Oxalic Acid and hive treatment

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mocko

New Bee
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Jan 16, 2011
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Location
Manchester UK
Hive Type
National
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4
Hi All,

Haven't got round to oxalic treatment as felt the weather was too warm around December, is it ok to oxalic the bees when it warms slightly by next weekend/week after?

Secondly, my hives are in need of some wood treatment, what is best to use and can I apply it while the bees are hibernating?

Thanks in advance

Andrew
 
Bees don't hibernate. Neither do squirrels, for that matter.

By all means treat if you must, but there are better times to do it than in freezing conditions on damp/wet wood. Routine changing of boxes and treating those not in use is a far better system.
 
Same issue here, too warm in Dec I thought, so am now keeping a close eye on the forecast, and will OA the day before it warms up.

I use linseed oil with 10% beeswax and paint it on the hives. I'd have thought that a dry sunny cold day would be good for that.

Tony
 
I use linseed oil with 10% beeswax and paint it on the hives. I'd have thought that a dry sunny cold day would be good for that.

Tony

I do the same (though I colour it with alkanet root).

But don't try to do this till the temperature is over 15 degrees - unless indoors of course!

It won't dry if it's colder.

Dusty
 
Ok looks like it's Saturday morning for the OA treatmnet, been cold for long enough for there to be no uncapped brood, and hopefully for there to be no brood at all!

Tony
 
been cold for long enough for there to be no uncapped brood, and hopefully for there to be no brood at all!

Hopefully there will be no brood at all,but if there is then uncapped would be better than capped brood.
 
This is my first year of beekeeping, so its a big learning curve. I treated (OA trickle) in early January but it had been mild for a good three weeks, so I supposed there would have been brood but hoped not much. Mite fall was about 150 after a week in one hive about 70 in the other. These last ten days have been very cold so I'm thinking the queen would have stopped laying and once it thaws a bit I could treat again, hopefully this time with less chance of brood. Any thoughts on treating twice within a month?
 
I wouldn't treat more than once, I'm sure I read somewhere reputable that it's not a good idea. Might be an idea to keep an eye on drop in the spring, if it's excessive then go for a drone brood cull, but what do I know, being a relative newcomer myself.

Tony
 
Any thoughts on treating twice within a month?
Not advisable. OA treatment should be undertaken as a carefully considered option as a result of suspicion (or, better, evidence) of an unacceptable varroa load. Timing is important for the treatment to be effective. Yes, you may kill more mites, but at the risk of damage to queen and bees! Can you be certain that there is no brood now?

The OA will have had some effect. Monitor carefully in the warmer weather and use other methods within your IPM strategy, would be my advice.
 
Oxalic acid treatment

Went for it today and used a vaporizer for will let you know the results next week
 
If the fumes haven't got to you by then lol
 
Would only apply oxalic once a year at most.

Some research on more.

Efficacy of repeated trickle applications of oxalic acid in syrup for varroosis control in Apis mellifera: Influence of meteorological conditions and presence of brood

Nicolaos Bacandritsosa, Corresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding author,
Iosif Papanastasioua,
Costas Saitanisb,
Antonio Nanettic,
Erifylli Roiniotia
Abstract

Oxalic acid field trails for the control of varroosis (Varroa destructor) were carried out in an apiary located on the Mt. Imittos (Attica, Greece). The colonies received four successive applications (approximately one every 16 days) with 4.2% oxalic acid (OA) and 60% sugar solution by trickling method with two alternative types of syringes (an automatic self-filling dosing and a single-use) from the broodright to broodless period. The results indicate that the first three applications (from 6th October to 25th November—broodright period) resulted in 65.3% cumulative mite mortality, while only the last application (after the 26th November—broodless period) resulted in 77.3% mite mortality. Very low outern temperatures reduce to the minimum the bee movability, which may result into a slower development of the OA efficacy. No poor colony growth or queen loss were observed even if the bee colonies were received the four successive OA applications with the last one taken place at a very low outern temperature (6.2 °C). The trickling method using an automatic-filling syringe seems to be a very quick way for applying oxalic acid in large apiaries (approximately 150 hives/h).

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304401707002750




Indirect effects of oxalic acid administered
by trickling method on honey bee brood

F HATJINA,* L HARISTOS
The effects of oxalic acid administered by the trickling method on brood development of honey bee colonies were evaluated (a) by observing the development of marked cells of young (< 3 days old) and old (> 3 days old) larvae, and (b) by measuring the area of open brood for several weeks post application. Oxalic acid, dissolved in a 50% sugar solution, with an end concentration of 3% w/v oxalic acid, was applied twice by the trickling method during summer to 10 colonies. A high percentage of young (12.6% and 9.5%) and old honey bee larvae (10.6% and 5.6%) were removed from their cells after the first and second oxalic acid applications, respectively.
The surface of the open brood area was also reduced by 17.5% after the two oxalic acid applications and
stayed low for about two months. For the same period of time the open brood area in 10 control colonies increased by 34.5%. The two oxalic acid applications removed 60 ± 12% of varroa mites adhering to adult honey bees, while the natural fall of mites measured in control colonies (for a period of 40 days) was 32 ± 4%.
Combining the detrimental effect on brood development with the low relative effectiveness on varroa removal, oxalic acid application by the trickling method when open brood is present is not as safe as has been regarded in the past. Consideration needs to be given to the use of different sugar and oxalic acid concentrations in the treatment solution in order to minimize its adverse effects on open honey bee brood.

http://www.ibra.org.uk/articles/20080612_119/print
 

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