In all the years I have been bee keeping I have never had an issue with varroa mites. I in all actuality had only seen them in my hives this once, and it was only in the one hive. The poor things were completely infested, so much so that the capped brood was coming out with deformed wings and a grey coloring to their bodies. It was really sad. I have never medicated my bees for anything and am against chemical treatments so I was at a loss. I have read that dusting the infected colony with powedered sugar can be a somewhat effective temporary treament, so I immediately ran inside grabbed my sifter and a bag of powdered sugar and dusted away!
Now for long term...
At home with my family we use a lot of tea tree oil and have used it on our black lab for various infections without any adverse side effects, so why not bees. There have been a few studies where essential oils were tested on bees and found to be effective treaments for varroa with out any adverse effects to short and long term bee health. Tea Tree oil is known to be lethal to varroa and when tea tree laced sugar syrup or tea tree laced honey is fed to brood, it disrupts the varroa life cycle therefore causing the varroa to die off rapidly. Soooo I unbottled about a gallon of honey from my healthy bees I had stored away for honey bee food emergencies and added 1 tsp of organic tea tree oil for every quart of honey. I fed this mixture to the bees via an entrance feeder for 2 weeks. I also changed the bottom board of the hive to a screen bottom board.
It's bee three weeks and I am proud to say.....IT WORKED! And all of our bees are varroa free!!!
Now for long term...
At home with my family we use a lot of tea tree oil and have used it on our black lab for various infections without any adverse side effects, so why not bees. There have been a few studies where essential oils were tested on bees and found to be effective treaments for varroa with out any adverse effects to short and long term bee health. Tea Tree oil is known to be lethal to varroa and when tea tree laced sugar syrup or tea tree laced honey is fed to brood, it disrupts the varroa life cycle therefore causing the varroa to die off rapidly. Soooo I unbottled about a gallon of honey from my healthy bees I had stored away for honey bee food emergencies and added 1 tsp of organic tea tree oil for every quart of honey. I fed this mixture to the bees via an entrance feeder for 2 weeks. I also changed the bottom board of the hive to a screen bottom board.
It's bee three weeks and I am proud to say.....IT WORKED! And all of our bees are varroa free!!!
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