Yard Run List: How to Execute a Batch Varroa Treatment Day

Treating one apiary is straightforward. Treating six apiaries in a single day across 150 miles of road requires planning. The wrong preparation turns a treatment day into a crisis: you run out of strips at yard 4, forget which colonies already had treatments applied, or lose track of which yards you completed before rain shut down the day. A solid yard run list prevents all of this.

What a Yard Run List Is

A yard run list is a pre-planned, ordered treatment route that specifies every yard you will visit, how many colonies are in each yard, what treatment you are applying, and how much product you need to bring. It is your field order for the day, created before you leave the shop, revised if conditions change, and used as the record base for logging treatments as they happen.

Building the List Before You Leave

Start the day before the treatment run.

Step 1: Pull mite data. Confirm which yards are above threshold and need treatment this run. If you have been using VarroaVault, your monitoring records are already there. Sort yards by mite level so you can prioritize the worst-case yards first. If you run out of product or time, you treat the highest-risk yards and return for the rest.

Step 2: Count active colonies per yard. Dead-outs do not need treatment. Walk counts should be current, but even a two-week-old colony count is better than guessing. Note the number next to each yard name.

Step 3: Calculate product quantities. For Apivar: 2 strips per colony. For Formic Pro: 1 or 2 pads depending on temperature and label guidance. For oxalic acid vaporization: 2 grams per colony per application. Do not round down. Load more than you need.

Step 4: Check weather. Confirm treatment day temperatures are within range for your chosen product. Formic acid requires 50-85F daytime highs; thymol requires above 60F. If the forecast is pushing upper limits, adjust the product plan or reschedule the highest-risk yards.

Step 5: Order the route. Sequence yards geographically to minimize drive time. If you have multiple treatment products for different yards, group same-product yards together to avoid repacking mid-route. Note any access issues: locked gates, rough roads that slow loading, yards that need two people.

What to Load

A complete batch treatment day load includes:

• All treatment product for all yards, plus 10% overage
• Protective equipment: gloves, veil, jacket
• Application tools: hive tool, smoker, fuel, lighter
• Timer or phone stopwatch for timing strip placement per colony
• Permanent marker for marking newly treated hives if you use a physical system
• Trash bag for used strip packaging and used gloves
• Water and food for yourself

For oxalic acid vaporization, also pack: OAV unit, power source (battery or generator), appropriate respirator (OAV requires a properly rated respirator, not just a dust mask), safety glasses, and protective gloves rated for chemical contact.

At the Yard

Work the yard in a consistent order. Most beekeepers work front row left to right, then back row left to right, or in numbered sequence if hives are numbered. A consistent pattern prevents skipping colonies.

As you apply each treatment, log it immediately. Do not batch log at the end of the yard. Batch logging creates errors and omissions, especially if you are interrupted mid-yard.

In VarroaVault, the batch treatment entry screen lets you apply a treatment record to multiple hives in a single yard at once while noting any exceptions: a dead-out you skipped, a queenless colony you treated differently, a hive you pulled supers from before treating. These notes matter for efficacy tracking later.

Note any colony observations that warrant follow-up: a hive that seems absconded, unusual activity at the entrance, frames that looked light on stores during strip placement. These go into inspection notes, not treatment records, but capturing them on-site is faster than relying on memory.

Tracking Treatment Duration

Long-acting treatments like Apivar strips need to stay in for the full labeled duration: 6 to 8 weeks. Before you leave each yard, log the treatment start date. The removal date is calculated automatically. VarroaVault's treatment calendar will flag when removal is due for each yard.

A common failure mode in batch operations is losing track of which yards had strips placed on which date when running a rolling treatment schedule. If yard 1 was treated two weeks before yard 6, they need to come out on different dates. Without dated records, you either pull everything at the same time (undertreating the later yards) or leave strips in too long, increasing resistance pressure.

Post-Treatment Efficacy Verification

Schedule a post-treatment mite count for 14 days after the treatment removal date for each yard. This is how you confirm the treatment worked. A yard that does not show significant mite count reduction after a full Apivar treatment cycle is a flag for potential resistance and should trigger a rotation to a different chemical class on the next treatment round.

Log post-treatment counts in VarroaVault alongside the treatment record. The treatment efficacy view shows pre-treatment count, treatment applied, and post-treatment count side by side for each yard.

End-of-Day Checklist

Before you close out the treatment day:

• Confirm all yards are logged with treatment date and colony count
• Note any yards that were skipped due to time or weather, and reschedule them
• Recount remaining product and note for inventory
• Flag any colonies that need follow-up inspection
• Submit records to VarroaVault if you were logging offline

The varroa management record keeping templates page has a printable field sheet version of this checklist for operations that prefer paper backup on treatment days.

Sources

• Honey Bee Health Coalition Varroa Management Guidelines
• USDA AMS Honey Bee Health Surveys
• Project Apis m. Best Management Practices