Varroa Mites

1. Put 5-8 drops of Thyme oil in 16 ounces of mineral oil, shake it up and squirt it on a paper towel making a double SS. then put it in the hive on top of the frames up until 3 weeks before the honey flow and anytime after the honey flow.
2. Mix 1 Tablespoon of garlic powder with 1 cup of water in a blender on low speed for 2-3 minutes.  Add the blended mixture to a gallon of 1 to 1 sugar water, mix by shaking, and feed it to the bees in early spring until 3 weeks before the honey flow.  Can be used again in the fall after the honey flow.
3. Put 4 ounces of granulated sugar per deep hive box into a blender on low speed in order to make your own powdered sugar.  The powdered sugar that you buy in the stores contains corn starch which the bees cannot digest.  Place 4 ounces of home made powdered sugar into a baggie.  Use one 4 oz baggie to a deep box and 3 ounces per medium box. The next time that you are in your bee yard, dump the sugar onto the top of the frames.  Use a new paint brush ( must be a foam type) to brush the powder off of the frames onto the bees early in the morning or late in the evening 4 times, 10 days apart starting in August and continuing into September.  Best to have screen bottom boards for this, if not place cardboard in the bottom before dusting and then afterwards remove it.
4. Use 20-25 drops of Thyme oil in 16 ounces of mineral oil if use a fogger for mite control. Walk by the landing board and put the fogger into each hive for 8 to 10 seconds and then move on to the next hive.
5. A very effective treatment for Varroa mites on artificially sized 5.4 bees and the natural 4.9 bees is the wintergreen oil study found at  http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm

1. Mix 10-12 drops of eucalyptus oil with 1 cup of Crisco shortening.  Stir in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar and make into a small patty. Place the patty on a piece of wax paper and place on top of the frames. (Use latex or rubber gloves anytime when working with eucalyptus oil)
2. Dust diatomaceous earth on the ground around your hive instead of using Guard Star.  Be sure and make an 8-10 foot radius around the hive, watering it into the ground or apply before a rain.
3. Use old cortex boards for traps by cutting them into 3x4 inch rectangles and fill with Boric Acid.  Hold 6 of the cortex boards lined up together and cover the end with Crisco. turn over and then spoon 1/8 to 1/4 inch of the Boric Acid into the other end and seal with Crisco shortening.  The beetles like the Crisco. Place into hive on the bottom board, securing with staples, or place on alternating corner tops of  frames 1 and 10.
4. When using West SHB traps, place 1/8 to 3/16 inches of hydrated lime into a clean, dry tray. Put the grill on top and place into the hive as if you had oil in it.  This method is better than using vegetable oil since oil tends torun out or to settle in low spots leaving other spots dry.  Lime has a higher kill ratio than oil.
5. Better Beetle Blaster is probably the best of the SHB traps.

1. Mix 1 teaspoon of Tea Tree oil with 1/2 cup of water. Put into a blender and blend on low speed for 4 - 5 minutes. Needs to emulsify. Put the mixture into a 1/2 gallon jar of water and shake it up. Then pour 1 cup of this mixture into a gallon of 1 to 1 sugar water and feed this to the bees for a month.

1. Same as above but use 2 teaspoons instead of 1 teaspoon of Tea Tree oil.

• All  oils must be pharmaceutical grade. Essential Oils are for perfume purposes and not for healing.
• Diatomaceous earth (DE) must be of food grade (C grade).  Caution must be used since it is an eye and lung irritant.
• Lime dust may be an eye, skin and lung irritant.