Winter Oxalic acid treatment

[BKF Admin]

My management regarding Varoa is to give a single dose of Thymol in Olive oil on tissues during August as soon as the supers come off.

I don't give a second dose for another brood cycle as I have found in the past that a single dose is enough to drop the amount of mites to a tolerable level going into winter.

I then follow this up with a Boxing day treatment of Oxalic acid.

Talking to a long term beekeeper a few days ago he was saying that he has found that treating with OA really does knock his hives back to the extent that some do not recover for months and months,he is looking into trying another treatment?

I have a feeling that lack of winter bee's could be the problem,the older bee's not being able to cope with treatment and dying off.

Your thoughts/findings having used OA in the past?

Does anyone use the vapor method rather than trickle,is it any better?

 

[victor meldrew]

Just fed mine with syrup loaded with Dave Cushmans' thymol with surgical spirit mix. This year I have had extremely low natural mite drop !
I now propose to leave them until oxalic acid time .

Cheers John Wilkinson

 

[East Yorks New Bee]

Hi Mark,
My intentions is to try both methods (trickle and sublimation)this winter and see which seems to work best for me. I personally would have thought that sublimation would be better for the bees as it is the fumes not the acid itself they are coming into contact with. Watch this space, will let you know how I fair next spring

 

[Black Comb]

Do none of you use Apiguard?

 

[the naked beekeeper]

I'm using OA trickle too, so I'll let you know how mine get on....

Maybe this thread could be updated with how members' colonies have faired over winter and what treatments they used on them.
Could be a useful little thread to see if any trends emerge...

 

[Somerford]

I use Apiguard - half way through treatment now. No noticable increase in mite drop really. I wonder if Varroa is getting resistant to apiguard ?

I am undecided as to whether to treat with oxalic acid due to concerns above. I think I will try the sugar dusting treatment in early spring instead and fit 50/50 drone brood on one framenext year

 

[skydragon]

I use Apiguard - half way through treatment now. No noticable increase in mite drop really

I had the same, but found the last week of treatment saw the numbers plummet to zero.

It all depends where your brood cycle was when you started with Apiguard, how many mites there were initially, how may new eggs/brood were laid in the first week of treatment, etc.

eg. During the month of treatment you may even see mite drop numbers decrease and then increase again, before finally dropping to nil.

Give in the full 28 days and then measure the mite drop for a few days. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly suprised.

 

[Black Comb]

I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the sugar dusting treatment had been proved to be of no use. I think it was a Canadian study.

 

[Poly Hive]

I haven't read anything about this so I mention it.

Further to treating with thymol four nucs have absconded. Weak ones of course but ones that might have made it through Winter.

PH

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Nucs are known to abscond when presented with Apiguard so it is recommended they are given half a dose.

Nuc hives have small entrances and I've found they get very upset even when they have a deep roof on and no crownboad. Thymol is a temperature dependent product and problems can occur in hot weather....

 

[BKF Admin]

I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the sugar dusting treatment had been proved to be of no use. I think it was a Canadian study.

I have also read the same thing from the States.

"VAIN" treatment sugar dusting..

 

[Rosti]

A subjective view granted but my experience is in line with that suggested by Admin. I treated a new swarm 1 week after capture (applied 1st week June) with 3.2% OA applied at 5ml per seam of bees. I observed a very significant kill rate on the bees (over a two week period post application, to the extent that I had a half meter carpet of dead bees around the hive. There was noticeable set back, part drawn comb did not progress for 3 weeks after the application. I was happy with my application method and the application rate was in line with recommendations. I am in two minds about a post Xmas application.

 

[victor meldrew]

I have also read the same thing from the States.

"VAIN" treatment sugar dusting..

Wasn't written by finman by any chance? Admin .

John Wilkinson

 

[BKF Admin]

Sorry John that was me using a little poetic licence,it just said it never worked..

Just noticed Finman has not been around for a couple of days,has he gone off to feed the bee's,I remember him saying once his apiary was 100 miles away?

 

[Finman]

.
You are going witht your vain varroa discussion again.

All reasonable stuffs are studies carefully and you want to invent wheel again.

Anddddddddddddddd British researchers have got 6 million pound to make same researches which European varroa group have done during 10 years. And USA have started same vain researches too.

So vain, so vain.

You have not even taken oxalic acid into use and now your are giving upp from it.

GO FOR IT!!!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Your so vain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B7bVD_DkM4

 

[DrNick]

We tried sugar dusting this year for every other inspection, nil mite drop every time, gave up in the end as the bees didn't seem too keen on it.