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What becomes dangerous to the colony.

Ordered by what actually causes problems in Switzerland – not by the alphabet. At the very top is what affects every colony every year; at the very bottom four animals that are taken for pests and are not.

We show what it looks like and tell you who to call. Treating is not our field – we are traders, not a bee specialist body and not a dealer in veterinary medicines.

Line drawing of the front of a beehive with the entrance; an enlarged detail shows the entrance height of no more than 6 millimetres and the mouse guard fitted in front of it
Recognising, not treating Legal status from the FSVO Drawings, not photographs

Three suspected cases are reported immediately

American foulbrood, European foulbrood and the small hive beetle are animal diseases to be combated in Switzerland. Where they are suspected, animal keepers report immediately to the bee inspector. The colony is not moved, nothing is treated by the keeper, and nothing is left to wait. That is a duty and not a matter of judgement. Everything else on this page stands beneath this sentence, not beside it.

All on one sheet

The bee and its antagonists

Overview plate: in the centre the honeybee from above and from the side, around it six antagonists with their identification features – varroa mite, Tropilaelaps mite, small hive beetle, lesser wax moth, greater wax moth and Asian hornet, plus a millimetre scale.
The most important antagonists compared in size with the bee. A drawing, not a photograph – in case of doubt it is not a picture that decides but the bee inspector.

Rank 1 · every colony, every year

The varroa mite – and what it brings with it

If one subject on this page is to be large, then this one. In the Swiss winter loss reports for 2023/24 (14.9 %) and 2024/25 (18.9 %) the causes found are given as varroa, viruses and lack of food. Varroosis is an animal disease to be monitored – it is reported through the bee inspectorate and the laboratory, not by the beekeeper – but it is the one problem that practically every colony in Switzerland has.

Plate “identifying varroosis reliably”: healthy worker for comparison, mite on the thorax and abdomen of a bee, opened capped brood cell with several mites on the pupa, newly emerged bee with crippled wings and a shortened abdomen, and signs at the hive entrance with crawling and dead bees.
How you see it – on the bee, in the brood and at the hive entrance. A drawing, not a photograph.
Identification plate Varroa destructor: mature female mite from above and from below, paler males and juvenile stages, mite on the abdomen of an adult bee, mite with offspring in a capped brood cell, enlargement of the piercing and sucking mouthparts, body length one to 1.8 millimetres.
The mite itself: reddish brown, oval, flattened, about 1.6 mm wide and 1.1 mm long – wider than long (factsheet 2.8), four pairs of legs. A drawing, not a photograph.

Why it is so hard to get rid of

Because it almost always sits where you cannot get at it. The mite reproduces in the capped brood cell – a female goes under the capping with the larva and comes out again with her offspring. What you see on the bees is the smaller part of the infestation.

That is also the reason why practically every approach that wants to set another animal against the mite fails at the same point: nobody gets into the capped brood. More on that further down under A thought we put up for discussion.

And what it brings with it: the viruses

The mite on its own rarely kills a colony. It transmits viruses, and the deformed wing virus is the best known: newly emerged bees with crippled wings that never unfold and a shortened abdomen, bees that will never fly.

Anyone who sees such bees at the hive entrance is not seeing the beginning of a problem but an advanced one. That is the moment at which you stop working it out for yourself and pick up the telephone.

Plate Varroa destructor with eight panels: female from above and from below with a scale, male and paler young mites, enlarged leg and mouthparts, mites on the thorax and abdomen of a bee, mite on the pupa in capped worker brood, infestation in an open and in a capped cell, size comparison with the bee’s eye and a list of features.
All stages compared. Important for your own count: males and young mites are distinctly paler than the reddish-brown female – anyone who looks only for reddish brown counts too few. A drawing, not a photograph.

Counting you can do, treating has to be learned

Measuring the natural mite drop is one simple operation: a tray over the whole hive floor, left in place for at least seven days, then count the mites and divide by the number of days. What this value means has been published by the Bee Health Service for every month. Our colony check places your figure next to these reference values – with the factsheet number and version, so that you can look up every figure.

