history

To an increasing extent all modern human beings of our time are exposed to ever rising ecological damages and stress. Diseases which are succinctly named “diseases of the modern civilization”, e.g. cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, metabolic disturbances, cancer of all kinds, food cantankerousness are on the advance.
To avoid these diseases we need high-quality food. However, high-quality food can only be obtained from healthy plants and animals.
Healthy plants and animals can only be obtained if one produces ecologically and with lasting effect and if gaining for ever higher profits in food production will finally be stopped. With  the Bienenvital device our smallest productive animal succeeds to recover and survive.
We, the company Bienenvital GbR, want to introduce a device here which vitalizes the immune system of our bees without biological substances and chemical compounds and as a side-effect it can be proved that the varroa mite is controlled. With the DIHEU Bienenvital  we would like to contribute our part to the rescue of our bees. So we rescue numerous bees which would not have survived by previous conventional treatment methods.
It is not our aim to proselytize beekeepers or to stop them from their mode of operation. Everybody can keep bees at their discretion. With our Bienenvital we offer an effective alternative to the conventional treatment methods.
Today as sustainability, bio-products and Demeter-beekeeping  have become mega trends environmentally-friendly treatment methods against the varroa mite are needed. One of the most promising methods is undoubtedly the hyperthermia. The hyperthermia uses the temperature tolerance of the bees. Bees can bear temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius without damage whereas the varmint perishes or becomes incapable of reproduction from 38.6 degrees Celsius.
We come from the south-Thuringian village of Schwallungen and have developed a device which is based on this very same hyperthermia. Hence the DIHEU Bienenvital  is clearly stress-freer than conservative treatment methods. We would like to contribute our share to the rescue of our bees. The device enables bee colonies which are infested by the mite to recover and to survive.
The Thuringian Club of Beekeepers (Thüringer Imkerbund) confirms the effectiveness of this device.
The parasite varroa mite is one of the main reasons for the dying of our bees. This mite feeds by sucking on the haemolymph (the clear colourless blood) of the bees and bee larvas. So the organism of the bees is weakened. It has been proved that in each bee colony there are bee viruses with which the bee colony can live. But additionally the mite transmits also its viruses. The bee viruses mutate with the varroa mite when encountering and that leads to a virus infection of the whole colony.
The varroa mite has been in Germany and Western Europe since the beginning of the 1980s  and has spread rapidly. Meanwhile it can be found in every bee colony.
Since then the beekeepers try to stem the mite population and rescue their bee colonies by shock treatment – biologically e.g. with formic acid, thymol , lactic acid, oxalic acid and the like - and also chemically with e.g. Bayvarol or Perizin, but each of these treatment methods has unwanted side-effects. The acid treatments are an extreme strain for the bees because their respiration is impaired, and they are dangerous for the beekeeper, too. Many bees die an agonizing death, the brood is damaged and in many cases also the queen bee will die. Some beekeepers, especially in Austria, died by the carless usage of oxalic acid – the oxalic crystals got a foothold in liver and kidney. Additionally the chemicals compounds are taken up in wax and come into the human food chain through the honey. Research studies indicate that the conventional treatment methods ill not be sufficient. The mites already develop resistances against some chemical compounds. The advancing losses of bee colonies can be a first sign for that.
But also other influences contribute to the dying of bees. (Viruses, mono cultures, pesticides, electric smog, air pollution, limitation of the habitats etc.)
If only a fraction of cows or pigs would die in an inexplicable way (by parasites) what an outcry would be heard then, but who cares for some bee colonies….
Wenn auch nur ein Bruchteil an Rindern und Schweinen auf unerklärliche Weise(durch Parasiten) sterben würde-welch Aufschrei würde dann gemacht-aber wen kümmern schon ein paar Bienenvölker ……..
However, the thermic treatment of the bee colonies with DIHEU Bienenvital does not have any side-effects.
A short chronology:
Until five year ago I, Dirk Schneider,  had treated my bee colonies with formic acid – AS- against the varroa mite. From the very beginning I didn’t feel well with this treatment method, because numerous bees didn’t survive the treatment, but it was for me the only compromise to medicinal treatment or to leaving the bee colony abandon to its fate. The bees were exposed to acidic air for days. On especially warm day the fled from the hive. When the temperatures were too low the treatment with formic acid was not successful at all.
Thus I made up my mind and started dealing intensively with controlling the varroa mite. So I came across the hyperthermia method.
There were and are surely several trials to control the varroa mite with heat. The thermic treatment against the varroa mite is not new. Scientists from the former Soviet Union had been experimenting with that since the early 1980s. Why this method sank into oblivion is not known. The hyperthermia functions because scientific research have shown that from a temperature of more than 38.6 degrees Celsius the proteins in the body of the mite reproduce in such a way that it will die from that or be damaged in such a way that it cannot longer reproduce. The bees in contrast can easily bear temperatures up to 45°C. The thermic treatment is much more stress-free than by medication and doesn’t have side-effects.
Our device should immediately treat the whole colony with brood combs and bees. I went to the most experienced beekeeper in our club, Heinz Heß (born in 1935); he smiled and took me to his barn and showed me a bee heating self- made from a cooker which the Technical Museum in Munich would surely exhibit.
“We were already in the 1990s as far as we are today but we didn’t have the means and controllers which there are here today”, Heinz said and so the device landed in the barn. So we rummaged about in his archive, pored over books and beekeepers magazines until we came across some historically interesting of a beekeeper from 1914 (Buttel Reepen “The life and nature of bees” and from the bee institute Hohenneundorf from the year 1960 (“The senses of the bee”) – and this was the so-called booster detonation.
We developed a device basing on a thermic basis which is independent of the hive size – also for back treatment hives, Top Bar and such alike; the DIHEU Bienenvital The device is constructed not to disturb the sensitive senses of the bees. It’s easy to use and simple to operate. The beekeeper can see on four displays what happens during the treatment in the colony, and the device has safety equipment so that no bee will be harmed. It also works with a synchronous generator, so that also travelling beekeepers can make use of this device.
The complete bee colony is set on the device. We work with precise temperature sensors which control on averaging and so we reach a precise warming. A sophisticated ventilation system makes sure that there is enough oxygen during the treatment and avoids so-called hot spots. An ultrasonic humidor with attached regulation ensures a constant humidity and avoids the dying of the brood.  The DIHEU Bienenvital runs completely autonomously, switches off after a pre-set time and the flight hole is automatically opened, the bees can fly outside. The beekeeper can do other things during the treatment. So it is also possible to set a colony on the device in the morning and take it off in the evening.
The device has safety equipment. We have constructed the regulation in such a way that heating and moistening are immediately switched off in case of a break of the sensor. In case of excess temperature of the heating it will also switch off, the flight hole will be closed automatically – the bees can immediately fly outside and a powerful fan will promptly bring fresh air into the fitted shroud.
Summary of the functionality:
According to the usage make electrical connection, shut flight hole, set bee shroud-brood room, honey room, insert sensor, enter desired values – finished.
The DIHEU Bienenvital stimulates the immune system of the bees and has the positive side-effect in usage that varroa mites are killed in a big number or permanently harmed in such a way that they are unable to reproduce.
Our experiences show that it makes sense to perform a first usage with DIHEU Bienenvital in spring in order to vitalize the colonies as early as possible. Through a spring treatment with DIHEU Bienenvital  it is not necessary any more to cut out the male bee brood. The bees needn’t work as hard to build up the drone frame again and again. They must expend a lot of additional energy to produce wax. The queen bee is always forced to lay unfertilized eggs in there from there the drones develop. The beekeeper cuts out the male bee brood then and so decimates the mite. In our opinion that the mite is bred by the drone frame. Other beekeepers cut out the natural male bee brood which the bees preferably lay out at the edge of the combs. This measure is effective but a severe interference into harmony and processes of the bee colony. The bee colony is such a complex organism where everything is in tune with each other precisely. Cutting out the male bee brood damages the well-balanced natural equilibration between worker and male bees. The drone frame takes away urgently needed room for workers brood and honey.

