Oxalic treatment

[rayz_x]

Hi There

We are likely to treat with oxalic in the next week or two, depending on the weather.
Is it a useful idea to put the drawer in the bottom of the Open Mesh Floor before treatment to monitor mite drop?
Is there a reason not to put the drawer in? Is it likely to make the treatment more or less effective?

Thank you

Ray

 

[Finman]

Hi There


Is it a useful idea to put the drawer in the bottom of the Open Mesh Floor

It is surely usefull to see what you get there.

It takes 2 weeks that most of mites will drop down.

.

 

[Queens59]

Yes, check you need to treat before doing so - and if you choose to OA check the drop after.

 

[beeno]

Hi Finman and Queens,
Reading this post made me realise that I had forgotten to put the Varroa board in post OA! Can't wait to see how many will fall.

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
Quick up date on varroa count. Did only partly pull out board saw 30+ in two hours!

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Hi all,
Quick up date on varroa count. Did only partly pull out board saw 30+ in two hours!

Just out of curiosity Beeno, did you do a pre-treatment count?

My hives still have their Apivar strips in (it's the last few days of treatment now) and I've had a very low varroa count in the last 10 days (between 0.3 and 1.2 per day). I'm not sure whether to worry about the OA trickle on top of the Apivar this winter, even though that is what was advised. That quoted 10 day count is not a 'natural drop', as the strips are still in, so I assume a true 'natural drop' would be even lower.

However as the strips are due to come out shortly, I'm going to have to open up my hives anyway. So should I trickle as well? Fresh wax scales on the inspection boards suggest to me that they may still be capping brood (is that a fair assumption?) so it may not be so effective anyway. My gut feeling is to go for minimum disruption now and to try another treatment if indicated in the Spring. Especially for the varroa weakened hive which dropped over 2800 mites in total

 

[beeno]

Hi Jimmys Mum,
No, I did not do a pre-treatment count as I don't believe that they are very reliable estimates of the extent of the hive's varroa problem. All my hives will be treated.
Fresh wax scales (white seethrough) I thought meant that they were building comb? White cappings - uncapping honey and brown cappings emerging brood.
Fingers crossed that the heavily infested hive comes through OK. Best of luck for the new year.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Yes definitely fresh wax scales not cappings. All slightly oval and white/almost clear. I always thought (probably wrongly) that a certain temperature was required for wax scale production but I've had them on 2 inspection boards this past week.
Thanks for your good wishes Beeno and the same to you!