What is treated and how is not for us to say. That is a treatment decision on your own colony, and it belongs with the management concept of the Bee Health Service and with your section. We name no products, no quantities and no dates.

To the colony check Factsheets of the BGD
Plate on measuring the natural mite drop: tray under the mesh floor of the hive, the inspection drawer pushed in, close-up of the debris with fallen mites among wax scales and pollen remains, and the counting with tweezers and a magnifier.
The tray has to cover the whole floor – half a tray gives half a figure, and that is useless. A drawing, not a photograph.

Causes in the winter loss reports: apisuisse with the Bee Research Centre of Agroscope, releases of June 2024 and June 2025. Reference values for the mite drop: factsheet 1.1 “Varroa-Behandlungskonzept” (varroa treatment concept) of the Bee Health Service. Legal status: Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office.

Ranks 2 to 4 · animal diseases to be combated

American foulbrood, European foulbrood, hive beetle

These three are the reason for the band at the top of this page. All three are classified by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office as an animal disease to be combated, and for all three the animal keeper has to report a suspicion himself and immediately. Two of them occur in Switzerland, the third does not – not yet.

Brood pattern of American foulbrood: patchy brood nest, sunken and perforated cell cappings, darkly discoloured, dissolving larval remains, ropy mass drawn out on a matchstick and dried scales on the cell floor.
American foulbrood. Patchy brood pattern, sunken and perforated cappings, a dark mass that draws threads on a matchstick. A drawing, not a photograph.
Brood pattern of European foulbrood: dead larvae in open cells, twisted and displaced instead of the even coiled-larva position, yellowish to brownish discolouration and dried larval remains.
European foulbrood. It affects the open brood: larvae lie twisted instead of evenly coiled, discolour and dry out. A drawing, not a photograph.

Why there is no set of instructions here. Because there is none that a beekeeper may apply himself. In Switzerland the use of antibiotics is not permitted, and there is no other medicine against American and European foulbrood – Agroscope, Swiss Bee Research Centre. That leaves hygiene, comb renewal, the shook-swarm procedure and the order of the authority. Other countries regulate this differently; what is allowed there says nothing for Switzerland. What happens to an affected colony and to the containment zone is decided by the bee inspectorate, not by the beekeeper and certainly not by his materials supplier. Our whole task on this page is that you should have seen the pictures above once, before you see them in your own hive.

Identification plate small hive beetle Aethina tumida: adult beetle from above with club-shaped antennae and shortened wing cases, beetle from the side, larva with rows of spines along the back and three pairs of legs on the front body, feeding galleries in the comb with fermenting honey, and how it is told apart from the wax moth larva.
Small hive beetle. The difference from the wax moth larva is what decides: the beetle larva has three pairs of legs at the front and rows of spines along the back, while the wax moth larva also has abdominal legs along its whole length. A drawing, not a photograph.

Not yet detected in Switzerland

The FSVO writes: “Bisher ist der Käfer hier nicht aufgetreten.” – the beetle has not occurred here so far. It appears here nonetheless – and in this place, because it is an animal disease to be combated. It is endemic in Calabria, and the danger comes with imports of colonies, queens and equipment.

Since 2015 the national monitoring programme Apinella has been running with sentinel apiaries. The purpose of this section is therefore not control but recognition: anyone who knows what the larva looks like does not confuse it with the wax moth – and reports it.

Two more that one should know

The tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi) and Tropilaelaps mites are classified by the FSVO as animal diseases to be monitored. The tracheal mite occurs in Switzerland “sehr selten” (very rarely), Tropilaelaps has “bisher nicht nachgewiesen” – not been detected here so far.

And here is a distinction that often gets blurred: with the diseases to be combated the animal keeper reports himself and immediately. With those to be monitored, establishing the case runs through the bee inspectorate and the laboratory. Duty and competence are not the same thing.