WAX TAKES HONEY AND BEES This additional strain by the drone frame decimates the bees as well as the honey yields additionally. Remote damages are weaker colonies for the winter time. This heat treatment in the spring has a stimulating effect for the breeding behavior of the colonies.  The time of day doesn’t matter – it can also be treated in normal air traffic. During these treatments some flight bees gather then outside around the locked flight hole because they notice their queen. These bees are also quiet. It’s beneficial in case of multi-shroud colonies only to treat the brood room and to place the upper shrouds on the travelling frame while treating so that the flown out bees of this colony don’t lose the orientation and can better bring the collected pollen and nectar to the hive.
Further treatments with the DIHEU Bienenvital are carried out in the same periods in which the bee colonies otherwise are treated with conventional , traditional methods. No losses of colonies in the winter. The DIHEU Bienenvital depends on temperature. It can also be treated at low outside temperatures in the case of reinvasion.
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The successes, say the removal of mites, are immediately visible.

It is applicable for every hive size ( DNM, Zander,  Dadant, Langstroth etc.). It is well suitable for bio and Demeter beekeepers as well as for locations for young, uncopulated queen bees and drones. For the beekeeper who works with back treatment, Top Bar Hive, bee box or trough hive it is also possible to use this device. Only the frames or support bars have to be draped with bees and if necessary then the empty hive has to be treated with hot air. It’s also possible to treat wild bees/wild hives.

The DIHEU Bienenvital is protected by copyright and letters patent so that nobody is given the idea of to make a copy of it and to cheat the beekeepers.

The DIHEU Bienenvital can also be used in case of brood diseases, queen breeding, honey warming, controlling of galleriinaes etc. but also for locations for young, uncopulated queen bees and drones.

If you have any questions about the DIHEU Bienenvital  or if you want to have a private presentation or in your club please visit our website www.Bienenvital.de or dial the following mobile number after 5 pm: 01712836436.

It is forbidden to use this text or parts of it or copy it or use in another way.

Dirk Schneider