A New Era in Varroa Mite Control

Vatorex invites Alberta beekeepers to take part in a pilot project to evaluate their ready-to-use, fully automated thermal control solution.

Years ago, Swiss beekeeper and biologist Willi Brunner was frustrated by the limited options for varroa mite control. While chemical products were available, he wanted a more effective and environmentally-friendly method that kept his bees healthy.

Brunner’s idea: heat. It had long been understood that varroa mite populations could be reduced by applying heat. The questions were: how much heat, for how long and how could the heat be delivered to the brood cells where varroa reproduce?­ As a biologist, Brunner understood that stopping the reproduction of varroa was key to minimizing growth in a colony.

In 2016, Brunner set out to develop a thermal control solution. His invention worked a lot like in-floor heating, only in the brood chamber, effectively controlling varroa mites and associated viruses without harming bees or brood.

“Today, over 2,000 hives in 15 countries rely on our technology,” says Walter Weiler, Senior Business Developer for Switzerland-based Vatorex AG, the company created to commercialize this technology.

The next generation: ready-to-use thermal control

As Weiler explains, although heat was effective at controlling varroa, one factor limiting adoption was that it required some manual work by the beekeeper. While a blessing for smaller or hobby beekeepers, the solution could be time-consuming for beekeepers operating at commercial scale.

“In order to serve commercial beekeepers, we needed to make this technology simple to install and use, and completely automated,” says Weiler. “We then developed Thermo Guard, which aims at the needs of professional operations. It consists of a brood chamber with frames that have heating coils embedded into the wax foundation. The brood box is ready to use and fully automated. You can easily move the frames from colony to colony.”

This next-generation product establishes a temperature of 42°C in the wax foundation for a three-hour period. Each treatment kills on average 95% of varroa offspring. To avoid reinfestation, the treatment repeats automatically when an algorithm detects ideal brood conditions. As treatments repeat far more often than other varroa control methods, mite populations are not able to develop and cause damage.

Vatorex coming to Canada

Not so fast, an Alberta beekeeper might say. This isn’t Europe. Our climate and style of beekeeping are different.

For this reason, Vatorex hopes to connect with Alberta commercial beekeepers and learn more about their needs and situation. “Alberta has unique conditions, and we want to understand those conditions to see how our solution would fit into commercial beekeeping operations,” says Weiler. “Our system operates from the start of the season in the spring right through until autumn. It doesn’t operate during winter, so there is no issue with cold Alberta winters.”

Seeking partners for 2023 pilot project

In recent weeks, Weiler and Vatorex CEO Pascal Brunner have been in Alberta on a mission: to learn more about Alberta beekeeping and meet with commercial beekeepers who might like to test-drive Thermo Guard in 2023.

“We want to do a pilot project with some beekeepers and demonstrate how our solution reduces colony mortality,” says Weiler. “We will deliver a fully equipped thermal brood chamber. It’s ready to use, so there’s no installation needed by the beekeeper. The beekeeper can then see how a thermal solution for varroa works in their operation compared to conventional treatments during a full beekeeping season.”

For years now, varroa mite control has been an issue for beekeepers. Many have used the available chemical controls, while hoping for a better solution. Vatorex believes they have one.

“The opportunity for Alberta is to be at the forefront of adopting our eco-friendly technology,” says Weiler. “That is why we are working with RDAR, Alberta’s Results Driven Agriculture Research organization. Our solution is highly effective against varroa, healthy for the bees and convenient for a commercial-scale beekeeping operation.”

If you’d like to discuss working with Vatorex on this pilot project, please email Walter Weiler at ww@vatorex.ch.