Reviews

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We fill the dry Mitegone pads with 65% formic acid and fasten these to the outside of the #1 honeyframe. This gives us a very effective control of both mites. We monitor with screened bottom boards on a regular basis. The procedure is safe to use and does not show the damage cause dby the formermite-awaypads on brood and queens, nor does it need the cuastions like MAQS in high temperature weather. A good number of my beekeeping customers use them with good results. We practice and recommend organic pest control as much as possible and Mitegone fits in very well with this type of beekeeping.

Beekeeper for 27 years -- Beekeeping equipment and medication/spesticide supplier for the industry for more than 10 years - regular feedback from my widespread clientel.

Experience with Apistan, Chek-mite, Apivar, Mite-away, Oxalic Acid and a varikous medications for bees and all the problems associated with them. Formic acid and Mitegone combination is an enormous improvement in the battle against mites.

 

I have monitored MiteGone Pads by counting the mite drops on Bill Ruzicka's test boards for 8 or 9 yrs. With High efficacy in every year. Slow release in MiteGone Pads is efficient in single treatment and there is no known chemical build -up in hives. Procedures are safe if you follow the good directions provided. It is economical and more time efficient than the blast treatments.

I have been the Bee Inspector {just retired} for the North Okanagan & Central Okanagan for 29 yrs. and have witnessed many different types of applications of formic acid 65%. Using MiteGone is the very best way. I personally have tested other applications but have always gone back to MiteGone Pads.

 

Use of MiteGone Pads since 2002 (both spring and fall) has resulted in 90% plus eradication of existing adult mites in each application monitored in each of several Bee Yards. This non-invasive treatment does not materially force either the house bees and/or field bees plus queen from the hive as does Kramer pad (Miteaway) treatment. The most beneficial positive of the Mite Gone treatment for us is the ease of use and one-time application resulting in time savings. I have also used MAQS treatment this year but had significant brood mortality or apparent physiological damage in newly emerging brood.

Almost 10 years experience with Mite Gone as main source of Mite control (occasionally use Oxalic Acid during winter wrapping) for about 75-100 hives in a variety of locations in central Ontario. Attendance at many neighboring Bee Associations indicates fallacy in what other beekeepers are doing for mite control both in choosing resistant products to applying product at inapropriate times. Research at our home yards confirms efficacy of 65% Formic and original use of Formic pads on top of brood nest (as in Miteaway 11) in spring has often resulted in dead brood and dead queens due to significant temperature swings. Mite Gone delivery system fits well with the natural ventilation of the hive and does not interfere with other necessary hive manipulations, thus saving significant time and less exposure of beekeeper to chemicals.

 

I have been using this product (MiteGone) for over 8 years for the control of Varroa Jacobsoni. MiteGone has been exceptionally effective in the control of this honey bee pest. This product has consistently and effectively kept Varroa populations under control.

I have been using this product (MiteGone) for over 8 years for the control of Varroa Jacobsoni. MiteGone has been exceptionally effective in the control of this honey bee pest. This product has consistently and effectively kept Varroa populations under control.

 

I have used the MiteGone formic acid pads for nearly 10 years. I treat my bee colonies in the spring and in the fall. I follow the MiteGone recommended procedure. I have not found a similar product and procedure anywhere. I have been a representative of MiteGone for approximately 10 years. During that time I have developed a clientele, particularly among other of the beekeepers. I have never received a complaint from a customer because the product failed. To the contrary I regularly receive positive reports or repeat orders which I consider positive reports. Whenever I am working inside a colony, I visually examine my bees for mites. Over the past 10 years I have never observed mites in my colonies. I have however visually identified mites in colonies of fellow beekeepers.

I have been a hobby beekeeper for over 30 years. As a research scientist, I look at the behavior and the productivity of my colonies from a scientific perspective. I am a trained observer. I also frequently develop new approaches and techniques in my beekeeping. This practice is very common among all beekeepers. I keep notes on annual honey production from year to year. I also track the performance of Queens since I am permitted to sell Queens and starter colonies [nukes].

