Bee Health Tools

For control and treatment of Varroa mites.

Recommended treatment of 2 strips per 10 frame brood box. 

Available in the following packets:
4 PACK contains 4 Apivar Strips - NEW!
12 PACK contains 12 Apivar Strips 
60 PACK contains 60 Apivar Strips 

Cartons of 60 Packs (1080 Strips) available for $3960+GST - Contact us direct to purchase.

Protect your bee colony against attack from mites with the Apivar Varroa treatment. The active substance in this treatment is proven safe for your brood and hive products. 
 
These strips are manufactured to consistently release the right amount of substance to effectively control mite infestation. The slow release technology ensures effective coverage throughout your hive for a long period. 
 
Apivar Bee Varroa Mite Strips work by releasing Amitraz, an ingredient that is highly toxic for mites yet totally safe for your honey, beeswax, brood, and queen. It won’t leave any residue in your hive products and will keep your hive healthy and happy. 

PLEASE NOTE: Carton lots may take 2-3 working days to dispatch 

Contact the Beequip team regarding Apivar urgent enquiries or further information on your order.   

Frequently Asked Questions: 

Why do I need to treat my bees for mites?

We already know that bees play a vital role in both the eco system and economy. This is why looking after them and ensuring their health as a species is crucial. 

Mites like the Varroa mite feed off bees in their larva stage. This introduces a number of harmful bacteria and diseases to bees in your hive. This weakens your entire colony putting them at risk and perpetuating the spread of mites into other colonies.   

What affect do the mites have on bees?

Larva that has been attacked by Varroa mites can suffer from: 

• Shorter life spans

• Deformed wings

• Poor immune systems

• Feeding issues

• Mating complications

• Lower pesticide resistance

All of the above make it significantly harder for bees to perform their duty in a hive and thus make it harder for the hive to survive. 

What are Varroa mites?

Varroa mites are parasites that externally attack the Honeybee. Through exportation over decades these mites have come in contact with colonies of both Asian and European Honeybee’s. 

The mites cause disease in hives known as Varroatosis and are understood to be a leading cause of colony collapse disorder. 

How do I know if I need to treat my hive?

As these mites are incredibly small they are often hard to detect. If your colony is heavily infested they will show obvious symptoms however, if infestation levels are low or just starting out the symptoms can be much harder to spot.  

It is advised to routinely check your hives around the change in seasons ( once in spring and once in autumn per year). 

How Do I Check for Mites?

You can check for Varroa mites in a number of ways including: 

• Mite catchment strips

• Sugar dusting

• Alcohol wash

• Uncapping

Make sure you do your research and find out which method of testing will work best for your hive. 

How Do I Treat My Hive With Apivar Strips?

Apivar strips are one of the most easy and effective forms of treatment against varroa mites.  

How to use Apivar strips:

Simply remove the strips from their packaging and separate them. Each strip has hanging hooks cut into them. Hang each strip between comb frames in the bee cluster. It is best to allow a minimum of two frames between each strip.  

Leave strips to hang for at least 8 weeks and up to 10 weeks. Make sure to dispose of after use. While your strips are in, be sure to keep an eye on the brood nest cluster. if the cluster moves, reposition the strips accordingly for best results.

Sold in Pack of 20 strips .

1 Pack contains 5 sachets of 4 strips.

1 Carton contains 200 sachets of 4 strips

Cartons of 200 Packs (800 Strips) available for $1570+GST - Contact us direct to purchase.

1 sachet treats 1 x 10 frame brood box.

- Highly effective for controlling Varroa mites.

- easy to use strips

- safe for the beekeeper

- Large contact area

- very little effect on beeswax, propolis and comb honey and bees

How to use:
Just bend back the two tabs and hook the strips over the top edge of the wooden frame. A single treatment of the bee colonies is sufficient. Strips should not be re-used.

Due to the specially designed tabs, the strips are suspended in such a way that the bees can easily crawl on both sides. Bayvarol Strips are suspended into the spaces between the combs in the central brood rearing area (i.e. not in the honey supers). Normally developed colonies receive four strips per brood chamber.

Useful Information:
Bayvarol Strips are generally used in Summer, immediately after the honey season. At that time the mite population has not yet reached critical proportions and the bee colony hasn't yet suffered any obvious damage. Ideally the strips should not be used during peak honey flow periods. However, Bayvarol can be used at any time of the year for diagnosis or in severe infestations where there is a threat to the survival of the colony.
If emergency treatment for an infestation is necessary while honey supers are present, comb honey should not be sold.
The specific mite activity on Bayvarol Strips ensures that the honey bees are reliably cleared of Varroa infection with an extremely low close: One strip contains only 3.6mg active substance.

Not recommended for use when honey supers are fitted to the beehive.

PLEASE NOTE: Carton lots may take 2-3 working days to dispatch - call us if you want to know exactly when. We will endeavour to get them out you as soon as possible.

Oxalic Acid Dihydrate Crystals. 99.5% 

Can be used for Varroa control in many different ways. One common and effective method is with our Vaporizer

We also sell Glycerine and cardboard or paper strips

500g pottles, 2kg pottles or 25kg Bags

Ensure to reading safety instructions before opening container.

