Last month, the Foragers performed a varroa mite check on the club’s hive. Since we found a high mite load, we did a varroa mite treatment to rid them from the hive. Mr. Hodgie used the Formic Pro treatment which is a 14-day treatment and the only one that kills mites in the brood cells. The varroa mite treatment was successful. The post assessment showed only four mites (or about 1 mite load for a 1/2 cup of bees).
Mr. Hodgie found the queen, two frames of brood, one frame with open brood, and the other was capped brood. Everything that was brood had been backfilled honey now. They have plenty of honey for the winter.
In regards to our other three hives (the split one from our original colony and the two nucs donated to us), all are looking healthy. Mr. Hodgie treated those with a mite treatment as well. We will keep those at Mr. Hodgie’s apiary until spring time.