An excellent result of Apivox Varroa Eliminator project - new project for environmentally friendly control of Varroa mites.

 I can't help but share some encouraging information. Today we managed to make alcohol washes from SIX experimental families that were in hives of a new design (3rd modification) for the second year without any treatment during this year. The results of mites infestation at the end of October ranged from 1% to 5%. This is an excellent result! After the last brood comes out, we apply jet (or it is also called trickling) treatment with oxalic acid diluted in sugar syrup. And I think that by spring families will arrive with 1-2% mite infestation, and spring treatment will reduce this percentage. This is all especially gratifying against the backdrop of SIX control families that were also not treated during this season. As of today, only TWO of them have survived, and it is not yet clear whether they will survive until winter. The rain prevented me from finishing the wash. But we'll check it out. So the effect of using a new hive (using 12 families in the experiment) is clearly positive. Besides! During sampling, a visual inspection of the bees in the colonies was, naturally, carried out. The result of the observation is that in the experimental colonies there were NO bees with deformed wings. In families that underwent spring treatment with “heavy” chemicals and a couple of acid treatments, but lived in ordinary hives, such bees are observed on the honeycombs. What is especially valuable about these observations is that all this was done by a professional beekeeper and queen breeder, and not an amateur! And his conclusion about the results of using the hive is very positive. He called it the “lazy hive” because he climbed into it only 4 times during the entire season. And at the same time, he took a couple of Dadant body-boxes of honey. And till now the bees are alive and well. So this is our first practical success. In addition, a training course on “sustainable beekeeping in a lazy hive” will be completed soon. It remains to make drawings of a new model of the hive, since the previous ones are outdated. In addition, we have technology specially developed for the Mediterranean climate.

 

Do you have a desire to join our project? ;)))  We will be glad to participants as much as to any support and assistance!