Every beekeeper knows how challenging it is to combat and keep the varroa mite under control. Failing in this crucial task leads to the failure of beekeeping, lack of production, and consequently, a loss of income. One of the goals that beekeepers should carefully pursue is to have a productive season (April-July) with healthy and industrious bees, without the need to intervene with anti-varroa treatments, which, besides being ineffective, significantly hinder productive activities. It is statistically proven that bee colonies with a varroa infestation rate of 3%, barely visible to the naked eye, have reached the so-called "economic damage threshold," rendering the bees unproductive.

The next step after a 5% infestation leads colonies to the "health damage threshold," where they begin to collapse. Finding yourself in this situation during the productive season can be truly disastrous. In my beekeeping experience, to overcome this significant problem, I have been applying the queen caging technique along with oxalic acid in my apiary since 2013, dividing the technique into winter caging and summer caging. The winter caging, undoubtedly more demanding, requires good manual skills and mastery in managing the hive, especially regarding the supplies, which must be in the right quantity and placed in the frames where the cluster will form, and obviously near the caged queen.

Having food stores far from the cluster can be harmful because bees searching for food might abandon the caged queen. To achieve the spring-summer benefits described earlier, a prolonged winter caging of 50/60 days will be necessary. This will allow for spaced-out treatments (2 during brood emergence and 2 after the brood hatches) capable of eliminating the existing varroa, eradicating brood-related viruses, delaying re-infestation, and ensuring a uniform restart across all colonies.

Another advantage during prolonged caging is the limited consumption of supplies. Indeed, an average bee family consumes about 4 kg of honey, whereas in a non-caged condition, they consume 6-8 kg. Therefore, by January 10th, the usual date for releasing the queen, having zero or almost zero varroa mites is essential for a fruitful and peaceful beekeeping season regarding varroa. The summer caging, which is much simpler, will be done for 21-24 days with a sublimated oxalic acid treatment halfway through the caging and a drip treatment at the end. This is how Mini Me.Ga. was born, to correctly apply the queen caging technique developed after years of trials, careful observations of our devices, others on the market, the needs of the hive, the queen, and the beekeeper, but above all, after long days of work and many sleepless nights!