The Varroa Controller
Bringing sustainability back to beekeeping…
It’s been a big week for the team here at Bee Inspired HQ in Kiama, NSW. We received a shipment of a Varroa Controller to use as part of our Integrative Pest Management (“IPM”) practices for managing this nasty parasite “Varroa” which is killing honeybee colonies all around the world. In Australia we are currently enduring an acute phase of infestation, primarily in NSW but now spreading to QLD & VIC. This means that…right now….it doesn’t really matter how we treat our colonies for mites (using “approved DPI treatments”) whether its synthetic Pyrethroids, Synthetic Formamidines or Organic Acids; the mites just keep coming back to our hives.
Meanwhile, we are putting our own health at risk (using these products with no formal training – just youtube videos), the bees are being negatively impacted, and we are having to adopt unsustainable practices with our hive management, which goes against everything we have worked towards. It was keeping me up at night…
You chemists, farmers, vets and doctors will appreciate that the first two of these are used as forms of pesticides, insecticides, which can have an array of negative effects on human health (if not used properly), varying levels of negative impact to honeybee health, and mite resistance to them has become a major problem in the USA and Europe, who have been using these treatments for 30 years. Some of these products have been banned in Europe and some are being phased out in the USA.
At Bee Inspired, we have been following DPI’s mandates, using some of these “approved treatments” for 6 months, due to a lack of alternatives. We’ve been observing the results in our hives and our clients’ hives. Meanwhile, we have been exploring natural methods to disrupt the Varroa Mites’ breeding capabilities, such as Thyme Oil pads, thyme plants out the front of our hives. I started tapping into the vast knowledge of experienced beekeepers overseas, studying scientific journals, listening to online workshops, reading books…..and I kept ending up at the word “sustainability”.
It was keeping me up at night, thinking about all the “wastage” we have already seen. Because if we put chemicals in our hives, we cannot consume or sell any of the honey, beeswax or propolis from the boxes that have been treated, because there may be “unknown” quantities of chemical resides in these products. With some chemicals, according to DPI Regulations we can safely sell honey that was up in the honey box (above the treated brood box) at the time of treatment. But everything in the brood box (where the treatments go) must be discarded. So we are labelling each frame that is removed from a treated brood box and throwing away these frames of honey & honeycomb – every week.
On top of this obviously unsustainable practice, within a 6 month period since Dec 2025 we have now seen hives that have been treated with 3 rotational chemicals (to avoid mite resistance). And those hives just keep getting hit with mite reinfestations.
So we decided to go out on a limb and try something different to include in our IPM. Something that doesn’t harm us or the bees….Something that has been used successfully in Europe for many years…..Something that can be shared with the community, with beekeeping club members, with schools and in our teaching apiary at Burnetts on Barney. It’s a Hyperthemia (Heat) Treatment. It treats bee brood (larvae & pupa) frames (that contain breeding mites) to 41.5 Degrees Celsius and doesn’t harm the developing bees. We are beyond excited to get started on this new regime of Fighting the Mite naturally. And we are sincerely grateful to Ana and Sven from varroacontroller_au for taking a huge step forward and bringing this impressive European-built machine into Australia. Without them, we would be stuck in an unsustainable cycle.
These images were taken by me this week
Does this mean we will only use this machine to treat Varroa Mites? – NO
Does this mean we will have to continue to deploy our IPM and still use other natural, mechanical and and organic methods to supplement this treatment, particularly in the acute phase we are currently enduring? – YES
Has this treatment method been recommended by a NSW DPI Officer who is already using it in NSW? – YES!
Does this mean we will have to work harder and employ more staff to manage our hives this way during the rollout phase? – YES
Do we think it is worth it for the sake of our health, the bees health and promoting sustainable beekeeping practices in Australia? – YES
Does this mean we will have to change part of our business model to ensure we can provide this treatment option to as many people in the community as possible? – YES
Are we excited about trying something new – that has just arrived on Australia’s shores in the last few months, and that could be a game-changer for beekeeping management practices around the country? – YES
We will keep you updated with the launch and rollout of this Hyperthermia Machine which will begin at our Education Apiary at Burnetts on Barney very soon and will be used across the South Coast Illawarra, NSW area over the coming months.
SAVE OUR BEES AND OUR BEEKEEPING INDUSTRY !!!
