When I first started keeping bees, I read plenty of stories of queens being killed off by MAQS. The idea of losing my one and only (expensive) queen was so terrifying I decided there was no way I was risking it so I opted for OA vaping as my varroa treatment method.
However, this spring I found one colony with quite a visible varroa infestation. The supers were already on, and as the vaping I'd done during the autumn, and early December clearly hadn't been effective enough in this case I decided to try MAQS for the first time. I found it really quick, only taking 7 days to treat, and the fact I could use it with the supers on, was a big plus for me. Although the biggest plus was the affect on the varroa numbers!!
Of course I didn't use it without some reservations. All of my hives are double broods, so the strips go between the two deep boxes. I'm not sure I would have used two strips to treat a single brood box. The hives also had a couple of supers of space, the entrance was completely open, and the weather forecast advised me there weren't going to be any excessively high temperatures during the week. In the two hives I treated there was a sizeable exodus on the first day (can't say I blame them, it was pretty potent!), but by the next day the bees were taking it in their stride.
I was so impressed I've got a couple more packs to treat a couple of hives, probably this week. I'll still be OA vaping in December, and who knows what I'll choose to use next year, but I won't be ruling out MAQS in future.