Click here to view our mixing guide for oxalic acid and glycerine

Check out our packages here, with everything you need to get started including this....

Food grade high density cardboard. 11g.
Can be soaked in Oxalic Acid  and Glycerine  Solution.
30mm x 388mm with 2 creases for easy folding
Soaks up 23 grams of product.

Minimum order of 20 strips
86 per bundle, 1376 per carton

Check out our packages here, with everything you need to get started, including these....

Soaker crates - available for easy soaking of the strips.

The strips are packed in bundles of 86 because that is the ideal number for each slot in the soaker crate. The soaker crates have 6 slots and can soak 516 strips at a time.

Beekeepers have been using Oxalic Acid mixed with Glycerine all over the world for many years. They have found it extremely beneficial to the health of the colony. It can be used at any time of the year and the secret to its effectiveness is to maintain regular treatments. Colonies with high mite loadings have a lot of bees with stab wounds and suffering from virus infections. When Oxalic acid treatments are applied, many of these bees will go outside and die. This has even been observed during the night after a treatment on the previous day. If most of the bees are healthy, virtually zero adult bee mortality is observed.

Beequip run their own beehives for research and development and all the staff at Beequip have beekeeping experience. Oxalic acid solutions have been extensively researched and tested to maximise the results. The current economic challenges require most beekeepers to look at reducing costs wherever possible. All the products on this page have been developed to maintain healthy hives and to reduce the costs involved to achieve this. The cardboard strips are a new product release and are extremely environmentally friendly. When ready for removal, they can be left in front of the hive to kill weeds and harmlessly rot away. And they are very cheap!
Equipment has been developed to make it easy to safely soak the cardboard or paper laminates and very easy to drain off excess solution. Full mixing instructions are supplied when these products are purchased. The strips are stored in convenient tubs with clip on lids, and can be safely carried around on the back of the ute at all times. New strips can be fitted in seconds while the beekeeper is carrying out their usual routine duties.

For maximum dose, use 3 - 4 strips per BB (brood box). Locate next to brood. The bees must walk on it. A very effective treatment routine could typically be as follows. 3 strips per BB early Aug. Repeat in Sep and Oct. 3 strips per hive in Nov when adding honey supers. 3 strips per BB early Feb when removing honey crop. Repeat in March. 3 strips per hive when wintering down early May. Every area will have its own unique aspects to consider. Some areas with require less treatments than this example. It is very important to conduct mite tests to ascertain what is happening. 

Click here  to view our mixing guide for oxalic acid and glycerine

The RobberGard is an ingenious device to fool wasps and robber bees and stop them from getting into the colony.

These unwanted visitors are guided to potential food in the hive largely by sense of smell.

They go straight to the vent holes at bottom of the RobberGard and try to get in, without realizing the entrance is at the top.

These intruders very soon give up and go looking for food elsewhere.

The bees learn within 24 hours how to access their own hive and it doesn’t stop them carrying out all their normal duties.

Eye Screws to secure the RobberGards to brood box can be PURCHASED HERE

Varroa mite re-invasion

This is a huge issue in Autumn and it is believed to be the largest contributor to colony losses.

The varroa mite re-invasion is a result of visits from robber bees and/or from social bee visits.

This was highlighted at the 2021 NZ Bee Conference by an excellent study done by Dr Dennis vanEngelsdorp and shown in this video:-

https://youtu.be/PvWZjwUbLfA?t=1671 

Watch content from 27 min to 33 min. (Remember the study was done in Autumn in USA.)

The RobberGard is especially designed to deter these robber bees and social bees.

Some of the features and benefits of the RobberGards:-

1. The registered design is made from high quality stainless steel to withstand the corrosive elements outside and last for a very long time, virtually indefinitely.
2. Deters robber bees that want to steal the food supplies inside.
3. Deters social bees from other colonies that want to come and have a look and will mostly spread varroa mites.
4. Deters wasps from robbing food from the colony.
5. Stops mice getting in and damaging the honey combs.
6. Helps to control spread of AFB disease. If a colony gets AFB and has this robber guard, it is far less likely to get robbed out and spread the disease, before the beekeeper finds it and burns it.
7. Allows a lot more ventilation over winter (in hives with solid bases) to reduce condensation in the hives which is detrimental to the health of the colony.
8. Easy to block up with foam rubber if the beehive has to be shifted. The bees can still get lots of ventilation through the robber guard vent holes.
9. Very easy to mount, switch entries or remove with the use of the stainless steel eye screws supplied by Beequip NZ.
10. Has a summer position or rotate 180 degrees for the robbing season and winter. The entrance is just 25mm wide in this setting.
11. One of the 3 sizes will fit virtually every type of beehive base (floor) that is commonly used in NZ.

These can also be used as:

• Mouse guards
• Wasp Guards
• Anti-wasp screens
• Anti-robbing screens
• Robber Guards

Units packed in a carton:

RobberGard 153 - 200 / Carton
RobberGard 225 - 150 / Carton
RobberGard 360 - 100 / Carton

Pricing is per individual unit.