Disclaimer:

This blog explains how I keep bees. It works for me, it might not work for you. Use my methods at your own risk. Always wear protective clothing and use a smoker when working bees.

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Monday, January 10, 2011

A new mite treatment


Update: This treatment will need a Section 18 approval from the USDA. Which hopefully may be done by early Feb.
This food grade chemical compound comes from Hops. Hops is a plant that is used in the production of beer.
The nice part about these strips is that the bees will chew up the cardboard strips and dispose of them in front of the colony.

This is a new mite treatment on the market. While my post is a little fuzzy, the message of a mite treatment that can be safely applied during a nectar flow is awesome.
Mites can build up and do serious damage to a colony starting in early August.
Current treatments have to wait until late August to mid Sept. before they can be put in a hive, mites are causing damage to the bees and stressing the colony already almost a month before the current treatments are applied. Having a treatment that is a natural food grade product and can be applied in late July, during a nectar flow, may dramatically help wintering of our colonies. It will be interesting to see how effective this new compound will be. The cost of the strips is lower than many other treatments available today.