Varroa Destructor - How do you control yours?

[Mrs Dobby]

Ok, thought it may be of use to have a discussion about what measures you take to control the parasitical Varroa Destructor Mite.

What measures do you take, what treatments (if any) do you use, and how bad is the infestation in your area?

[Mrs Dobby]

To start the ball rolling, we use a multi-faceted approach to controlling Varroa Mite ourselves.

Firstly we have open mesh floors, which allow any Mite that becomes dislodged to fall through the floor beneath the hive, preventing them from making their way back into the hive.

In Winter (when there are no brood present) we treat using Oxalyic Acid, following the directions exactly, we also use this on any captured swarms, as they have no brood present when they are first introduced to a hive!

During the normal weekly inspections we dust the bees with Icing sugar, this makes the bees give themselves a very good cleaning, which dislodges the Mites, who then fall thru the mesh floor, this Icing Sugar Dusting does seem to work for us, as we have fairly low Varroa infestation in any of the hives, does anyone else use this method?