All Hives Treated, No Queen Loss

Posted on August 19, 2014, 9:29 pm by Chris

A month ago I applied MAQs to the hives at my house.

A week later I checked them and found that all 3 queens had survived and resumed raising brood. So far, 100% of the queens introduced to MAQs survived.

I gave my dad the extra MAQs that I had and he treated the hive at his house and the two at our out-yard. The temperature during the week was in the lower 80s and it rained 2 or 3 days in a row.

Two of the hives had entrance reducers on but we left open the screened bottom boards to increase ventilation.

Today we went back to check on them to see how they were doing.



We removed what was left of the MAQs and threw them into the trash.



We found eggs and larva in all three of the hives.

This means of the 6 hives we treated with MAQs, we had 100% survival rate of the queens. None of the hives showed excessive brood loss, and two of the hives even managed to bring in nectar (with an excluder on!) while the treatment was going on in the middle of what I was sure to be a nectar dearth!

Having treated 6 hives with no issues, I'm pretty happy with the application and immediate outcome of the treatment.

I'll be curious to see how quickly the hives do or don't increase their mite counts after a few months.


Comments For This Post: (3) | Post Your Comments! Hide The Comment Form
Robin says...
Date:   August 20, 2014, 6:45 am

I'm glad to see this post.  I've been researching mite treatments and following your experience carefully.    Remind me again of why you went with MAQS instead of Apiguard....?


Chris (Show Me The Honey) says...
Date:   August 20, 2014, 8:12 am

Good question! Here's what persuaded me: MAQs kills under capped brood, can be used (recommended actually!) while the supers are on, has shorter treatment length and evaporates completely.

MAQs Strips
  • Active ingredient: Formic acid.  Formic acid is a natural component of honey and is found in the venom of ants
  • How it works: Kills varroa where they breed, i.e. in the hive and in the capped brood
  • Effectiveness: Reduces varroa population by 90% and also kills tracheal mites
  • Application: Temperature needs to be above 50Fbut less than 90F, treatment takes 1 week
  • When: Typically used from April – August, when have honey supers on
  • Other benefits: It evaporates completely, leaves no residue in the comb. Can be used with open mesh floors and without closing hive up (as required with Apiguard)

Apiguard

  • Active ingredient: Thymol. Thymol is a naturally occurring substance derived from the plant thyme
  • How it works: Kills varroa in the hive (but not in the capped brood)
  • Effectiveness: Reduces varroa population by 93% and also kills tracheal mites
  • Application: Temperature needs to be above 60F, treatment takes 4 week, requires 2 treatments. Cannot be used with honey supers you want to extract

credit: http://www.talkingwithbees.com/maqs-strips-or-apiguard



Robin says...
Date:   August 20, 2014, 11:49 am

Thanks, Chris!



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