Treating for Varroa with Formic Acid and Hopguard

Treating for Varroa in the month of August is critical for the hive surviving through the winter. Varroa builds up with time. The bees that are being parisitized by the mites are weakened and can become victims of viruses over the winter months, causing the hive to die before spring. Treating in August gives the bees time to go through a couple of brood cycles before winter. The new bees have not been victims of the Varroa parasite and are much healthier going into winter. Treating in Sept makes it harder for the bees to turn out enough healthy bees before winter. Using Formic Acid or Hopguard works great for keeping the supers on and treating for the Varroa mite at the same time. This will let us have the supers on later to take advantage of the Goldenrod flow which will be late, like every nectar flow so far this year.
 This coming weekend is supposed to be cool. This is a perfect time to treat colonies with miteaway quick strips with the ingredient called formic acid.
This is a fumigant that kills Varroa. The cool weather lessens the initial intensity of the vapors. if the weather is too warm it can kill some brood. Miteaway quick strips is a seven day treatment and can be used when the supers are on. The dose involved is the same amount as a food additive and is perfectly safe with the honey supers on. The strips need to be removed if the temperature are going to be over 85 degrees F. the first three days of treatment. The labels says a respirator needs to be worn when using Miteaway qwik strips. Always read and follow the label before using any miticide.
Double click on the video for full size.  Website http://www.miteaway.com/