Nice job, Guitarman! Way to go!
Not full of brood like it usually is.Only 2 frames had a little brood.
Coming off winter, I would assume the colony wouldn't be very large yet, but this sounds like a very small brood nest to me. Did you happen to notice if you had eggs or young larvae? I'm wondering if you still have a laying queen.
I now have ten new frames in that box at last.
Do those new frames that you put in there in place of the honey frames have drawn comb, foundation, or are they just completely blank? We just want to make sure they don't make a mess of things this time.
First time I?ve seen the varroa and the first time he?s seen it too. Took his strongest hives down very quick.
Taking down the biggest strongest hives really fast is typical of varroa. I just had it happen with my largest colony. They were in 7 mediums at the height of summer, and today I put the handful of remaining bees in the freezer.
I?m buying formic pro as well. I?m certain my hive has varroa. Im sure all Sydney has it now. I?m going to treat it. I hate the idea of killing so many bees to test the count but I probably should do so. The big problem we have is you can?t use formic pro over 29?C and it is often over 30? for the whole summer. I?m not sure how we meant to treat varroa in the middle of summer if needed.
I use FormicPro at times, and I'm using some right now actually. I would not recommend using it if it's even close to the recommended maximum temperature. It's potent stuff and very temperature sensitive, and many people report queen supersedure, high brood mortality, and even absconding when using it in warmer temps. I've never used it above 80F/28C and I haven't had any issues personally, but the bees are always more upset by it and there is always more brood mortality when it's warmer. I've used it successfully in temps as low as highs around 60F/15.5C. I particularly like it as a treatment because it penetrates the comb to kill the varroa in the brood, it's honey super safe, and it also takes out any bees who are sick. But I wouldn't recommend it as a midsummer treatment. Not sure what else is available to you in Australia. I personally just don't treat at the height of summer, as varroa populations aren't likely to peak then anyway with the way our flows are timed.
I would recommend doing a mite check before and after a treatment to check the efficacy. I don't like killing bees to do a mite test either, so I do a sugar roll instead of an alcohol wash. You'll still kill some likely, but not all of them. Just multiply your results by 1.3, since the sugar roll is less accurate.
Sorry to hear about those losses. I was wondering...my understanding is that the temps are only important for the first 2 or 3 days. Could the strips be left out in the open for those first days and installed after they dissipated a little?
The temps are most important for the first few days, but they are still important for the duration of the treatment. And the trouble is those first couple of days are when you are getting the best kill, so it seems like a waste to me, and FormicPro isn't cheap. You'd also have to be very careful about where you set them out as the vapors are very dangerous to breathe in for people and mammals.