Hi team, I'm new to bee keeping as a hobby. I have purchased a nuc which has been in my hive for a week now. The nuc came with an oxalic strip already in the hive. I am unsure whether to continue another treatment with say ApiGuard in the spring now or wait until autumn. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
New Hive Varoa Treatment
- Thread starter Sam Edwards
- Start date
Personally I would get a conventional treatment in.
And having tried being an organic newbeek, the conventional treatments are much more reliable for us beginners.
Welcome to the very addictive hobby 😅
And having tried being an organic newbeek, the conventional treatments are much more reliable for us beginners.
Welcome to the very addictive hobby 😅
Agree with Josh.
Also, the straight answer to your question is "don't know".
Reason being, we don't have information how long the oxalic strip has been in there, or if it has worked, and what the current mite levels are in your hive.
It may at this time be asking too much of a brand new beekeeper to accurately answer those things, so that is why I'm agreeing with Josh. IE, the sure way to know your bees are free of varroa mites would be to remove the oxalic strip (because they can give mixed results), and put in a conventional treatment.
The best recommended conventional treatment (in my view) would be Apivar (not to be confused with Api Life Var). The reason I would recommend Apivar is because it is pretty much idiot proof. You put it in the hive, take it out 8 to 10 weeks later, and job done. Drawback is you have to buy a pack of 10. But if you give your location there may well be someone with some spare strips so you don't have to get a full pack.
Also, the straight answer to your question is "don't know".
Reason being, we don't have information how long the oxalic strip has been in there, or if it has worked, and what the current mite levels are in your hive.
It may at this time be asking too much of a brand new beekeeper to accurately answer those things, so that is why I'm agreeing with Josh. IE, the sure way to know your bees are free of varroa mites would be to remove the oxalic strip (because they can give mixed results), and put in a conventional treatment.
The best recommended conventional treatment (in my view) would be Apivar (not to be confused with Api Life Var). The reason I would recommend Apivar is because it is pretty much idiot proof. You put it in the hive, take it out 8 to 10 weeks later, and job done. Drawback is you have to buy a pack of 10. But if you give your location there may well be someone with some spare strips so you don't have to get a full pack.
as above, organic treatments are somewhat variable in their ability to kill mites. so not really suited for beginners as it adds workload, complexity and risk of failure.
apiguard is very temperature dependant, so its really only an autumn treatment. we did a few years of it and found it worked very poorly in spring temps and thats in northland.
i would stick to conventional to start with, build your hive up, learn your skills. split the hive in summer or autumn. you really want two hives in case one fails. if you make a mistake you want to have something handy to fix it with.
learn the skills and gain experience before doing the complicated stuff.
apiguard is very temperature dependant, so its really only an autumn treatment. we did a few years of it and found it worked very poorly in spring temps and thats in northland.
i would stick to conventional to start with, build your hive up, learn your skills. split the hive in summer or autumn. you really want two hives in case one fails. if you make a mistake you want to have something handy to fix it with.
learn the skills and gain experience before doing the complicated stuff.