Legal status and the verbatim statements on occurrence: Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, pages on bee diseases. Procedure for American and European foulbrood: factsheets of the Bee Health Service. The Apinella monitoring programme: FSVO.

Rank 5 · invasive, here, and not an animal disease

Hornets and wasps at the hive entrance

The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) has arrived in Switzerland and is spreading. And here a legal fine point matters that is often reproduced wrongly: it is not an animal disease. The FSVO therefore cannot act – the cantons are responsible. Reporting through the national reporting platform is strongly recommended but not a legal duty.

Comparison plate: Asian hornet with a dark body, orange face mask, one broad orange band on the abdomen and yellow leg ends; European hornet with a reddish-brown front body and a yellow abdomen with black markings; common wasp and German wasp with their different facial markings; bee-wolf with a captured honeybee.
Four species that appear at the hive entrance, and how to tell them apart. The European hornet is native – anyone who takes it for the Asian one kills the wrong animal. A drawing, not a photograph.

How you recognise the Asian one

A predominantly dark body and a dark thorax, one broad orange band on the abdomen, an orange face mask and strikingly yellow leg ends. The European hornet, by contrast, has a reddish-brown front body and distinctly more yellow on the abdomen.

How you recognise the danger to the colony

One or several hornets standing in front of the hive entrance and seizing returning bees in flight. Along with restless bees, defensive behaviour, pressure at the hive entrance – and raiders flying off with a bee in their grasp.

What the factsheet expressly does not recommend

Bottle traps. The Swiss factsheet says verbatim: “Es wird nicht empfohlen, Fallen aufzustellen” – setting up traps is not recommended; they do not catch selectively and harm other insects. What the factsheet names instead: “Wichtigste Voraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche Koexistenz mit der Asiatischen Hornisse sind gesunde, starke und mit Futter gut versorgte Völker. Diese können Angriffen der Hornissen in der Regel standhalten.” – the most important precondition for successful coexistence with the Asian hornet is healthy, strong colonies well supplied with food; these can as a rule withstand the hornets’ attacks.

Identification plate Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax: the insect from above and from the side, head with the orange face mask, abdomen with the single broad orange band, yellow leg ends and a scale.
The Asian hornet in detail. Report a sighting through the national reporting platform – strongly recommended, not prescribed. A drawing, not a photograph.

The common wasp and the German wasp rob only weak colonies. That is the real finding, and it applies to the wasps just as it does to wax moths and the hive beetle: they are not the cause, they are the consequence. A colony at which wasps have serious success was already weakened beforehand. Anyone who fights the wasps and does not look at the colony is treating the symptom.

Legal status, the competence of the cantons and the reporting platform: Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office as well as asiatischehornisse.ch. Traps and colony strength: factsheet 2.7 of the Bee Health Service, version V 2606.

Rank 6 · everyday, and not notifiable

Wax moths, nosemosis, ants, mice

These are the things every beekeeper has at some point. None of them is notifiable, and for three out of four the same sentence applies as for the wasps: they become a problem above all once the colony is already weak or the combs are stored wrongly. For comb storage, factsheet 4.4.2 of the Bee Health Service gives a figure: below 12 °C wax moths cause no damage.

Identification plate lesser wax moth Achroia grisella: moth with uniformly silver-grey wings and a paler yellowish head, from above and from the side, plus the size comparison with the greater wax moth with its distinctly patterned forewings.
Lesser wax moth. Uniformly silver-grey with a pale, yellowish head – the greater wax moth has distinctly patterned forewings and a stouter body. A drawing, not a photograph.
Wax moth infestation in stored combs: webbing galleries across the comb surface, feeding galleries right down to the foundation sheet, larvae of different sizes, crumbs of frass and empty cocoons in the corners of the frame.
This is what it looks like in the comb store. Webbing galleries, feeding right down to the sheet, crumbs of frass. The damage does not arise in the colony but in the store. A drawing, not a photograph.
Plate on nosemosis and diarrhoeal conditions: faecal spotting on the landing board and on the comb surface, crawling bees unable to fly in front of the hive, a weakened, patchy colony and distended abdomens.
Nosemosis and diarrhoea. Faecal spotting on the landing board and on the combs, crawling bees, a weak colony in spring – worry number two after varroa. A drawing, not a photograph.
Ants in the hive: a trail of ants over the edge of the hive, a nest under the cover sheet in the space above, individual ants at open food cells, plus the black garden ant in side view with a scale.
Ants are not a pest but an indication. Where they nest in the hive there is space free that the colony is not occupying – so the colony is too weak for its room. A drawing, not a photograph.

