APIVAR® varroa (5 hives)

01 · HOW IT WORKS

The bees are the ones spreading it

Amitraz acts on theoctopamine receptors of the mite: it fires up neuronal activity, detaches it and kills it. The route is contact — the bees brush the strip and carry the product through the colony in their normal traffic. Hence the two conditions of the treatment: it only reaches thephoretic varroa, never the one under the capping, and that is why the strip stayssix weeks inside: the time the capped brood needs to emerge and expose the mites that were coming out with it.

02 · PLACEMENT

Two strips, flanking the brood

It takes2 strips per hive, inserted between two combs. In Dadant, the technical sheet places one between thethird and fourth comb and the other between theseventh and eighth — outside the brood box, flanking it, not driven into the middle of the nest. In Layens, one between the fifth and sixth and the other between the ninth and tenth. Atsix weeks they come out. And it is worth sticking to two: a third does not improve the result, it just wastes product and steps outside what the prescription covers.

03 · WHEN TO TREAT

The calendar follows your climate, not the month

Like every contact treatment, it is appliedwhen there is little brood — and «little brood» does not fall on the same date on the south coast as it does inland. The technical sheet splits the calendar by zone:warm, August-September;mild, November-December;cold, January-February. It is a little-known reference, and it explains why two beekeepers doing «the usual» get different results from the same product.

04 · HONEY AND WAX

Seven days — and no harvesting during the treatment

This is where Apivar parts company with the rest. The honey withdrawal is7 days —every other varroa treatment in the catalogue is zero— and it countsfrom the moment you take the strips out, not from when you put them in: during the six weeksnothing is harvested. The sheet adds three restrictions that tend to be overlooked: do not use during the honey flow, do not extract honey from the brood box, anddo not reuse brood combs as honey combs. Plus a long-term one:brood combs are replaced with fresh wax at least every three years. Add it up and the real planning is six weeks plus seven days, outside the flow.

⚠ PRECAUTIONS

Handle the strips withwaterproof gloves and the usual beekeeping clothing, and keep children well away during application. Amitraz can cause neurological effects in humans and is amonoamine oxidase inhibitor: take extra care if you are on MAOIs, on blood-pressure medication or diabetic.

Two incompatibilities the sheet flags expressly: the toxicity of amitrazrises with copper salts and its activitydrops with piperonyl butoxide. And the sachet is vacuum-sealed —once opened, the strips get used, they are not kept for the following season.

05 · SUPPLY AND PACK

Apivar is aprescription-only veterinary medicine and is administered under veterinary supervision or control. Because of that status itcannot be supplied by distance selling: this page is informational and does not process any purchase. The sealed sachet holds10 strips — 5 hives at two per hive. Made by Vetó-pharma in France.