Large Varroa Drop

[Millet]

It is easy to worry but it sounds like you've done a fair few treatments already.

Four treatments 5 days apart in Autumn and i think three this winter without checking my book.

 

[drex]

No criticism of anyone intended. I know the reports generally say that OA is not harmful to the bees, but it does kill varroa, hence is toxic. I keep my treatments to a minimum for that reason. I do not have the guts to go completely treatment free ( and hence probably lose a lot of colonies at the start), but I try to propagate the genes from the colonies which have a low drop when I do treat, and hence might have some mite resistance.
Varroa is endemic and I will never get rid of them completely.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Four treatments 5 days apart in Autumn and i think three this winter without checking my book.

A couple of things come to mind.
Is your OA purity ok? Thinking here of previous posts from a while ago
Do your bees build a lot of bridge comb and have inhibited penetration of the vapours? Could be an issue with beespace.
Tin hat mode on - are what you are looking at actually varroa?
If all else fails there's always a shook swarm followed by dribbling when they get going again.

 

[Millet]

A couple of things come to mind.
Is your OA purity ok? Thinking here of previous posts from a while ago
Several members on here use the same acid i bought

Do your bees build a lot of bridge comb and have inhibited penetration of
the vapours? Could be an issue with beespace.
The brood box has not been open or pulled apart for several months now so at a guess i would say they have stuck everything together with wax and propolis

Tin hat mode on - are what you are looking at actually varroa?
They could be dead Mice i will have a closer look next time incase they are voles.. lol

If all else fails there's always a shook swarm followed by dribbling when they get going again.

...

 

[Erichalfbee]

..Tin hat mode on - are what you are looking at actually varroa?
They could be dead Mice i will have a closer look next time incase they are voles.. lol
.

You can tell from the ears and tail

 

[charlievictorbravo]

You can tell from the ears and tail

No - it's mainly the colour! Mice are grey but Varroa are dark reddy brown plus Varroa have got more legs.

CVB

 

[Erichalfbee]

No - it's mainly the colour! .....plus Varroa have got more legs.

CVB

No the difference twixt mice and voles
Any fule no varroa have 6 legs.....or is it 8?

 

[Millet]

no the difference twixt mice and voles
any fule no varroa have 6 legs.....or is it 8?

8 ..

 

[charlievictorbravo]

No the difference twixt mice and voles
Any fule no varroa have 6 legs.....or is it 8?

It depends on how many have been chewed off by your hygienic bees.

CVB

 

[Millet]

Well i think i may be on top of them, it will have been nearly a fortnight since my last look (through Norovirus) and being busy elsewhere when i could, today the tray had around 50 on it instead of hundreds so like you lot have been saying the initial vapes will have killed a lot but the bees have been slow to clear them out, i did not gas them again but i put the clean tray back in to check next week.

 

[Olivia9801]

Vaporising

The issue of the oxalic vapour being hampered by the omf is causing me to wonder if this calls for a design change in the frame that houses the omf?

It must cause some reduction in the quantity of vapour rising and may not be enough to reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. However, am wondering when I make my next hive whether I could adapt the omf slightly to open up the portion of mesh that exists directly above the vaporising spoon/oxalic?

I think this comes from seeing these relatively new Hornet traps. The way they have adapted that compared with the normal base/hive entrance makes me feel a new omf design is achievable to assist vaporising.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The issue of the oxalic vapour being hampered by the omf is causing me to wonder if this calls for a design change in the frame that houses the omf?

It must cause some reduction in the quantity of vapour rising and may not be enough to reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. However, am wondering when I make my next hive whether I could adapt the omf slightly to open up the portion of mesh that exists directly above the vaporising spoon/oxalic?

I think this comes from seeing these relatively new Hornet traps. The way they have adapted that compared with the normal base/hive entrance makes me feel a new omf design is achievable to assist vaporising.

I would be wary of having mechanical movement devices in that location where hive debris can fall into/onto things and clog/stick them up. The issue of obstruction seems to be a non event easily dealt with by marginal increase of the dosage.
Maybe increasing the space between the bottom of the frames and the mesh and creating a simple door into this space at the back of the hive would be a simpler solution if you're really concerned about mesh restriction? I'm always a fan of the KISS principle. Wherever a simple solution can be designed rather than a complicated one, the simple one is always my choice.