Wax moths · the store decides

In the colony they do hardly any damage as long as it is strong – the factsheet says curtly: “Keine schwachen, serbelnden Völker” (no weak, ailing colonies). The feeding takes place above all in stored combs that have had brood in them. Anyone who stores combs light, cool (below 12 °C), airy and dry and melts down old combs consistently hardly has the problem (factsheet 2.6).

Nosemosis · a factsheet of its own

In Switzerland it has a factsheet of its own (2.5) and is common in spring. Typical signs are faecal spotting, crawling bees unable to fly and colonies that do not get going in spring. Clarification goes through a sample and the laboratory – not through the eye, and certainly not through our page.

Mice · six millimetres

Mice and shrews do the winter damage: they nest in the hive, destroy combs and disturb the colony. The Bee Health Service recommends setting the entrance height to no more than 6 mm in October and fitting a mouse guard (factsheet 4.3, V 2410). The entrance height is a matter of construction and therefore expressly our field.

Wax moth and colony strength: factsheet 2.6 of the Bee Health Service. Nosemosis: factsheet 2.5, version V 1906. Legal status: none of these conditions is classified by the FSVO as an animal disease.

Rank 7 · not pests

Four that are taken for pests

This section is here so that nobody kills a useful or harmless animal and nobody worries for nothing. All four are regularly taken for pests. Not one of them is one.

European hornet · Vespa crabro

Native, not an introduced species. It takes individual insects, bees among them, but is no danger to a healthy colony – and it is the species most often confused with the Asian one and therefore killed for nothing. Feature: reddish-brown front body, plenty of yellow on the abdomen.

Bee-wolf · Philanthus triangulum

A digger wasp that takes individual bees to provision its brood. Impressive to watch and of no significance for the colony. The technical guide on the robbers at the hive entrance records this expressly: no danger to the colony as a whole.

Bee louse · Braula coeca

A wingless fly, reddish, a good millimetre in size, that sits on bees. It transmits no diseases and has become rare in Switzerland. To tell it from the varroa mite: the bee louse has three pairs of legs, the mite four. Its larvae develop only on capped honey and bore fine tunnels under the wax cappings – a cosmetic flaw, not harm to the colony. It does not attack the bees at any stage; the Australian bee health programme BeeAware therefore lists it as a minor pest.

Ants

A nuisance while working and usually a sign of a weak colony – for a strong colony, no threat. The Bavarian institute LWG states that as a rule ants pose no threat to a bee colony. Damage occurs where they nest sheltered inside the hive and soil the stores, and where a very weak colony no longer defends itself. Anyone who fights the ants without asking why there is space free in the hive has therefore usually improved nothing. See above under In everyday practice.

Not a disease, and still a winter loss

Melezitose – cement honey

No animal, no pathogen, and it still belongs on this page. In the winter of 2024/25 apiaries with forest honey lost 23.4 % of their colonies, apiaries without it 16.4 %. The reason is a sugar: melezitose crystallises in the comb into a hard, granular mass that the bees can no longer take up in winter. They sit on stores and starve.

