Author Topic: OAV treatment (Read 14376 times)

Jen · « **Reply #40 on:** September 06, 2016, 11:42:56 pm »

Nice explanation LzyBkpr

In my climate here in upper northern California, I can still keep a look for mites thru winter with my sticky boards. And there have been times in the dead of winter when the count was getting to high. Then I wait and cross my fingers until I get a 45 degree day, then I bolt out the door and do 1 treatment to the hive that needs it. It's a plus in our climate.

Nugget Shooter · « **Reply #41 on:** September 07, 2016, 09:42:16 am »

I am also currently treating and just finished the second round Sunday so have been following this thread with interest... Thanks All. I don't really go into a Winter here and learning as I go, still have eggs to brood in all stages in all 4 hives and they are still going about business as usual. We will not see any temps below freezing until January (if then) so there is some forage through the same time frame. Spring flow will begin in March and last through June for us with intensity depending on winter season rains.... So if I intend to treat without capped brood it would have to be after December correct?

neillsayers · « **Reply #42 on:** September 07, 2016, 01:51:12 pm »

Okay,
Got some rest and looked up all my assumptions and I was pretty far off.

The website I use is:http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/BeeDiseases/varroaCalculator.cfm

Also a Warre comb covered with bees both sides is about 1500 bees, maybe little more as I have small cell bees.

I still feel pretty good about this drop. One hive is my queen from last year that never had a varroa problem, another is a split with her daughter, and the third is a pure russian I bought this spring for a split. The russian hive is the one with a drop of zero. Assuming I can winter these hives over, I ought to be able to do some growth next year.

Jen · « **Reply #43 on:** September 08, 2016, 12:33:48 pm »

Neil, interesting about the russians. I have read over and over that there is no mite problem with russians. Hmmm,. Why is that?

And, I've also heard that russians are assertive bees, aggressive even. Do you have to suit up completely to deal with your russians?

neillsayers · « **Reply #44 on:** September 08, 2016, 07:58:11 pm »

Jen,

Russians are the opposite of varroa tolerant. They have no tolerance for them. I have seen video of house bees reaching back and pulling them off, then working them around and chewing their legs off. They don't tolerate SHB or their larva in the hive either.
Compared to Italians they are hot but with a little smoke they are not difficult to work. They are at their most irritable when storing up honey. This time of the year I wear a jacket-no gloves. I know when they are getting upset as they will start head butting my hands and veil.
Interestingly, the hybrids tend to be more defensive to the keeper than the purebreds. That seems counter intuitive to me.
Russian queens will stop brood-rearing during a dearth and that can be kind of irritating and my limited experience is that they will not be fooled with syrup. These brood breaks are very helpful in controlling the varroa population.
They will winter with a cluster so small you will swear they have died out, but soon as spring flow start they will explode with growth.

Wandering Man · « **Reply #45 on:** September 13, 2016, 04:44:45 pm »

I did one more OAV treatment yesterday, based on what I read here, just to make sure I had 21 days covered.

As predicted, the bees were unhappy that I broke my promise to them.

After some conversation with them, they forgave me and offered to give me some free cosmetic surgery, but only to the left side of my face.

The bags under my left eye are gone, and I now have a prominent cheek bone. Their bit of handiwork also has erased all of the wrinkles on that side of my face.

They said the swelling from the procedure should go down in a couple of days, and I'm to just ignore that bit of itching which they said might be a residual effect of their procedure.

They refused to do the other side of my face, however.

Anyone got any suggestions on how I can talk them into it? The results on the left side are spectacular!

-WM

P.S. A respirator is NOT the same thing as a veil, no matter how safe you feel behind the mask.

Jen · « **Reply #46 on:** September 13, 2016, 05:10:03 pm »

I'll speak for Perry...

NO PICTURE, DID NOT HAPPEN, NO PIE!!

CBT · « **Reply #47 on:** September 13, 2016, 05:41:59 pm »

I believe now a change in my treatment is soon coming. I bow to the 0 week 1 week skip week and finial treat week may be a better although much more time consuming and will give a better chance to overwinter with short cuts. My theory may have been sound, but the real world reality has shown me different. :\'(o

Wandering Man · « **Reply #48 on:** September 13, 2016, 06:14:35 pm »

Oh, I forgot to report the counts.

One day after the last treatment:
Pine hive had 6 mites

Cedar hive had 2016 mites!

Perry · « **Reply #49 on:** September 13, 2016, 06:24:42 pm »

Quote from: Jen on September 13, 2016, 05:10:03 pm

I'll speak for Perry...