 

I have been using MiteGone Pads with 65% formic acid on our honey bee colonies for the past ten years. Formic acid delivered with this system has provided our Apiaries with an effective, dependable control of the pests. It is a simple system for the application of the acid, and is very field useful when taken commercially in bee yards. It is clean and user friendly avoiding the environmental dangers from other products, Formic acid applied with the Mitegone system does not appear to have any resistance issues that other products (e.g. Apistan) have.

Kaye’s Bees Apiary, family owned business, operating 300 honeybee colonies in the Okanagan valley of BC
We have used Mitegone pads with 65% formic acid for the past ten years giving us a natural effective control of the pests, when used according to the manufacturer’s directions

 

It reminded me and Andrea of a university or district or county education video. Well spoken and to the point.

I was quite impressed actually But high five for that one. I’ll be watching it again and again Looks like an early start to the season coming

 

They get rid of the mites and the bees tolerate the treatment very well.

After seeing how well the treatment works and how easy it is to do, my wife is now using it in the hives at the historic Firestone Farm located at the world-renowned Greenfield Village

I’ve used them with very good success in the KTBH, last summer I was lax and toward fall, I did a count and found 25 mites in the approximate 300 bee sample. “Great” I thought………I’m goanna lose this colony for sure“ doubling disappointing as it was a very good producer.

I installed three pads and lo………they came thru the winter in fine shape.

Early summer testing showed a very low count … maybe 3 per 300 sample.

 

Things went well got all honey pulled off and treated by the 10th of September. Bees look great so far. Will see come middle of January. Everyone has left my country and moved back down in the valley. I stopped wintering down there about 5 years ago because I had thousand of hive all around me. And guess what happened my winter loos decreased by 15% the first year i winter in the cold country out of the snow but high dessert. Bess do just fine if they are not infested with mites. I treated with formic and a tactic strip this fall Can’t find a mite. Just two treatments this year I’m happy about that, treated 5 times last year with different stuff and still had a 40% loss. Had 675 going into summer with fall loss and bears I have 625 going into winter. Things look good. Your treatment is labor intensive, but has excellent results and work well even in the worst conditions that’s why I came back should of never left. Only problem I have is bees being two strong but with your treatment I’ve learned just add a extra pad or two never had a problem of killing a hive with to much. The best results I get is to treat late afternoon when the day starts cooling off not ideal, bees get pissy but the formic is not so hard on them and they have a good cool night to adjust the treatment and it’s not so harsh by midday the following day. I feel confident I should have around 450-500 8 frame or better hives to rent out this spring. It’s been a good year for the bees. Oh wanted to tell you too the formic works well on skunks too thay will not bother them during the treatment I watch a family of skunks come in one night (waiting on a bear) thay wanted to scratch and go to the entrances of the hives but the fumes kept them away I watched them go about 20 minutes thay Finley left the yard. We will talk soon
Thanks!

 

I want to submit my review for mite gone treatment we did last fall.
We had drastic increase in overwintering numbers, because of the treatment.
This year we had only 1-2% losses as opposed to loses in a previous year, when we had 60% losses! (we treated before with oxalic vapor).
We are so happy we found Bill Ruzicka's CD in Prince George bee store and proceeded with treatment with Formic Acid same fall.
Bill's tutorial showed us very clear how to proceed with formic acid, measurements and precautions.
My husband was skeptical in the beginning, because of safety issue, but I convinced him to try.
We did everything by the book and it was not difficult and was very safe.
Thanks. Bill, for all that work you've done!
I recommend this treatment to all beekeepers, small and large scale. We had 70 hives overwintered this year in Terrace BC.