Comb with melezitose honey: uncapped cells with an opaque, matt, beige-grey solid mass and fine cracks, beside it for comparison normally crystallised golden-yellow honey, plus a section through the cells and the test with a finger and a hive tool.
Melezitose in the comb. Opaque, matt, beige-grey, fine cracks, often in open cells – the colony has not been able to ripen it or to cap it. A drawing, not a photograph.
Comparison plate: finely crystallised honey in light golden yellow, coarsely crystallised honey in amber, melezitose honey opaque and beige-grey with cracks, plus cells in section and the finger test – normally crystallised honey dissolves like honey, melezitose crumbles like sand and does not flow.
Telling them apart. Normally crystallised honey dissolves on the finger like honey; melezitose crumbles like sand and does not flow. A drawing, not a photograph.

What that means for preparing for winter is not for us to say. Whether and how forest honey combs are taken out before the winter and replaced with feed is a decision on the colony – it is set out in the factsheets on feeding and overwintering of the Bee Health Service. What we can say: a production colony needs around 20 kg of winter stores, and melezitose does not count towards that, because it is not available in winter.

Loss figures with and without forest honey: apisuisse with the Bee Research Centre of Agroscope, winter 2024/25. Quantity of stores: factsheet 4.2 “Fütterung” (feeding), version V 2604.

The part where we make ourselves unpopular

Plant protection products – what is documented

Here the situation is different from what the anger suggests, and we put down both sides. Anyone who names only the one loses credibility – and with it loses the arguments that are sound.

What speaks against the charge

Confirmed bee poisonings in Switzerland: 1 in 2022 (by a biocide, not a plant protection product), 2 in 2023, 0 in 2024, 1 in 2025 – against 13, 15, 7 and 7 reports of suspicion. The 2025 case contained thiamethoxam and its breakdown product clothianidin – two active substances no longer authorised for outdoor use. And in the winter loss reports of the same years (14.9 % and 18.9 %) the causes given are varroa, viruses, lack of food, forest honey and autumn weather. Not pesticides.

With the wild bees too: 45 % of the species are threatened in Switzerland – and the Federal Office for the Environment names as the main causes too few flowering plants and a lack of nesting sites, not pesticides.

And what is documented nonetheless

The strongest finding is not the dead insect but the one that comes back and no longer finds its way home – and above all the interaction with varroa. In a study by Monchanin and co-workers (2019) the return rate of treated foragers fell to 42 % against 63 % in the control, and the effective dose fell to a third when the colony carried 5 mites per 100 bees.

Another study, by Annoscia and co-workers (2020), found, at a field concentration of a neonicotinoid, a 23 % higher fertility of the mite. So pesticide and varroa reinforce each other – that is the sentence that matters.

The honest statement, and it is stronger than the charge

The honeybee colony is the robust part of the system: tens of thousands of animals buffer losses, and a beekeeper can lend a hand. The wild bee is the vulnerable part, because a single female buffers nothing and nobody lends her a hand. And what really kills the honeybee in Switzerland is varroa with its viruses.

This statement is documented, and it cannot be set off against anybody – not against the farmer, not against the beekeeper. That is precisely why it stands here and not the simpler sentence.

What applies in Switzerland

For clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam outdoor use has been withdrawn; use in the greenhouse remains permitted. The seed dressing “Gaucho” in sugar beet remains prohibited – the Federal Council did not follow the emergency authorisations of several EU states on 12 November 2020. Still open is the review of acetamiprid, which was detected in bee samples in 2024.

The bee condition is not a single sentence

SPe 8 is a whole family of conditions: buffer zones of 3, 6, 20, 50 or 100 m from flowering plants on neighbouring parcels – or the prohibition of contact with flowering plants and plants bearing honeydew – or application only in the evening outside the bees’ flying period. Which version applies is stated with the individual product in the Confederation’s register of plant protection products.

Where poisoning is suspected

Trembling, dazed bees unable to fly that drop off the landing board; bees that turn in circles. Then: the Bee Health Service and the bee inspector, and where a particular crop is suspected the cantonal office. For a claim to compensation an official has to take the sample – not the beekeeper himself. Reporting is strongly recommended but not a legal duty, unlike with American foulbrood, European foulbrood and the hive beetle.

