Killing varroa mites with heat

[SmokeyBee]

I've never heard of or read of anything like this before. This product has no reviews on Amazon, which I think is telling.

Does a temperature of 114F kill VM? I'm very skeptical of this...thoughts? (New BK alert)

https://www.amazon.com/The-Victor-Destroys-Varroa-Destructor/dp/B01M67SSPB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503263101&sr=8-1&keywords=Varroa+the+victor

[Perry]

I'm not a risk taker, so before I would shell out that king of $$$ I would want to hear from credible sources on the efficacy of this.
We have a company near here that sells modified TBH's, something they have tweaked the top with in regards to improved ventilation, and are claiming 100% overwintering success. Time will tell.

[apisbees]

Yes it does. easy right? the idea has been floating around for a few years.
The first problems that I heard of when trying to use heat was First the bees do not like the temp to get to 114 they like to keep it at 96 so the bees will move air and evaporate water to cool the hive. Now they say to move the brood to the top of the hive. so if you still have honey supers on, rearranging them to treat then moving them back. That is if the brood is in 1 super, what if you have brood in 2 supers, is the treatment as effective in the 2nd super?  It seams to be labor intensive and a slow process. where will the queen end up after arranging the brood to the top then moving it back down. I could see some Queen loss happening especially if queen excluder's are used on the hive.
It does work... The bigger question is  Is it a practical system for you to use? one system can treat 2 maybe 3 hives in a day if the days are long. In early spring and fall you will be down to treating only 2 hives. But if you only have a few hives in your back yard and you want to be chemical free, Go for it. Just follow the instructions as deviating from the prescribed system could effect the results and its effectiveness.

[Wandering Man]

Now they say to move the brood to the top of the hive. so if you still have honey supers on, rearranging them to treat then moving them back.

Wait, take the part of the hive where the mites live and move it to the part of the hive that isn't heated to 114 degrees?

So, this is basically a way to cook honey or dehydrate it before harvesting?

[Barbarian]

I have heard of heat treatment to kill varroa.

A few years ago, there was an article in Beekeepers Quarterly. A search of their archive may give more info. I seem to recall that the method was being used in an Eastern European country.

[Bakersdozen]

Randy Oliver, of ScientificBeekeeping.com, wrote about heat being a possible key to varroa control in the August 2017 issue of the American Bee Journal.  Oliver explains that varroa reproduces best at temperatures from 32.5-33.5 C, which is the normal temperature of Apis cerana.  The brood of Apis mellifera is typically 34.5C.  Oliver states, "I've long been curious as to why no one has yet identified a bee population that uses elevated brood temperature as a mite-resistance mechanism."
Oliver goes on to explain that Tom Seeley's research has reported that bees have the ability to create a "fever" in the brood in cases of chalkbrood.  The results elevated the brood temperature a half a degree centigrade.  He speculates that this ability to create a fever could lower the varroa's rate of survival and accelerate the development of the bee pupa which would also affect the development of varroa. 

[apisbees]

Bees do have the ability to hold and adjust the the temp in different parts and situations in the hive. Whether it is holding the brood area at 95 deg or keeping the winter cluster temp  55 deg. To have the bees create enough heat to kill varroa they would need to raise the brood temp about 10 Deg. This is very unlikely for the bees to accomplish on their own.
"Oliver goes on to explain that Tom Seeley's research has reported that bees have the ability to create a "fever" in the brood in cases of chalkbrood.  The results elevated the brood temperature a half a degree centigrade.  He speculates that this ability to create a fever could lower the varroa's rate of survival and accelerate the development of the bee pupa which would also affect the development of varroa."
In this he is suggesting that increasing the brood temp that it will speed the development of the bees so that the mites don't have as much time to develop before the bee emerges.
2 things: You have mites developing in worker and drone brood. A little faster brood development could influence mite survival from worker brood. But mites from drone brood at 3 day longer to emerge a little faster emergent will not have much effect.
: If increased temp speeds brood development the It could also increase the speed that the mites develop.