Treating bees with Vaporised Oxalic acid when their not all home.

[Eyeman]

The background to these data is that I have 3 colonies, two have low number of mites, but one had crept up over the summer to between 30 and 40 a day which I considered to be too high. I decided to do the 3 x 5 day treatments (2.5 gms OA-based product vaped in home-made equipment) but after the third treatment, I was still getting what I thought were high drops. I did a 4th treatment and the same thing happened. I did a 5th treatment and I thought I had cracked it but in the last 3 days, the numbers of mites dropped has started to creep up again - yesterday drop was 30, 22 days after last treatment, up from a low of 8 on day 18.

I think I will have to use a Thymol-based treatment on these bees but am reluctant to keep putting chemicals into the hive. However, needs must, when the devil drives.

What I would like to see is an alcohol wash pre-treatment count and another wash 1 month after the last treatment. Michael Palmer posted his finding, all-be-it on a single hive and found the mite numbers had gone up post treatment.
Needless to say, a lot of folk will be relying on the 3-4 sessions of OAV this late summer/autumn when the hives have capped brood and could be in for a surprise if mite numbers are still high 1 month later.

 

[Cussword]

five days

And we're back to the Mantra.

 

[Cussword]

Needless to say, a lot of folk will be relying on the 3-4 sessions of OAV this late summer/autumn when the hives have capped brood .

Works for me!

.

 

[Brigsy]

I must say, the apiguard is clearly upsetting one of my two colonies. (The other, with less space seems unconcerned) OAV seems much kinder quicker and more effective all around.

 

[oliver90owner]

The 'unconcerned' colony will likely not be treated as effectively as the one that is bearding.

There is a line between poor efficacy, effective thymol treatment and overdosing. Get it wrong and you will either not treat effetively or may damage the colony.

Proper, effective thymol treatment is good. But I don't rate apiguard.

 

[Brigsy]

I wonder why. The upset give is poly on nat brood and a half. The unconcerned are a commercial wooden brood.


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[Millet]

I used Apilife Var last Summer, the bees where not happy and i found loads of chewed up dead brood under the open mesh floor on the inspection tray.

I vaped them in winterish time and they still had brood by the colour of the wax capping's on the inspection tray, however the bees quickly calmed down after a gassing session and the only thing i found dead on the inspection tray was Varroa NO brood.
I know what i will be doing next week .