And the point we consider the most important: the beneficial insects. A broad-spectrum product hits not only the pest but also its antagonist – and the pest then comes back stronger. There is a technical term for this, resurgence, and a figure that says everything: a product classified under the industry standard as harmless to beneficial insects reduced populations of parasitic wasps by 89 to 92 %. The authors write that the threshold values of this classification are too high to protect many natural enemies. And one more finding that is rarely mentioned: antagonists slow down the build-up of resistance – in a trial with insect-resistant Bt plants, 6.0 % of the pests survived with a predator present, 39.5 % without. Beneficial insects are not only hunters. They also hold up resistance.

Confirmed poisonings and reports of suspicion: Bee Health Service (bee poisoning reports 2022 to 2024, annual report 2025). Winter losses and the causes given: apisuisse with Agroscope. Wild bees: Federal Office for the Environment, 17.05.2024. Interaction with varroa: Monchanin and co-workers (2019); mite fertility: Annoscia and co-workers (2020). Authorisations and SPe 8: Federal Office for Agriculture and the register of plant protection products psm.admin.ch. Suspected poisoning: factsheet 3.1.2, version V 2411, with record sheet 3.1.1. Beneficial insects: Stark and Banks (2024); Liu and co-workers (2014). We name active substances, not applications – those are stated with the product.

Not advice, not a study

A thought we put up for discussion

This section is not a technical recommendation and not a study. It is a thought that we believe to be right, and we say it openly: for beekeeping it is not documented. Anyone who tries it out does so at their own risk.

First things first. Where American foulbrood, European foulbrood or the small hive beetle is suspected, nothing of what stands here applies. These three are animal diseases to be combated. The suspicion is reported immediately to the bee inspector, the colony is not moved and not treated by the keeper. That is a duty and not a matter of judgement. And with varroa infestation: the recognised treatment carries on. Always. Everything that stands here is meant as an addition – never as a substitute.

Why we think about it at all

In nature every living creature has an antagonist that keeps its numbers within bounds. Where this antagonist disappears, the species it used to eat multiplies. That is not a belief, it is documented several times over – and two examples tell it particularly clearly.

The woodpecker and the bark beetle

By the reckoning of the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, a three-toed woodpecker eats around 670’000 bark beetles a year, and on a winter day up to 3’200 larvae; where beetles are concerned they make up 80 to 99 per cent of its food.

For it to be able to do that it needs dying and dead trees – for nesting and for searching. It needs 33 cubic metres of dead wood per hectare. Swiss commercial forest has 11.9, the Central Plateau 4.9. The Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg (FVA) names as a threat to the woodpecker, verbatim, “Borkenkäfermanagement ohne Belassen ausreichender Nahrungsressourcen” – bark beetle management without leaving sufficient food resources. We tidied up – and with the tidying up the hunter went.

And one more sentence from the WSL that belongs exactly here: the natural enemies of the bark beetle stay in the tree one to two months longer than the beetle itself. Anyone who fells such trees “trägt nicht zur Bekämpfung des Borkenkäfers bei” – is not contributing to the control of the bark beetle; he is destroying its enemies.

The limit of this example, because it belongs with it: the same WSL work also says that woodpeckers cannot prevent a mass outbreak on their own (“allein nicht verhindern”). They help to contain it. That is precisely the thought – helping, not replacing.

The ladybird in California

In 1888 an introduced scale insect was destroying the Californian citrus plantations. Its natural enemy, an Australian ladybird, was brought in. The problem was solved in about eighteen months, for around 1’500 dollars.

The entomologist Albert Koebele had found it in Australia, the scale’s native home, in 1888; today the beetle is called Novius cardinalis. Experts regard it as the first success of modern biological pest control, and Rachel Carson, in «Silent Spring», called it the most famous and successful experiment of its kind.

