The Beekeeping Year Starts in August: Part 1 – Feeding
2025-03-15
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Written by : Suzanne Wiebe
It is fairly easy to have a zero-mite count in April and May. It is much harder in August. Understanding pesticides and using them efficiently is something John and I still struggle with.
Our goal is to have a zero-mite count in August so that our winter bees have the best chance. We’ve never had it. Mites are usually bad in the end of August and September. Most
The best mite build up Model is Randy Oliver’s. Randy’s Varroa Model – Scientific Beekeeping
Randy Oliver’s guideline for treatments is a good place to start.
We treat differently, but we used this to start developing a strategy that works in our area.
Please click the link above and learn more about mites. You cannot defeat your enemy if you do not know who your enemy is.
Oxalic Acid
The mites are under the brood. Oxalic acid has knocked down the mite bomb, but it does not get under the caps. But you cannot use Formic Pro because it is too hot. This creates quite a problem.
There are several methods of using Oxalic acid
- For 3 days in a row to knock down anything that is on the bees. Then, every 2 weeks.
- Every 4 days, all summer.
- As you feel the bees need it.
There are two ways of applying Oxalic acid
- We use the InstaVap. It heats the Oxylic Acid crystals causing them to vaporize . Those vapours kill the mites but not the bees.
- The Drip method. This is where you mix the acid with water. Pull up one dose into a syringe and drip it onto the brood.
Removing Drone Brood
Another method that is effective in August and September is by letting the bees build out frames of drone brood and removing it once the drone is capped. There are green frames made for drone brood.
We do not use these. Instead, we put a medium frame in a deep hive. The bees will build out the bottom. Most of the time this is drone brood. When the drone brood is capped we will just scrap it off the frame and feed them to chickens.
Formic Pro
We follow Randy Oliver’s suggestion of leaving the top on the formic paddy to reduce the ‘flash’ and reduce the hive’s likelihood of killing the queen.
We use Formic early, so that we do not need to worry about the heat.
Formic pro is the only treatment that gets beneath the brood caps, and you can use with honey supers on.
Varroa Mite Treatment Calendar
End of July and August
This is when we start ramping up our Oxalic Acid treatment to knock down as many mites as we can.
We start with a 3-day treatment. This should knock the bees down to .05%. Then, we treat every four days through this time. (We have already pulled the honey.)
Our goal is to stay ahead of the Mite Bomb.
In August we have an ‘anything is worth trying’ motto. We will use powdered sugar. As one beekeeper said, “Powdered sugar may only knock off 300 or 500 mites, but that is 300 to 500 mites that are not reproducing.” In August, this can swing the pendulum in your bee’s favour.
Remember, the August bees are the nurse bees who will raise your winter bees. The larva in the comb is your winter bees. You do not want these larva covered in mites. The mites cause enough damage, but they can also bring viruses and bacteria into the hive.
September
The Commercial Treatments
We will use a different treatment depending on what we have used before, and what works in the fall. We will usually use a treatment the end of August/First of September.
Mite Shake. We normally assume we have mites, and treat. I can honestly say that I have never done a shake without some mites in the alcohol. But, in September I want to know whether I have 3 mites, or 15 mites in my hives.
It is my belief that bees will not survive if they are covered in mites.
End of September/October
Our treatment will depend on the alcohol wash. If it was good then I might just continue with Oxalic Acid.
January
We will treat all the broodless hives once with Oxalic acid. We can do this because we use an InstaVape. We do not need to open the hives.
Mid February
We will do another Oxalic acid vap.
March 15
We will do one more vap before the brood builds up.
April 15
We will do one last Oxalic Acid Vape.
May 1
We put formic acid on all of the hives that are building out and bringing in nectar.
We will not use Oxalic Acid when the bees are building honey.
June and July
May and June is the best time to make splits, and let the hives go broodless. This does not kill the mite. All it does is slow down the build up. Most of the mother mites do not die. They can live right through the winter with the bees.
But we can let the nucs go broodless, hit them with Oxalic Acid over three days. This should knock the mites down to almost zero.
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