 

For one year I have been a subscriber to Bee Culture, and have read it with great interest. For several years I was also a subscriber to another bee magazine, but I have dropped it now. There have been a lot of articles about the varroa mite over the years, and how to keep them down, but none that have come up with a definite answer to the problem. In 1996 I met Bill Ruzicka in Kelowna, British Columbia, in mid May, for the first time while purchasing 10 shake swarms from him. My first bees since leaving my homeland, Norway in 1991. They gave me 100 lbs pr. hive that summer. It was exiting! Bill now claims that for more than 20 yrs. his bees have been visually mite free because of the Mite Gone method he has developed. Pads abt. 4 " x 5" are soaked in 65% formic acid and hung on the outer frame against the wall of the brood chamber. There is no damage to queens, and no residue of any chemical in the hives. The treatment lasts for at least 3 weeks, killing 3 cycles of varroa. ( Not to be confused with Mite Away Quick Strips !) Where I live we treat In mid April and mid August. His website is WWW.mitegone.com. After reading the article in the Bee Culture, January 2018, p. 88: Southeast U.S. Varroa Treatment Decisions, I felt like commenting a little on that. I realize that the climate varies a lot from that area to where I live, but according to Bill, his method works in all climates. If you look up mitegone .com you will see the whole development process of the product, the testing of it, and also the prescribed application. Quite thorough and extensive. Varroa mites are not a problem whether for Bill, me or anyone using this treatment method as prescribed. Varroa mites are simply of no concern to us when Mite Gone is used properly. It seems the solution is staring us in the face. Is the whole beekeeping industry in North America ignorant of it, or just not paying attention to it ? Would it help if Bill Ruzicka had a PhD. attached to his name ? I hope you will publish this.

I have 52 hives north and west of Glenwood. ( Glenwood is a village between Fort Macleod and Cardston.) I read the Canadian Honey Council Report in the February issue of Hive Lights, vol.31 # 1 p. 3 , and found your report on the Varroa mite situation and the related treatment chemicals somewhat worrisome, because to my experience there is a treatment that actually works very well for those that use it. I wonder why Bill Ruzicka's Mite Gone ( not to be confused with Mite Away Quick Strips ! ) method is not being taken seriously by anyone ?( Except for the few that use it, of course.) Is it because Bill does not have a PhD attached to his name ? His pads soaked in 65% formic acid are working very well. He claims to have been virtually mite free for more than 20 yrs. , with no damage to the queens and with no resistance built up in the mites, to the method. The treatment lasts for at least 3 weeks straight which should take care of 3 cycles of varroa mites. His report on extensive tests are found on his website. He uses sticky boards for testing. I treat mid April and mid August. I hardly ever discover any mites in my hives, so the varroa mite is, in the contrast to your report, of no concern to me as long as I treat with Mite Gone. I have read many scientific articles in the bee magazines in the past, on the subject ,but have never found a real solution to the problem; only maybe's , while Mr. Ruzicka has a concrete solution that works. Why is the whole beekeeping community in North America letting itself have these truths stare itself in the face without acting upon it ? It seems like the old saying comes to life again : "if it works, don't fix it". I welcome any comments. If you want to publish it, you're welcome to it.

 

 

It doesn't matter if it takes me a couple of years to use it up, right?

Let me know when you need help again. I can always fit you in. I have a gal who is new to beekeeping who would like to come too. Her name is Oxana. She's very sweet and anxious to learn

 

just read your august article and enjoyed.

Here in Shellbrook, SK, we run 3500 honey producers, and make up 1700 nucs each year...so about 5000 colonies into winter each year.

Our nucs are started in a single, with queen cells from our own selected stock, and then given a second and some honey supers as strength requires. Every year we're tearing down our 3 year old queens into nucs. So far we are happy with this system, except we have too many bees...a good problem.

I appreciate your approach to mite testing...I agree that it is essential to test at the same time each year. For out testing, we have developed cordless vacuums that we attach shaker bottles to...and then shake the samples back home on cold mornings before we go out the next day. To test early, we head out on the snow in a tracked vehicle in mid March, before we have much brood and apply three strips of Apivar. Like you, our biggest problem is neighbor beekeepers who aren't diligent in controlling their mites.

I'm interested in your opinion. We feel that killing mites early in the year is better than later. It seems that if the varroa numbers grow too much, the hive is sick from the viruses, and killing mites in the fall may be too late, as the bees are already sick...and dead mites at that point don't alleviate the viral infections. What do you think?