And then, in the 1940s, came DDT. It killed the ladybird along with the rest, and the scale insect came back to damaging levels. The same mechanism, once in each direction, cleanly documented.

That is the whole idea in two paragraphs: the antagonist was there. It was brought in, and it worked. It was struck down, and things were as they had been before.

University of California Riverside, documentation on biological pest control. Smithsonian Magazine, «The Bug That Saved California».

What that could mean for the apiary

Here it becomes honestly difficult, and we put it down as it is. We have searched the specialist bodies and the research of Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, the USA and Australia. No official body and no study recommends establishing beneficial insects at the apiary, planting plants against pests or attracting birds. What there is, is the following – and with every point it says how far the matter really stands.

Natural antagonists of bee pests and the state of the research in each case
AntagonistState of the matter
Book scorpion eats varroa mites An indication, not proof. One project found a lower mite drop, statistically marginal. It reaches no mites in capped brood. Formic acid kills it – so a choice has to be made. In a Swiss trial all 30 animals had moved away after a year. In no factsheet.
Predatory mites against varroa Failed, question closed. Two field studies: they do not attack mites sitting on a bee at all, and they do not get into capped brood. That is where almost all the mites are. More predatory mites change nothing about that.
Fungi and bacteria that kill varroa Research, not a product. A fungal strain further developed in the laboratory was effective for 5 weeks and was statistically no worse than a recognised active substance. The problem with the natural strains is the hive temperature of 35 °C. There is no product to buy.
Nematodes against the hive beetle in the soil Effective in trials, not a recognised measure. 88 to 100 per cent mortality of the beetle larvae in a field trial. The authors write themselves: not usable on its own. In the Confederation’s official directive nematodes do not appear.
Birds against the Asian hornet They eat it, they do not regulate it. Honey buzzard, bee-eater, woodpeckers, tits – the technical guide on this says: “keiner der aufgeführten Vögel ist in der Lage, grosse und aktive Vespa-velutina-Kolonien zu beseitigen” – none of the birds listed is able to eliminate large, active colonies.
Parasitic wasps against wax moths Conceivable in the store, not in the colony. Verbatim: “the bees prevent them from access” – the bees do not let them in.
Breeding for defensive behaviour This is the route with data behind it. Bees that clear out infested brood themselves; the heritability of these traits has been measured. Here nature really is at work – only over years and through the breeding material, not through an animal that you put into the hive.

What is often claimed and is not true

We put this down because a trader who says what does not work is more credible than one who confirms everything.

  • Plants do not keep varroa mites away. No thyme, no lemon balm, no mint, no lavender. In 5 specialist sources checked, not a single repellent plant. Thymol is an active substance that is applied in the colony in measured doses – a thyme bush next to the hive is something else.
  • Chickens under the apiary against the hive beetle: in seven specialist sources checked, not a single mention.
  • Bottle traps against the Asian hornet: the Swiss factsheet says expressly “Es wird nicht empfohlen, Fallen aufzustellen” (setting up traps is not recommended) – they are not selective enough and harm other insects.
  • Not treating does not produce resistant colonies. That individual surviving populations exist is documented – in each case after years of high losses, and with “geringer Produktivität, aggressive Bienen” (low productivity, aggressive bees). The Bee Research Centre of Agroscope strongly advises beekeepers in Switzerland against going without the treatment.
  • Predatory mites do not keep varroa in check. In two field studies they did not attack mites sitting on the bees at all and did not get into capped brood, where almost all the mites are. More predatory mites change nothing about that.

What is documented, by contrast, and points in this direction

More is left over than one would think after the section on the left – and all of it is without chemistry.

