Acetic cid for wax moth

[JamezF]

I wonder if Dipel works on red mite?....

I can see no reason to believe it would. Each different type of Bacillus thuringiensis appears to have evolved to target a fairly specific group of larvae.

James

 

[user 819]

Azaiwa and kurstaki sub specie of BC are both effective for wm & box caterpiller.

 

[Amaranth]

Now red mite is something I do know about! (There isn’t much else!) A useful tip: In warmer weather, which is when they are most troublesome, they apparently mature from egg to egg laying adult incredibly quickly - as little as six days. Therefore cleaning the coop and applying mite control products once a week doesn’t eradicate them, because the eggs are laid inaccessibly in cracks and crevices where cleaning and products don’t get in. Therefore one needs to do an occasional two thorough cleans FIVE DAYS APART. It is not necessary to do it every five days, only an occasional two cleans in quick succession, so that there are going to be only adults at large on the second occasion, no eggs hidden away. A useful monitoring trick is to score a couple of deep scratches along the under side of the perches. When mites disembark from the birds after a night of feeding, they will tuck into the first little furrow they come to. If there are nice furrows right there on the perch, you will see them there in the morning if you remove the perch and look underneath. A significant number there in the morning is grounds for another two cleaning stints in quick succession.

 

[Sutty]

Over quite a few years keeping and breeding chickens I've found coating the coop inside and out with old fashioned creosote works best. The modern alternative doesn't work sadly.
Some issues getting hold of it though.
Also changing the bedding regularly in warm weather (and burning it if infested so you don't export the mites).

 

[Amari]

I ratchet strap 6 supers with ply sheets top and bottom and burn sulphur in the stack. They remain strapped until used in spring. No repeat treatments. I give the broods a spray of dipel too. No problem with moths when they are opened

Quite difficult to avoid inhaling the SO2 - good stuff though......

 

[drex]

Quite difficult to avoid inhaling the SO2 - good stuff though......

As always, having everything at the ready is the important thing, as In a lot of beekeeping. Stack ready with strap and top ply cover in place. Light sulphur, hold breath, slip sulphur under top ply cover, do up strap. Done.

 

[Jules59]

I tried acetic acid as per recommendations and found it partially successful - in that only a few frames had WML in the spring and those tended to be ones that had had brood/pollen in at some time in the past.
This year I acquired an old chest freezer (FOC) and have placed all the honey supers inside for 48 hrs before stacking and sealing with packing tape. A thermistor inside the boxes confirmed the freezing temp reached. Time will tell as to how effective this will be against WML.

 

[pargyle]

As always, having everything at the ready is the important thing, as In a lot of beekeeping. Stack ready with strap and top ply cover in place. Light sulphur, hold breath, slip sulphur under top ply cover, do up strap. Done.

Spot on ... and then avoid lifting the lid to see if it's burning ! I find a sheet of glass or perspex on the top of the empty brood box helps as you can see what's going on ... I tend to leave everything in place for about half an hour and then remove the brood box and strap it all down.

 

[North End Bees]

Quite difficult to avoid inhaling the SO2 - good stuff though......

I've never burnt sulphur but could you not use the same mask as for OAV to be on the safe side?

 

[pargyle]

I've never burnt sulphur but could you not use the same mask as for OAV to be on the safe side?

Sulphur burns to give sulphur dioxed GAS ... OA sublimate is a particulate - so it depends on what filters you have in the mask. To be honest ... it's really not a problem. If you are organised, light the suphur tablet or strip and get the lid on the burner and then the lid on the brood box ... enough time to avoid getting a whiff of SO2.

 

[Wilco]

For hens, I've just dusted the birds with sulphur powder when they're in in an evening plus the inside of the coop. Red mite didn't last long.

For wax moth I think hivemaker posted about this way back when, something like a teaspoon for every six supers:

Yes thats the sulphur to use, either use in a fume box or small room,or make a stack of say six or seven box's of combs, with an empty brood box on top,then make a small mesh trivet,place a small piece of newspaper on this with a teaspoon of sulphur on,light edge of paper and the sulphur will burn with a small blue flame when it ignites,seal the top box and leave until next day,then store away in a moth proof place.