I have used several vita products (swarm lure, AFB test kits etc.) and have found the quality good. We don’t yet have varroa in Australia but I was wondering if anyone was using the Vita Bee Gym as part of their management strategy?
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Interesting video. I wonder if the bees like the feeling, or they know it’s doing something good…
I watched the video a few days ago too. Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see a single mite get scraped off when the bees were going over and across it. Definitely appears that it would do the trick, but would have been nice to see it happen live. Would make for a better product promotion!
I was wondering the same thing. It’s a demo, but they have no mites.
I will be using the BeeGYM in my hive this year. I am also looking at getting the Plugable USB 2.0 Digital Microscope that has 250x magnification, so I can see and study what is on the sticky board. The BeeGYM is 4 1/2" square.
I have been using the Bee Gym in my hives for some time now. Certainly I see more varroa under where they use them. I don’t know whether the numbers seen are significant enough to use as a varroa control but it does serve to lesson the number of phoretic varroa. As part of IPM every little helps.