Oxallic Vaporization

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Miriads
Can not find a stikkie on this

HOW WHEN WHY etc............................bee-smilliebee-smilliebee-smillie




(Auntie has bought me a 12 v vaporizer tool from Canada!)

:leaving:
 
(Auntie has bought me a 12 v vaporizer tool from Canada!)

cousins mother!
not my pay cheque from BBC !
 
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I did it once in my first year (or should I say someone did it for me).
The colony did not make it through the winter.
I think the cause was starvation but I can't help feeling the vaporisation did some damage. The roar from inside the hive did not sound like happy bees.
So, although I have no real evidence, I have avoided it since.
 
I have treated with OA for the past 4 years and never had evidence of bee death. Varroa -YES!
This year may be a problem as I suspect queens still laying, roll on cold, frost dormancy.
 
As mentioned in other threads, vapourisation causes less damage to the bees that adding it to sugar syrup.

If done properly.:)
I would imagine it is easier to get vaporisation wrong.
 
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How and when

It's the only treatment I use on my bees.
Quick sense check, the link quotes 1-2g of crystals per hive. As a dihydrate they are nearly 30% water, so 0.7-1.4g anhydrous equivalent. These would be spread over the whole inside of the hive. The clustered bees are a small percentage of that whole surface - maybe 20%?

Dribbling 5ml per seam would be 1g in 30ml of 3.3% solution (to use round numbers ). That this is applied directly to the bees suggests that the dose per bee (or mite) is higher applied directly by trickle but less likely to be spread around the hive. If the vaporisation covers far more comb surface than it does bees when clustered it could be argued that the normal trickle dose rate is higher than it need be.

If you are vaporising, the usual caveats apply to handling a dangerous substance, 30g could kill a 50Kg adult. It is likely to be distributed throughout the hive and any stores, although as many have pointed out, many vegetables have a higher dose than honey from a treated hive.
 
A few threads discussing it such as
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7914

Suspect there is no sticky as its not widely used.

Thanks for that MA.. think I was on other side of planet and not near a PC when that discussion on the benefits of vaporisation took place!

Probability that the OA trickle argument will rage on until a new fad breaks out..
a GM varroa that is allergic to bee dander protein????

I am going to look bloody silly walking around my hives wearing a Kirby Morgan... and twin 12s,,,, can not trust the AGA!:leaving:
 
I am using a vaporizer as my only treatment this year did one treatment last month and had a good mite drop and cant see any affect to brood . I still have a bit of laying go on so will do another this month and in December. It took me around 1 1/2 hours to do 20 hives just need lots of foam blocks.
 
Thanks HH
what time of day do you administer and are you on OMF?

foam to block entrance and OMF? or simply fit in count/blanking board

TFYH
 
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Thanks HH
what time of day do you administer and are you on OMF?

foam to block entrance and OMF? or simply fit in count/blanking board

TFYH
I treated in the evening. Most hves on mesh floors so slid tray in. Rubber gloves, mask, torch, stopwatch are a must
 
Quick sense check, the link quotes 1-2g of crystals per hive. As a dihydrate they are nearly 30% water, so 0.7-1.4g anhydrous equivalent. These would be spread over the whole inside of the hive. The clustered bees are a small percentage of that whole surface - maybe 20%?

Don't guess. Read papers. Once you've done that I'll be interested ;)
 
Don't guess. Read papers. Once you've done that I'll be interested ;)

I was only trying to establish that the dose per hive is comparable, which it seems to be.:)

Is the previous link the vaporiser model you use? The Swiss company cites agri-nova as uk agent but I can't see any reference to the products on the agri-nova site.

Are there any independent assessments of the methods you could link to? Effectiveness and safety are the obvious condiderations. Where vaporisation is mentioned in the books, it is usually to say trickle is preferred. Not having used vaporisation I can see there is more potential for equipment variation in temperature and timing; on the other hand a syringe is a syringe and cheap. Genuinely interested in the pros and cons of the method from someone who has been using it a few years.
 
I am using a vaporizer as my only treatment this year did one treatment last month and had a good mite drop and cant see any affect to brood . I still have a bit of laying go on so will do another this month and in December. It took me around 1 1/2 hours to do 20 hives just need lots of foam blocks.

Sounds like a lot of treatments to those of us told just to do it once per year if at all - are there less constraints with using vaporisers? Also, is the worry of doing it while there is still brood not just that it may damage the brood, but there will still be a load of mites hiding in capped cells?

Is this your regular method, or are you experimenting this year?
 
You can do more than 1 treatment per cohort of bees with a vapouriser if needed.

So two treatments 2 weeks or so apart should get most of the varroa mites mites even if colonies have small patches of sealed brood during application.

Mites in capped brood cells are a problem for all winter treatment regimes.
 
I was only trying to establish that the dose per hive is comparable, which it seems to be.:)

Yup :) Sorry, looking back it seems I misread what you'd written

Is the previous link the vaporiser model you use? The Swiss company cites agri-nova as uk agent but I can't see any reference to the products on the agri-nova site.

Yup, I have that model, I know Th**** sell it, probably others do as well.
Made a few myself before buying that one. They worked, but weren't nearly as well made.

Not having used vaporisation I can see there is more potential for equipment variation in temperature and timing; on the other hand a syringe is a syringe and cheap. Genuinely interested in the pros and cons of the method from someone who has been using it a few years.

The temp and timing isn't a problem, you just plug a power source in, use a stop watch, and unplug.

The pros are:
- It appears to be more effective on the varroa, and less damaging to the bees. (I think I've linked to some articles before - will check).

- I don't have to open any hives and can go though an apiary quickly at any time of the day, in any weather.

- If you have a few hives I think it works out cheaper.

The cons are:
- It's quite expensive if you only have a limited number of hives

- Carrying around a heavy battery in the cold isn't much fun. (I could probably get a better solution for that)

- You need to be sensible about it, ie wear a mask. (The lead is long so helps you keep further away)
 

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