Formic pro

[Annika]

Just putting my opinion and experience of formic pro here. Doesn't appear to be much info on the site about it. I'm a pretty new hobbyist, made a lot of errors along the way as we do.

My booming hive this season was treated with bayvarol in late spring. Learnt the importance of testing for numbers when colony was overrun with varroa. Quickly chucked in some bayvarol and reread the control of varroa book. And scoured the net.

I culled huge ammount of brood. All full of varroa and destined for dwv. Worst case I'd seen.

Opted for formic pro. Has worked wonders and created brood break also another bonus. One is currently re queening and after alot of stress and worrying things are looking good for autumn. There are a lot of varied results and opinions on this product but i felt it was ideal. Ventilation is key and the 14 to 20 option is gentler especially from smaller colonies.

 

[tristan]

my understanding is a lot of the problems arise at high temps, you get to much vapor. might be better as a spring treatment when its cooler.
the issue with most alternative treatments is the variability factor. you really need to test to make sure its worked well enough.
the other thing to consider is its a bit hard on hive gear as its rusts the nails etc.

 

[Annika]

Correct. The current temps have been prefect. Warm enough during the day and cooler at night but still in the range to let off vapour. Mites boards were full. Waiting for queen to emerge and mate before checking mite load and prehaps treat again, the other part of the dose, If weather allows. New healthy bees hatching so looking good after frames and frames of dwv. Bee mortality was not as bad as feared mainly diseased and older bees. Far more effective and quicker than waiting and hoping for a bayvarol treatment or alternative to work.

 

[Dansar]

Correct. The current temps have been prefect. Warm enough during the day and cooler at night but still in the range to let off vapour. Mites boards were full. Waiting for queen to emerge and mate before checking mite load and prehaps treat again, the other part of the dose, If weather allows. New healthy bees hatching so looking good after frames and frames of dwv. Bee mortality was not as bad as feared mainly diseased and older bees. Far more effective and quicker than waiting and hoping for a bayvarol treatment or alternative to work.

Be aware a faster treatment also means that once the treatment is out of the hive there is opportunities for reinfesting of the hive.
The (one of) pro for the likes of bayvarol and apivar are that they protect the hive for the 2 to 2 1/2 months the strips are in.
with Formica pro you have a maximum of 20 days protection. So don’t get lulled into a false sense of security thinking you’re covered until spring.