Practical Guide: 1.7.2. Emergency treatment against Varroa mites (Swiss hives)

Emergency varroa treatment in Swiss hives is a measure intended for colonies that are too heavily infested, in order to sanitize them within one day. Official Practical Guide 1.7.2 of the SSA / BGD describes a technique corresponding to the artificial swarm with queen method, with rehousing of the colony on frames with foundation. The document links the intervention to the natural mite drop, to treatment on a colony without capped brood, and to the complete renewal of all frames.

Official Practical Guide (BGD / SSA) – Summary

Practical Guide: 1.7.2 Emergency varroa treatment (Swiss hives) (V 2402)

• Objective: Sanitize within one day a colony that is too heavily infested with varroa.
• The technique used corresponds to the artificial swarm with queen method, in which the colony is placed in a hive with frames with foundation.
• The Practical Guide provides for beekeeper intervention according to the natural mite drop per day; immediate measures include emergency treatment, making use of the brood by creating a flying split with a final oxalic acid spray, or the immediate start of the summer treatment.
• Oxalic acid treatment on brood-free colonies, that is, without capped brood, eliminates about 90 % of the mites.
• For optimal efficacy, the emergency treatment must be carried out when flight activity is low; all frames from the colony concerned are discarded and melted down.
• After the summer solstice, the document recommends leaving the colony 1–2 pollen/food frames without brood, or adding them after the foundation has been drawn, in order to ensure a sufficient protein supply.
• The procedure includes in particular: removing the super and closing the entrance, hanging all combs in the frame holder, finding the queen and confining it in a cage with candy, spraying the bees with oxalic acid on the old frames, preparing a clean hive with frames with foundation and brushing the bees into it.
• Then, the entrance must be reopened while narrowing it, feeding must start immediately and continue without interruption until the foundation has been built, all frames including those with capped brood must be melted down, and it must be checked no later than 7 days after rehousing that the queen is present and laying.
• All other treatments must be carried out as for the other colonies according to the SSA Varroa Management Concept.

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Summary prepared on the basis of Practical Guide 1.7.2 (V 2402). Last checked: 01/2026.

See also:

• Practical Guide: 1.5.1 Measurement of natural mite drop
• Practical Guide: 1.7.1 Emergency treatment – stack hives
• Practical Guide: 1.4.3 Artificial swarm with queen
• Practical Guide: 1.4.5 Flying split (Flugling)
• Practical Guide: 1.3.1 Spray treatment
• Practical Guide 1.1: Varroa management concept