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formic acid treatment
I've now applied 140ml/65% formic acid to 4 hives, used an insulated eke and appear to have had reasonably consistent evapouration over 8 days. I had expected to see lots of dead juvenile varroa on the sticky boards, but only the odd bee larvae and varroa adult. The queens are laying well.
This is a first attempt, how do you measure success or is this a sign of no affect?
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Senior Member
Hi nemphlar
put on a thymol treatment and see what drops over the next fortnight
Thats what I would do anyway
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Senior Member
Me too. A colony which appears to be varroa free can drop a couple of hundred on the first day.
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thanks for the response, formic treatments have a bewildering number of recommended procedures in both time and concentration, but outwith experiments carried out within enclosd spaces I haven't yet been able to find a simple way to check effectivesness.
I have been feeding thymol treated syrup since coming off fumidil B in early May in an attempt to recover from a very poor winter. or do you mean a more concentrated type of thymol application.
Not very objective but all 4 recovering hives and queens seem to be pushing on after the treatment.
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Senior Member
I was referring to a thymol varroa treatment such as Apiguard which is a thymol paste usually delivered in two doses over a 4 week period after the supers are off.
I have used Apiguard the past two years and found it to be very effective - especially when followed up by Oxalic acid in the dead of winter when the colony is broodless.
Thymol treated syrup can be effective against nosema but not sure about varroa.
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Senior Member
nemphlar
There was an earlier thread where this was covered in some depth
and a recipe or two for home made effective thymol treatments
http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...hlight=sponges
Nip over there and check it out
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Thanks to both, as a DIY beke I'll try the thymol recipe and sponge application. The 4 queens are laying well and I'm hoping, building to give them a chance of winter survival, have you noticed, will this thymol treatment affect/ slow the build up?
Interesting chart you published aong other things highlighted that even in hives with apparently no natural mite drop there was a count after treatment. I found similar results and wondered about the value of natural drop as an indicator. thanks again
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