Varroa mites can weaken your colony and make your hive susceptible to secondary pests. Oxalic acid is one of the best ways to manage your varroa populations in your hive. Oxalic acid kills 90-99% of the phoretic mites in your beehive. To reach these levels of effectiveness, however, the colony must be broodless. Your beehive […]

When colony collapse disorder (CCD) hits a colony, the bees literally disappear. You open the hive, and no one is home. No dead bees. No signs of disease. Just nothingness. And its scale is shocking. Some commercial beekeepers have lost thousands of hives in the blink of an eye. The losses have been dramatic enough […]

The Varroa mite is a Pandora’s box that humans will never be able to close. They are here to stay and they aren’t going anywhere despite all our efforts to treat them away. According to USDA’s Report on Honey Bee Health (PDF), published in 2012, the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, remains the single most detrimental […]

A great post by brand new Keeping Backyard Bees writer, Nancy Buffington. Read her easy steps toward eliminating this nasty pest.