Treat with Formic?

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question

I have 2 hives here in northern Wisconsin, pretty new beekeeper. I tried one hive last year and it didn't last until fall - potentially because I didn't do enough mite management.

Both hives seem to be doing well overall, 2 deep boxes rolling with brood (the second box I put on both had half drawn comb, half undrawn), no supers on yet.

I did a mite count last week on my hives. I had seen a mite crawling around on the tray from my screen bottom board and was a little worried about how many were in there. That hive had 1 mite in the sample (0.33% infestation), the other hive had 4 mites in the sample (so still <2%), so I'm technically below the treatment threshold. However, I'm still debating doing a formic pro treatment now while the weather is ideal for it (not hot, not rainy) rather than waiting until it gets worse and having to do more mite counts which I really hate doing (I know I'll have to get over it to some degree...).

Any reason not to treat them when they're under the threshold, or is it OK/good idea to treat them now during population increase as a preventative measure. I haven't removed any drone brood yet, but I could do that too.

Posted Jun 13, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

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