Bienenwhohl varroa treatment

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Anyone had any experience or knowledge of this stuff i saw advertised on fleabay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Varroa-Tr..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item337033ba80
They claim it doesn't 'go off' like oxalic solutions - but the company website lists oxalic as one of the ingredients:
http://www.bienenwohl.com/eng/bienenwohl.php

It seems a bit oike just oxalic acid with a few 'natural' ingredients added just for luck or window dressing. Any thoughts?

 

[drstitson]

from the Rademacher review of varroa treatments:

"The ready-mixed solution “Bienenwohl”
(oxalic acid, citric acid, alcohol, ethereal oils
and propolis) applied repeatedly in late summer
and autumn (20 mL per hive) can cause
colony losses during the winter (Schuster and
Schürzinger, 2003). A single application of
50 mL per hive in autumn induced high
bee mortality over the winter period (Liebig,
1999). The losses of colonies in studies by
Moosbeckhofer (2001) cannot be definitely
attributed to the application of “Bienenwohl”
or oxalic acid dihydrate, as the colonies were
already weak at the beginning of the treatment.
Mutinelli and Baggio (2002) reported good bee
tolerability applying Ipereat (composed similarly
to Bienenwohl)."

 

[Hivemaker.]

It seems a bit oike just oxalic acid with a few 'natural' ingredients added just for luck or window dressing. Any thoughts?

The few natural ingrediants such as EO's and lemon juice also kill varroa mites,so not just for window dressing i would of thought.
There is a thread started below about citric acid (lemon juice) one of the ingrediants of this mixture.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8326

 

[Hombre]

The reason the Oxalic Acid solutions we use for treating bees goes off, is the breakdown of the sugar in the presence of the acid, producing HMF. That's the reason for the short shelf life. No sugar, then minimal degradation.

Essential oils are OK, but Ethereal Oils - sounds a bit imaginative . . . I know nothing about the product, but that doesn't stop me seeing the funny side of something in the ingredient list.