Also, like you, we weigh each colony, and here we need 140 lbs to get through winter in a double outdoors. Because of our numbers, we open feed with barrels, corn syrup and straw. This is definitely less discriminate than your system, and sometimes we have to pull some feed in the spring...but for the greater part we still try not to overfeed and then finish off with pails on anything that is light.

Thanks for your article, all the best

 

First of all I would like to inform that during the summer(with our crazy Mediterranean temperatures varying between 35-42 C) I tried the mitegone pads in 10 hives that were having a huge problem with varroa and the treatment was absolutely successful ! It worked ,the results were more than satisfactory.

However since it's the middle of summer here in Greece (which means no rain and thus drought) my hives have almost 1-3 frames of brood, some of the hives even have none (very little, less than half a frame). My question is can I apply the mitegone pads to such hives, with so little ( and even none) brood? Is it ok to insert the mitegone in the hive ?

Bill’s Advice; YES You can. But your bees are fighting drought and heat work force is diverted to fetch water to cool down the hives. And queens reduced brood to what colony can maintain. You can help by feeding wery thin sugar water 20% they will rebound in autumn.

Once again thank you so much for all your help and for helping me keep my bees safe and healthy

 

I really appreciate your efforts with Mitegone. I would like to send a letter stating that not publishing the article is contrary to the associations documented purposes! They are undermining their own rules! We are very happy with your bees and mitegone. The truth needs to be out there, and we will help however we can. Do you have a name/email where the letter should go?

Thank you for your buzzing passion!

 

I just want to commend you on producing a wonderful product. I used it this spring as I had a fairly bad mite infestation, 14% and after 6 weeks of treatment it is under 2%. I found it incredibly easy to use and very fast to treat all my hives. I will be using the product as a matter of course for mite treatment.

Thanks

Skeena Valley Apiary!

 

Bill, the mitegone in my opinion with a great grade of formic worked fabulously. I had zero losses. Bees are looking great. I think I am the only one around who did not lose a hive. your product is great and I appreciated your help.

 

Some beekeepers at Czech have been using MiteGone from 2006. Following Bill's directions my personal experience is good, although I have no exact evidence. However researcher at Mendel University was interested in and ran three years evaluation which was finished last spring. Results are clear - April and August MiteGone treatment is fully comparable or more effective than Acrinathrin strips and Amitraz fumes.

Tests including protocol in detail were published at our beekeeping magazine "Modern beekeeper" (Moderni vcelar) in Czech language. I am not sure now whether English translation exists but I can ask.

 

The above statements do *not* appear to be discussing Mitegone, which is the Subject of this thread.

They appear to be in regard to a new product, MAQS.

Mitegone has *not* been the subject of any such damage reports as far as we know and has been in use for a number of years in various countries around the world.

Mitegone is an entirely different product with a different method of application from MAQS and other pads or strips in common use.

Please be certain to clearly identify which product is under discussion and please always check the Subject line when posting.

Let's get serious here and deal with this specific method, not wild generalities.

We all know of many ways that formic acid can be applied which do harm,but that does not necessarily mean there is no way to apply it without significant harm to bees and brood.

I just don't know. Bill thinks he does and we're listening.

Varroa Mite in New Zealand

Can we assume that this study is quoted because it examined the effects of Mitegone? My understanding is that it did not.

What we are discussing here is whether Bill has derived a method which prevents or mitigates most or all of that damage.

He has worked with this and other projects long enough that I am giving him a good listen and considering the possibility that he may have a better way to apply the acid that so many of us are planning to apply regardless of all your objections.

All semantics aside, maybe this is the least destructive method? It seems that MAQS has not proven to meet that definition from the reports so far. Miteaway II suffered from alternating inefficacy and damaging effects. Mitewipes, although better in some ways still can be harmful. The various European devices are costly, unhandy, and require handling acid in the field. etc. etc.

So back the question I asked: "I think it is fair to ask return, where is the evidence that this formulation harms the bees?"

Beside trying it yourself YOU may go to scientific evidence read Tests

I think it is fair to ask return, where is the evidence that this formulation harms the bees?

We hear about damage from flash formic, from long-term treatment like Miteaway due to weather events, and from Mitewipes, but I have never heard anyone say any such thing about Mitegone.

