Treating Varroa

[Solebay Diamond]

Has anyone treated their hives yet? I have 1 super full of capped honey and was thinking of leaving it for my girls for the winter.
Should I take the super off, treat then put it back on or leave in situ? As a first time beekeeper I still have a lot to learn!
Roll on next year for the next beek course

[alldigging]

It'll taint the honey if you leave it on. But if the bees are keeping it then it doesn't matter.

The instructions for apiguard say to remove supers.

I think I will clear the bees from the super t orrw and then remove it and start the treatment. Assuming they have enugh I eat in th brood.
Mine are on the basalm at the moment so I hope they have ...

[vicky]

I'm using a clearing board to remove the supers left on, then I'll treat (Apiguard) - I think it's a few weeks but I need to check.
One hive has a partially filled super to go back on - they shouldn't need feeding but the other hive's had a few problems this year (supersceeded Q failed to mate, so have lost a few weeks...) and will need sugar syrup.

[Madasafish]

Apiguard - and most thymol products - need temperatures over 15C to be effective or the thymol does not vaporise.

I started treating three weeks ago for that reason: and guess what? The forecast for the next week has deteriorated badly for us.. we'll be lucky to see 15C tomorrow.

[vicky]

It's been really difficult to know what to do this year with the weather. I'm just going to Apiguard and hope it makes some difference - I've no idea what the weather will do next!
I've used the sachets of Hiveclean throughout the summer and icing sugar and the varroa numbers don't seem to be massive. And I'll oxalic acid during the winter.

[Prince of Durham]

I wonldn't worry too much about the outside temperature when using Apilife etc. The bees keep the inside of the hive warm enough for the treatments to do their thing. I put Apilife var on last week and have had a satisfying mite fall and will continue for the four week treatments.