BBKA Forum

I have just done a drop count on my bees and both hives have a drop count of around 9 a day so they need urgent treatment. Given the weather, cold and wet, what is the best treatment I can do immediately?

Vape or dribble oxalic acid now depending if you've got a vaper or not.


dribble, i would suggest this will be a one off now and just deal with any varroa not in cells. that I suspect is a minority now as I suspect most colonies should have sealed brood now. Only phoretic mites are killed with this process.

vape - every 5 days (maximum of 3 times) vaping is better, vape now and it kills all phoretic mites. the next 2 vapes should kill the majority of mites that emerge over the next 10 days.

If the colony is weak (2 frames or less) the damage is already done and i would suggest wait till April as I suspect it wont make it now anyway (speculation of course)

if the colony is strong (6frames plus) I would suggest they are still doing ok and maybe wait until April.

all this of course is just my opinion.

Chrisbarlow wrote: ↑

01 Mar 2020, 12:16

Vape or dribble oxalic acid now depending if you've got a vaper or not.

Hi, thanks I have bought a vaper and gassed those pesky mites! Many thanks