  • A strong colony defends itself. The same statement three times over from three independent specialist bodies: against the wax moth (“Keine schwachen, serbelnden Völker” – no weak, ailing colonies), against the Asian hornet (factsheet 2.7: healthy, strong colonies well supplied with food can as a rule withstand attacks), against the hive beetle.
  • Cutting out drone brood reduces the varroa burden “um bis zu 50 %” (by up to 50 %) – factsheet 1.4.1. That is the only robust percentage in the whole subject, and it stands behind a simple operation, not behind a product.
  • For American and European foulbrood there is no medicine in Switzerland. Antibiotics are not permitted and there is no other product – Agroscope. That leaves hygiene, comb renewal, the shook-swarm procedure and an order from the authority.
  • Varied forage demonstrably improves the condition of the bees and helps parasitised colonies to live longer. It does not keep pests away – that would be a different claim, and it is not documented.
  • Choice of site: sunny, sheltered from the wind, dry, hive entrance facing south to south-east, forage within a radius of 1.5 km, water within 100 m, no more than 10 to 15 colonies at the site, 300 to 500 m between the apiaries – factsheet 4.9.

And if you want to try it: then like this, and not otherwise

  1. One or two coloniesOnly try it on one or two colonies that you deliberately select and observe separately – never on the whole apiary. If something goes wrong, only a small part is affected.
  2. The treatment carries onCarry on with the recognised varroa treatment as normal, including on the trial colonies. The trial comes on top and replaces nothing – not even for a single season.
  3. MeasureCount the natural mite drop for at least seven days, with a board covering the whole floor of the hive. Otherwise you will not know afterwards whether anything changed. The colony check calculates the value.
  4. Stop if it does not helpIf the trial does not help, stop it and treat according to the recognised procedure – before the colony comes to harm. A thought is worth nothing if it costs a colony.

And where a notifiable disease is suspected, none of these steps applies: report it immediately to the bee inspector – no waiting, no observing, no experiment.

And write to us

What comes out of it, we collect

The good and the unsuccessful. If you have tried something, write to us: what, on how many colonies, for how long, what you measured, and what you make of it. Also and especially if it did not work. We compile the reports here, with your name or without – as you prefer.

This is not a study and will not become one. It is a collection of experience that nobody else writes down. If twenty beekeepers report that something does not work, that is worth more to the twenty-first than any claim.

Your report of experience

Only your e-mail address, the canton, the period and your report are mandatory fields. Everything else is optional – your name included.

We answer every report. And we correct this page if a report shows that something on it is not right.

In an emergency

Who to call – and in what order

We do not appear in this list, and that is deliberate. Where something is suspected, you call the body that is allowed to decide.

First

Authorities

Research and the trade press

Further on this site

This page names no veterinary medicines, no dosages and no treatment dates. Business Trade GmbH supplies hives and frames; we provide no beekeeping advice and no veterinary medicines. What is documented on this page is linked; what is a thought stands here as a thought.

What we can contribute

Timber, dimensions and a hive that is tight

A hive does not replace varroa treatment. That does not make it useless – a meta-analysis of seven studies covering 145 colonies measured a markedly lower mite density with a screened floor than with a solid wooden one – but it remains one building block among several. Against mice an entrance no higher than six millimetres helps; against wax moths a comb store that is light, cool and airy helps; against damp, timber that dries helps. That is the part we supply – and about which we can tell you everything.

For the rest we refer you to the bodies above. That is not modesty but the division of labour that we believe to be right.

Enquire or order The honeybee

What happens after your enquiry

  1. 1You send an enquirywithout obligation · free of charge
  2. 2We acknowledge receiptimmediately
  3. 3You receive a quotationas a rule within 2 working days
  4. 4You accept, we confirmthis is where the contract comes into being

A question about the material?

Four fields, then we call you back. On timber, dimensions, quantities and delivery we tell you what we know. Questions about the colony belong with your section or with the Bee Health Service – that is their field.

Or directly: +41 (0)79 406 79 91 or +41 (0)44 545 84 40

Ordering

Every article, quantity and order type on one form

Up to twelve items per enquiry, with a quantity overview and a payment schedule. Whether you enquire without obligation or place a binding order, you decide at the end, on the form. No customer account, no payment when you send it: we confirm receipt immediately and get back to you as a rule within 2 working days.

To the order form