[QUOTE=I was mainly interested in the whole apiary picture [/QUOTE]
I have used oxalic acid sublimation varroa treatment for two years and have found it a very effective treatment. Did you find any Q losses with the sublimation? In my first year I lost one Q (of the 5 hives treated). She stumbled out a few minutes after application and croaked - maybe an unlucky "beginners blast" from the fumes.
I considered a treatment by OA sublimation in September, when I had a three week "no eggs" break in all my hives this year - but because my varroa numbers were so very low, I did not do it. Have you ever sublimated in September?Originally Posted by The Drone Ranger
I've bought one of the inexpensive vaporisers sold on eBay and planned to use with OA in December. I had assumed one treatment was sufficient but is it best to do two or three? Varroa has only just been detected in the hives concerned (sadly ... on the move) and mite levels are low.
Kate I would say two is plenty
I would see what drops in the first 4 weeks or so after treatment one and decide whether to do another
Hi Alan
No I don't think I ever have used Oxalic in Sept (can't remember without going back over all notes)
Some years ago I think it was Alan Teale who gave me his recipe for DIY thymol treatment
Anyway it started me off making my own which probably is nothing like his original (apologies for that)
The recipe I use is pretty simple
Dissolve 500grms thymol in 1ltr of surgical spirit
Put 2 small flat sponges under the crown board and add 20ml to each one
Wait 2 weeks and put another 20ml on each sponge
Leave 2 weeks and remove sponges
Regards the queen croaking
I haven't had any bees die but I don't just poke the varrox in the hive and hope for the best
Ian Craig had some drawings for his varroa floor on the SBA website
It's basically a solid standard floor with another mesh floor perched on top
http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk...a%20floors.pdf
That's pretty much what I use myself
The space between solid and mesh floors where the varroa tray slides out is where I put the varrox (and use foam to plug the gap)
So the rising heated oxalic passes into the hive through the epoxy coated mesh floor spreading it more evenly
This saves accidentally cooking any bees
This year I have a few Paynes polynucs so will need to make something to sit them on as the vapour goes through the bottom mesh
Watch you dont touch the plastic with vapouriser D.R. The foam plastic will melt very quickly and is difficult to repair satisfactorily.
Thanks Grizzly
I melted a hole in my beesuit face mesh with just a slight senior moment and a hot smoker
>The recipe I use is pretty simple
>Dissolve 500grms thymol in 1ltr of surgical spirit
>Put 2 small flat sponges under the crown board and add 20ml to each one
>Wait 2 weeks and put another 20ml on each sponge
>Leave 2 weeks and remove sponges
That's 10 grams / sponge. given that an api life var tablet has 8 gram of thymol then that method should be quite effective !
Hi Phillip
It is pretty effective in the reasonable temperatures at the start and finish of the season
and if you need to take care of varroa urgently
The surgical spirit evaporates faster than an apilife var tablet would but the bees are not harmed
When the thymol is all dissolved in the Surgical Spirit you have about 1.4 ltrs of liquid most of which goes back in the two 500ml spirit bottles
Once the bottles are are closed up the solution will be good for a couple of years at least
I have plenty spare empty bottles from previous years to put the extra bit in but a honey jar would do
Yes. No obvious problems (other than for the mites)*. I like to get my mite treatments done early to allow the Q to continue laying as late as possible. I've previously added Apiguard in late August as soon as the honey supers are off (and, since Apiguard regularly stops the Q from laying, this is one of the reasons to start treatment pronto). This year the supers didn't come off until early/mid-Sept and I then treated by sublimation, though using three treatments 5 days apart as there was lots of brood in the colonies (I think it was Hivemaker on BKF who has conducted some tests optimising treatments with brood present).
* I've only been into the colonies once since the last treatment and all were queenright though one had stopped laying. I didn't give her the benefit of the doubt I'm afraidbut united the colony with a strong one. The rest had good amounts of brood for mid-October suggesting the mid/late September vaporisation hadn't caused too many problems.
I've got photos of all the trays but am ashamed to say haven't got round to counting them all yet.
The beauty of the vaporiser I've got is you just push the nozzle through a 8mm hole in the side of the floor and let 'em have it. For poly hives I've made a block of wood with an 8mm hole I hold across the entrance.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks