MAQ diary

[ianorsven]

Hi
Thought I'd post on what happens with the MAQ strips I have decided to use since they are new and there is quite an interest in them.

I have 3 hives with mite drops of between 0/1 to 3 per day but have been fooled by apparently low counts in the past so taking the plunge. Aim being healthy bees into winter. National single brood boxes with plenty of bees (9-10 frames covered and BIAS in 4-6 frames depending on the hive). One super on each with varying amounts of honey which I am currently thinking of leaving for the bees as part of winter stores.

Applied the strips at 10.00 am yesterday morning and returned at 5.00 pm. Pleasantly surprised to find no obvious signs of distress. No bearding. Having read others views on this forum, I removed the entrance blocks ready for the "bang" and put back in place this morning as plenty of wasps around and trying to gain entry, as there have been for the last few weeks. On OMFs so hoping ventilation will be OK.

After 24 hours, one hive with no dead bees outside entrance, two hives with a couple of dozen or so. No bearding.

I do not intend to open hives until the 7 days are up, unless something awful happens!

Will post progress over period of treatment and beyond re. effect on bees, brood and varroa as far as I am able.

 

[ianorsven]

Day 3 of treatment.

Bees more active today - rather lethargic yesterday. (Weather very similar to last 2 days - warm, sunny). No more dead bees seen. Pollen being taken into 2 of the hives. Other hive had lots of bees on orientation flights.

As with other posts, some light scorching of grass, but under the OMF.

There has been no bearding even though I replaced entrance reducer blocks after 24 hours.

Is anyone else treating with MAQs at the moment, and if so are observations similar?

 

[prana vallabha]

I will be starting on one hive next week so will keep you all informed ....

 

[enrico]

Latest bbka advice seems to be to put the varroa floor in and leave the entrance open. Apparently, the floor is too airy and the fumes just go straight out. But who knows, my floors are out!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Latest bbka advice seems to be to put the varroa floor in and leave the entrance open

From MAQS website

Subject: Screen Bottom Boards or Mesh Floors
Q) Should I leave the Screen Bottom open or close it off?
A) There was only one trial run so far with screen bottom boards open, by Randy Oliver (www.scientificbeekeeping.com). He published the results in the February 2011 issue of American Bee Journal. There was a 4 to 5 % reduction in efficacy over a solid bottom board, however, both open screen and solid bottom boards saw over 90% drop in mite loads. Ventilation to the brood area is important during treatment, so leaving the screened bottom open will provide this additional ventilation.


Quite important ....especially as a lot of us have entrances reduced in the face of wasp attack

 

[enrico]

From MAQS website

Subject: Screen Bottom Boards or Mesh Floors
Q) Should I leave the Screen Bottom open or close it off?
A) There was only one trial run so far with screen bottom boards open, by Randy Oliver (www.scientificbeekeeping.com). He published the results in the February 2011 issue of American Bee Journal. There was a 4 to 5 % reduction in efficacy over a solid bottom board, however, both open screen and solid bottom boards saw over 90% drop in mite loads. Ventilation to the brood area is important during treatment, so leaving the screened bottom open will provide this additional ventilation.


Quite important ....especially as a lot of us have entrances reduced in the face of wasp attack

But then I got this Advice on the use of new product MAQS strips:

Andy Vanderhook asked a question about the use of MAQS strips and thought it would be worth sharing the response he got:
AV: “In the instructions for the use of the strip, you recommend that ‘full width’ ventilation is given by removal of the entrance block. Is this necessary when using open mesh floors? Or should the floor be closed and the entrance block removed? Will the retention of the open floor reduce the efficacy of the strip by over ventilating?”
MAQS: “Yes you definitely need sufficient ventilation to the brood area, I would remove reducers and close up mesh floors. Mesh floors open can have less efficacy as the formic may dump right out the bottom of the hive. If permanently reduced entrances: close mesh floors part way leaving 2 – 3 inches open and entrance as open as possible.”

Who knows!!!

 

[Tom Bick]

Any indication of mite drop please.

 

[ianorsven]

So difficult to work out what is best - floors in/out, blocks in/out! Ventilation is important but how much?? I went with the idea that I would rather have the varroa inspection trays out to ensure ventilation rather than the bees receive "too much" formic acid (and the instructions are pretty clear that ventilation is important), and reduced entrances rather than have the hives robbed out by wasps (of which there are plenty).

I am not monitoring mite drop during treatment because of this arrangement but will put the inspection trays back in once the 7 days are up.

 

[oliver90owner]

From the above post by enrico it would appear, in the best scenario, that twice as many varroa survive if the OMF is left open.

The entrance is clearly immaterial if the OMF is open. Just another 22 mm on the top of 420mm.

RAB

 

[parkranger]

From the above post by enrico it would appear, in the best scenario, that twice as many varroa survive if the OMF is left open.



RAB

Hi Rab

will be using MAQS on two hives this weekend and trying to understand where you come to this conclusion from Enricos post as also having the dilemna of how to ventilate myself - I will not open entrances but don't want to fully open bottom boards if I lose efficacy. Not saying it's wrong but just can see the extrapolation myself and really want to!. As an aside, after 48 hours of treating 3 hives with Apigard, the drop is negligible, 6 mites at the most. I would love to understand why there is an apparent reduction in mites at this moment in time as evidenced in other's posts.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I will be starting on one hive next week so will keep you all informed ....

Are you a member of Lampeter BKA?
I asked them if anybody would like to share a pack of MAQS only to be phoned up by the apiary manager to be warned against using it.

I've put it on all 4 this afternoon.
The two biggest..a poly and a cedar, the former with 2 supers and the latter on brood and a shallow plus a super are bearding. The smaller hives (AS split this July).......all quiet.

 

[itma]

From the above post by enrico it would appear, in the best scenario, that twice as many varroa survive if the OMF is left open.

The entrance is clearly immaterial if the OMF is open. Just another 22 mm on the top of 420mm.

RAB

The way I looked at Randy Oliver's open board experiment was that having the board open would bring forward the next required treatment by perhaps a month.
Since I don't seem to have had a large varroa population anyway, I'm trying this treatment from the mild side - boards open (entrances closed against wasps) and two of the hives with just one strip. Oddly, it is a poly (14x12 + one super) with a single strip that is showing by far the most grass 'scorching' in front of the entrance.
We will see what varroa can be found in a month's time ...

 

[ianorsven]

Days 4 and 5.

Al three hives seem to have settled to their "normal" activities. There are steady and constant foraging flights from all hives and some pollen is being taken in. There have been no further bee deaths as far as I can see. No further scorching of grass which was not too extensive anyway.

I am away for the bank holiday weekend and will return to them on Tuesday to open the hives and remove the strips. Hopefully I will not be confronted with anything dramatic. I will look for eggs 3 days later.

 

[ianorsven]

Day 7

Removed MAQ strips from each hive today, carried out inspections and assessed stores.

Wow, really pleased! Bees in two hives were very calm. Observed queen in each and more pleasing was the presence of eggs - lots of them on 4-5 frames. Some older capped brood but no young larvae, so assume the queens had stopped laying for a few days at the beginning but had started up again on day around day 6 of the treatment.
The bees in the third hive were more aggressive but not unmanageable. There were plenty of eggs present and so I didn't spend too long inspecting every frame (first 6 frames only).

None of the hives had queen cells and stores of honey varied from 10-20 lb. per hive.

Two hives still have supers with some stores of honey in them and my next job later in the week is to put these under the brood boxes prior to autumn feeding. The third hive will go into winter as single brood box, which currently has about 10lb honey stored.

The weather here has been very good; sunny and warm (22C today) and the bees are bringing in late nectar and pollen.

I will monitor varroa in September.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Thanks for posting your MAQS observations, which I've been reading with interest. Looks like you've had a good positive experience. Fingers crossed for plenty of healthy, happy winter bees in your hives.
~I'm waiting to use MAQS myself but have decided to wait for another week or two until the wasp situation here quietens down a little. Open entrances seem risky at the moment to me.

 

[ianorsven]

Thanks for posting your MAQS observations, which I've been reading with interest. Looks like you've had a good positive experience. Fingers crossed for plenty of healthy, happy winter bees in your hives.
~I'm waiting to use MAQS myself but have decided to wait for another week or two until the wasp situation here quietens down a little. Open entrances seem risky at the moment to me.

Thanks. I'm glad you found it of intertest - I too have followed other threads re MAQs for the same reasons.

I kept the entrances fully open for one day then reduced them down after that. After a few days the wasps had settled from concerted and aggressive attempts to rob to occasional opportunistic sorties!

Good luck with the MAQs!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'll add mine if you don't mind rather than starting another thread.
I put strips on all four of my colonies.
All 14 x 12. 3 poly. 1 wood on brood and a shallow. All OMF the polys with reduced entrances,the wood with an underfloor one not reduced.
Day 1 the two strongest had significant bearding but by day 2 they had all gone in.
Today is Day 5
The strongest poly has a small pile of dead bees in front of it.
The other colonies are still bringing out dead bees and flying off with them.
Pollen and balsam going into all.
Wasps are around the hives but not gaining access.
I'll look in on Thursday and report what I see inside.

 

[ianorsven]

I'll add mine if you don't mind rather than starting another thread.

Not at all! Good to get plenty of observations on this in the same place.

Good luck on Thursday, I'll look forward to reading how things are.

 

[parkranger]

Just to add to other's experiences with MAQS, I am treating 3 hives with Apigard and 2 with MAQS. Applied the MAQS Monday, omf, left entrance block in but withdrew the inspection board a couple of inches to compensate and allow similar ventilation to a removed block. Had a look tonight and no sign of dead bees, no bearding, not much activity but didn't really expect to see it. Had a look at both boards and no more than a dozen mites on each. Certainly less than last year but more than the Apigard hives which have negligible drop after 1 week and seemingly in line with other reports of low drops this year.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Thanks for posting your MAQS observations, which I've been reading with interest. Looks like you've had a good positive experience. Fingers crossed for plenty of healthy, happy winter bees in your hives.
~I'm waiting to use MAQS myself but have decided to wait for another week or two until the wasp situation here quietens down a little. Open entrances seem risky at the moment to me.

Have you thought of restricting the entrance with a strip of omf mesh? You can have a small gap to admit bees and the rest of the strip will admit air for ventilation but not wasps.