I consider Bill the person to call if wanting to learn about formic.

 

I have just removed the set of pads that I installed about 30 days ago. I found a few pads have been eaten by the bees, on one I found both pads were completely eaten away, is this normal? YES in honey production times.

The most surprising thing is that when we are installing the pads in the hives the bees are completely docile, In all my 15 years of working on bees I have never seen them so calm, yesterday we installed pads on 60 hives and the bees were so calm I could not believe, I am now wondering if we can developed a system of using the Formic acid to calm down these bees.

I have checked on the hives that we installed the pads and there is no signs of varroa. I am also noticing that the bees are very active and the brood frames are full of brood which is a very good sign, I have a glass Hives (observation hive) in my office and before we installed the pads I could see the Varroa on the bees, after installing the pads there are no Varroa at all and the brood frame is absolute full with brood.

My feeling is that there is a very big change with the bees that have been treated with the Formic acid. I will be sending you updates on the progress.

And by the way I have found a better way of fitting the pads, so simple, I will send you photos.

 

He shares what he knows and his information should be of considerable interest to those contemplating formic use in any system.

I have worked with Bill at his National presentations and believe Bill has the best interests of beekeepers & beekeeping at heart. Most of what I have learned about formic has come from Bill and Allen Dick!

Formic has limitations which both share (Bill at his presentations and Allen at his website). Once understood then formic treatment *in my opinion* gives good varroa control and the cheapest method around.

I agree there are beekeepers which better stay away from all methods which require *thinking and careful preparation *but most are plenty capable of applying formic pads safely.

 

Just got back from Ca. getting bees out of almond pollination. and yes we did experience unreasonable loss going into the almond pollination we treated 1/2 our operation with formic in Aug. - Sep. of 06 and the other 1/2 with maverick sticks marked the hives to see which was better and didn’t see one treatment work better than the other. we did use one full pad in the fall instead of 3 half pads that are now recommended.

The hives weren’t all gone a lot of the hives were just to small for almond pollination. some of the problem was to big of a stock pile with a warm ca winter the bees had good weight to them some are pointing fingers at corn syrup which we used that fall and in Jan. not sure any answer let me know thanks

 

When you presented your seminar at the Marion North Carolina last year, you had with you a honey bear that had honey from your part of the country. It had a most unusual and present taste.

If possible, I would like to purchase a sample of this honey to take to our club meeting when we have a honey tasting program.

BTW, I have treated all my hives with MiteGone pads this spring. Went by the book and things look good so far.

Thanks and kindest regards,

 

Please accept this email as a testimonial to MiteGone Formic Acid pads and to your dedication, commitment, and expertise on the use of formic acid to treat Varroa and Tracheal mites. When I prepared my bees for winter last fall, I used Check Mite in all 400 colonies as I have done the previous two years with good results. Approximately one week into the treatment I checked the colonies and found that at least 25% (100 colonies) had significant Varroa mite populations, such that winter survivability was unlikely. Immediately, I pulled all Check Mite out and treated with two MiteGone half-pads of formic acid in each single brood box colony.

At a later date, I rechecked all colonies and found that your product, and expertise, saved the remaining colonies. From now on, I will treat each spring and fall with MiteGone Formic Acid pads and forgo chemical applications. I also appreciate being able to call you up anytime and receive straight forward, honest advice based on your many years of beekeeping experience and research. Please do not hesitate to use me as a reference.

 

Treated 23 hive with the mite gone product.

I was unable to do any second treatment due to the cold Oct/Nov that we had here in Michigan.

I have no dead hive at this time. I will let you know how it goes as the season progresses.

My plan is to do spring treatment as soon as I can

 

I an pleased to tell you that I am beginning to have calls for more information on the pads and I am starting to sell to my local beekeepers.

What I need from you is the price of the pads for 2006 season.

I used mitegone last fall in half my operation with a lose of 6 hives out of 400, this year I am doing half of each yard with pads and other half with strips.

I am sure my loses will not be great. like our competition as I am hearing.

Thanks for your time