NO PICTURE, DID NOT HAPPEN, NO PIE!!

Wandering Man · « **Reply #50 on:** September 13, 2016, 10:00:42 pm »

Jen · « **Reply #51 on:** September 13, 2016, 10:13:28 pm »

NICE! PIE TIME!

Now all's you had to do was get a pair of tweezers, pick up a bee from the hive or bird bath, lift her up to your face and place the bottom of the bee on your skin, exactly where the sting was on the other side. AND WAH LAH! No More Bags!

I wish I could get a piece of pie! I don't swell anymore :( boooooo

riverbee · « **Reply #52 on:** September 14, 2016, 12:12:53 am »

lol!
skip the pie........how bout some cherry chocolate cheesecake?..........

Wandering Man · « **Reply #53 on:** September 14, 2016, 08:35:54 am »

Yum. If it's cool, I may just smash it against my cheek. It's getting harder to see out of that eye.

Jen · « **Reply #54 on:** September 14, 2016, 12:20:54 pm »

Wman! Never waste cheese cake on your face, get an ice pack

Wandering Man · « **Reply #55 on:** September 14, 2016, 03:15:27 pm »

Quote from: Jen on September 14, 2016, 12:20:54 pm

Wman! Never waste cheese cake on your face, get an ice pack

Yes Ma'am!

Wandering Man · « **Reply #56 on:** September 18, 2016, 08:56:07 pm »

It has been 7 days since my last OAV treatment.

I emptied my Freeman Bottom board trays, and added fresh oil. I wanted to do another count tomorrow to see how things were going.

Being the impatient guy I am, I pulled the trays out after only 2 1/2 hours, just to see what was happening. One hive had no mites.

The second hive had accumulated ten mites in just two and a half hours. And I didn't even pull the tray all the way out!

I'll count again tomorrow afternoon, but can only assume there will be more, rather than less mites.

Advice, please:

Do I just assume that the OAV crystals are still active in the hive and doing their job, knocking down freshly emerging mites?

Or do I give the hive a fifth treatment?

Here is a run-down of what I've done so far:
7/21 - 24 hour Mite count under the hive is 16
Treated with OAV

7/22- 24 hour mite count is 17. I decide not to treat again.

8/22 - OAV treatment, replace oil with soapy water.
8/23 - 24 hour mite count is 91 and 1 SHB

8/29 - OAV treatment, replace soapy water.
8/30 - 24 hour mite count is 94 (no shb)

9/5 - OAV treatment, replace soapy water.
9/6 - 24 hour mite count is 154 (no shb)

9/12 - OAV treatment, replace soapy water.
9/13 - 24 hour mite count is 209 (no shb)

9/18 - Replace soapy water with cooking oil. 2 1/2 hours later, the mite count is 10 (no shb)

yes2matt · « **Reply #57 on:** September 18, 2016, 09:58:57 pm »

Quote from: Wandering Man on August 30, 2016, 05:02:24 pm

I've overcome my PTSD from my first attempt at OAV treatment.

Lessons I learned:

Never treat at night.
Never force all of your bees into a single deep when the outside temperature is above 100
Make sure you have a good battery
Make sure you have all of your zippers closed.

So, with those lessons in mind, I started again 9 days ago. I treated my two hives in the morning, so I know I missed all of my foraging bees. My 24 hour mite count in both hives was 17. This count was done about a week earlier, while I was still building my courage. I was counting mites in the oil in my Freeman bottom board.

24 hours after the treatment, I found 91 mites under the BeeThinking cedar hive, and 4 mites in the Dadant pine hive. The cedar hive gets about 1 hour of son more than the pine hive each day.

Seven days later, I applied the second OAV. The next day (today), I counted 94 mites under the cedar hive and 6 mites under the pine hive.

I find it interesting that there is such a big difference. The cedar hive has been the stronger of the two. The pine hive is from the nuc that left Navasota with many of its foragers out in the field, because they forgot to close off the entrance the morning I showed up. That was in April, and the hive is stronger, but it has never caught up with the other hive, and it is the child that I worry over.

So, even though it seems like the small population of mites is a good thing, I can't help but worry that it is a sign that something is wrong.

I'll treat next Monday, and post the final mite count next Tuesday.

-WM

Add a lesson: make sure the hot end is on the floor of the hive, not up against the frames.

Wandering Man · « **Reply #58 on:** September 19, 2016, 06:28:02 pm »

OK, the official 24 hour count, one week after my last treatment is 48 mites swimming in cooking oil.

iddee · « **Reply #59 on:** September 19, 2016, 06:46:36 pm »

I would do it again.