Author Topic: Oxalic acid (Read 38532 times)

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #60 on:** February 14, 2014, 04:42:57 pm »

Thank you Jen.. interesting that you had that big of a drop.. maybe the vapor does get into the cluster a little?

Jen · « **Reply #61 on:** February 14, 2014, 04:54:04 pm »

I was surprised as well, but then not. But that's why I use a screen bottom board smeared with vegetable shortening to check for mites. If I find 10 mites in one week on the board, I multiply it x 10. 100 mites is only 10% of what is still on the bees up in the hive.

This is somewhat the same formula that Randy Oliver suggests.

As soon as I can get a long 65 day to tear down the hive and see if there is any brood, I will know if I can do one more OA treatment before the queen starts laying.

But at this point in feeding my bees, and they are already going thru one winter pattie a week. I think she's already going for it.

rodmaker · « **Reply #62 on:** February 15, 2014, 07:01:19 pm »

Treated seven hives with OA on 2-13 and the biggest mite drop was 48 on one hive all others were less than 10 . These are all second year hives the hive with the biggest drop is three years old . I used the vaporizer one minute thirty seconds all OA was varorized removed and kept hives closed for ten minutes either i did something wrong or i don't have much of a mite problem. Any ideas?

Jen · « **Reply #63 on:** February 15, 2014, 07:11:04 pm »

Rod- That's pretty much what we did in January and we got a 1,000 mite drop. Count your blessings.

Wondering tho, did you have a reason to want to treat? like maybe a sticky board with mites on it. Or, was it a prophylactic treatment?

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #64 on:** February 15, 2014, 07:41:49 pm »

2 grams of OA for 2.5 minutes for a double deep brood chamber is what my instructions call for.
I have ONLY read about its use and watched all the vids I could find, I have never done it, so I haven't a lot to go by Rodmaker..

Seems like it vaporized very quickly at a minute and a half. There is a warning about it getting TOO hot and becoming Formic acid and not permeating the hive like it should.

Were the entrances blocked and left blocked the prescribed amount of time? I am going to assume you did all of it correctly since you dont seem the flighty type, so the only thing I can think of is the rapid vaporization time... Wish I could help more!

rodmaker · « **Reply #65 on:** February 15, 2014, 08:23:45 pm »

Jen had one hive abscond and only thing i could think of after the advise i was given was that i might have had a mite problem so i treated my hives to be on the safe side. Lazy the package my vaporizer came in said one minute was all that was needed to vaporize the oa but i had to use one and a half minutes to vaporize all. I did a test run outside a hive so i could time it . I did leave the hives closed up for ten minutes as directed . I will continue to watch mite drop closely and if i see more than i have in the past i will treat again after the full seven days from last treatment. Maybe i just got lucky and my bees are taking care of the mites on their own.

Perry · « **Reply #66 on:** February 15, 2014, 09:57:57 pm »

If that's all you had for a mite drop after treating with OA, you didn't have that bad a problem.

Jen · « **Reply #67 on:** February 15, 2014, 10:59:58 pm »

Rod ""Maybe i just got lucky and my bees are taking care of the mites on their own.""

Sounds like you did it the right way. Just keep a check on the sticky board every couple of weeks. You'll be fine.

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #68 on:** February 16, 2014, 01:02:54 am »

Agreed! Nothing you did wrong.

camero7 · « **Reply #69 on:** February 16, 2014, 02:24:37 pm »

I quit closing up my hives a couple years ago after I compared drops between unclosed hives and closed hives. I still have good success. I run the vaporizers until they are empty and vapor is coming out of the upper entrances. My results are pretty good.

Jen · « **Reply #70 on:** February 24, 2014, 02:26:35 pm »

Crofter- I came so close to loosing my one and only hive last fall. I took the advice of a friend and put a plastic realty board smeared with cooking shortening under my screen bottom board. Alas, my hive was dropping close to 80 mites A DAY!! And I was seeing the Deformed Wing Virus on them. Yikes and Panic! Long story short, I used Formic Acid Quick Strips. Mites Gone 95%. Then a couple of months later, I used an oxalic acid treatment. Not a single mite in over a month. I like that going into spring

Edward · « **Reply #71 on:** February 24, 2014, 04:27:59 pm »

crazy8days · « **Reply #72 on:** April 09, 2014, 07:48:18 pm »

I broke down and bought the Heilyser oxalic vaporizer. Talking to another local keep he said I need to hit them now. 2 things i wonder if I need to do.

1. Do I need to remove pollen patties before I treat?

2. Queen is laying, so do I need to treat for the next 3 weeks?

Perry · « **Reply #73 on:** April 09, 2014, 07:55:43 pm »

Are your counts high, or are you treating because the other local keep is?
Don't know about the pollen patties for sure, but I wouldn't think they would pose a problem.
I've never used Oxalic in the manner you are describing, I only use it when they are broodless.

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #74 on:** April 09, 2014, 08:24:05 pm »

OA is naturally occuring. I treated today in fact. Have at it!!!
Block the entance and let em have it. You will be amazed at how UN concerned they are..
If thee is brood, I treat once a week, three times in a row.
Video here if you scroll down to it.

http://outyard.weebly.com/treatments.html

crazy8days · « **Reply #75 on:** April 09, 2014, 09:06:42 pm »

Perry, I'm going by one of my dead hives. There were mites still attached to bees, BB was covered and dead mites in open cells. I know not every hive will be like this. I want to make splits this season and want low mite count.

Thanks Lazy for the info!

Jen · « **Reply #76 on:** April 09, 2014, 09:34:35 pm »

You won't regret the OA treatment Crazy! It's just pretty darned cool! I treated in January, got a 1,000 mite kill. No mites since! I love it!

vossejongk · « **Reply #77 on:** April 10, 2014, 02:31:40 pm »

Oxalic acid doesn't kill the mites that are in your brood, it only kills the mites that are in the open. If you want to treat varroa when having brood use apiguard based on thymol or thymol strips. read instructions for them carefully and follow them exactly otherwise the treatment won't be effective enough. Oxalic acid is very effective when you make artificial swarms without closed brood, it kills nearly all the mites. If you add a frame with OPEN drone brood you get pretty darn close to a varroa free hive

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Jen · « **Reply #78 on:** April 10, 2014, 02:43:02 pm »

Hiya Vosse- I haven't tried the products you have suggested yet. Mite Away Quik Strips is what I use if I have to treat a hive with capped brood. Otherwise my choice is Oxalic Acid.

And regardless of what choice is used for mites, follow the directions!Don't apply any treatment 'your way'. Stay true to the application process suggested by the company.

vossejongk · « **Reply #79 on:** April 10, 2014, 06:54:02 pm »

I think the thymol (they're called thymovar) strips are basically the same as your mite away strips

as for the oxalic acid more then 1 usage per bee life is something they don't take very well.. :( so it's not a good treatment when the hive has closed brood since most of the mites are in there. We have something called ant acid (that's the direct translation, don't know the English word for it.) You get it in 65 and 85% concentration afaik and that does kill the mites in the brood but you can't have supers on if you want honey out of it... its also legally not allowed to use but it is tolerated by the authorities. I'm going to try beevital hiveclean, hopefully that gives good results.

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