OA Vaporiser

[SuffolkPaul]

Hi All

So after brooding about all the Varroa mites in my hive, 4 days of monitoring on a sticky board indicates a drop of 448 mites meaning AVG drop is 112 per day!!

I've order MAQS and also considering getting a cheap Vaporiser, however i've a few specifc questions:

1/ The MAQS treatment lasts 7 days so there must be fumes in the hive for 7 days yes?
2/ Vaporising lasts how long, i know it takes 2.5 mins to administer but how long are the fumes in the hive?
3/ My time aside, is i better to vape or MAQS? (to me i would rather have medacine for 2.5 mins rather than sniff acid gas for 10,080 mins, just sayin)

looking forward to guidance!

Best Paul

 

[WoodenBeam]

Does vaporising kill mites within Brood - don't think so but please confirm before taking my word for it. Therefore MAQS and vapourising are to be used for different situations.

Personally I'm going to be using a thymol based product following honey removal and then an Oxalic based substance trickled later in the year dependant on weather.

Don't have anything against MAQS but for a routine treatment prefer a more gentle approach. If I desperately felt the need to destroy mites NOW then MAQS would be the product I would choose.

 

[SuffolkPaul]

Thanks for the reply, being a fledgling beekeeper 4.5 months into Beekeeping i'm struggling to decide what to do. I do feel as though i should be gentle and i would prefer the wait to Autum and do a treatment then, and a follow up treatment once there is no brood cells, BUT the stressor is the AVG mite drop of 112 per day!! I'm worried all my 60,000 bees will have been eaten by autum :-(

 

[Millet]

That's a big mite drop and they want Vaping ASAP, vape four times every five days, that way you will keep mopping the varroa up as the young bees emerge, the crystals from the vapour will still be active in the hive a few days after each vaping session.

 

[colinc]

Also there is a chance if forecasts should ever be trusted of temperatures rising this week. Once into 20's and higher the more likely you are to get the widely reported bearding and possibly loss of queen. This is even in MAQs literature supplied with the drug.
There is no easy answer.


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[domino]

For me it is a time issue.

I've got 10 hives, my varrox takes about ten minutes a hive - making my time treating with broad about an hour and a half per session, and you have to do several sessions.

MAQS takes me a few minutes per hive and it is done for a week.

For winter treatment the varrox is my weapon of choice no question.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes....vape and now as that is a really nasty high drop
You might well have 4000 mites in that colony and the NBU reckon 1000 is the level at which you must treat.
Your hive is critical
That's my treatment of choice and all I've been doing for a few years now.
Millet's on the money.

For me it is a time issue.

I've got 10 hives, my varrox takes about ten minutes a hive - making my time treating with broad about an hour and a half per session, and you have to do several sessions.

MAQS takes me a few minutes per hive and it is done for a week.

For winter treatment the varrox is my weapon of choice no question.

The trouble with MAQS is that you're playing Russian Roulette with your queen and if you have just the one hive your options for saving it at this time of year are few. The OP has one hive in his profile

 

[domino]

The trouble with MAQS is that you're playing Russian Roulette with your queen and if you have just the one hive your options for saving it at this time of year are few. The OP has one hive in his profile

I did have problems with MAQS and ended up only putting them in strong hives. They appear to have played with the dose because it doesn't appear as brutal now.

 

[colinc]

I used it with the full dose in spring this year and the bees didn't even beard. The temperatures were in the low to mid teens.
Forecast has changed again here and forecast for low 20's next few days but OP is in Suffolk of name is to go by so may be warmer.
The warmer it is when applied the more issues it can cause.


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[bjosephd]

The reports of queen loss have put me of MAQS although I have wondered if it would be possible to holiday the queen into a nuc for the duration (or potent/toxic first few days) of the treatment.

You might have to knock some queen cells/cups down on her return I guess.

 

[Beefriendly]

You might have to knock some queen cells/cups down on her return I guess.

You will have to knock queen cells down...and if you miss one or two??