek]

I do work bees on HOT days and test them.

[@kathyw6635]

I only tested my hives for the first year that I had them and I was sick and tired of the testing too. I haven't test my hives for 3 years and I have 16 hives now. But I do treat them with Formic Pro twice a year (May, Sept, when it is 70F to 80F for the first 3 days). I use the two strip method. The two strip method is a bit more harsh on the bees and I lost one queen last year, but it really kills the mites. I haven't needed to buy any bees or queens since the first year and I still get more hives than I could handle. So I don't mind to loss one or two with Formic Pro treatment. The hive will have very low mites coming out of the winter, but the mite number would jump when the brood expend in early spring. That's why I treat them in May and I treat all my hives at the same time. I am in MA.

[@gr8belayr]

Preventing 14,000 mites is not a big number. If you only have 30,000 bees! That's way over the mite threshold.

[@beek]

Preventing mites is a method to reduce the grow of mites but yes you still have to monitor and treat according to the count

[@thealnaylor]

How about knocking them out with a blast of carbon dioxide