Miteaway 2 and Oxalic Acid

[PerryBee]

Curious. I treated my hives for the first time this fall with Miteaway 2 and removed the pads Oct. 26. Nothing unusual during this time except the grass was dead for 8 inches in front of my hives! I then followed with a finisher of Oxalic ( vaporized ) on Nov. 22 when my hives were broodless. Again , nothing unusual except about a week later I noticed hundreds of dead mites seemingly piled up on the front "porch". Would this be the mites themselves trying to evacuate the hive or would the bees be housecleaning even in this cold ( freezing ) weather? Also, I have the choice of buying a 15 year old 20 frame dadant extractor for $500 or should I buy a new Maxant 20 frame for $1200 plus shipping? Any problems with the older Dadants? Thanks.

[CSbees]

Dadants are very reliable I've heard. They are also very expensive new. If it was taken care of well I would buy the 20 framer Dadant.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

More than likely the bees were house cleaning and did not want to venture too far outside of the hive to carry out the mites.

[PerryBee]

Thanks for the reply Bullseye,so the bees will actually break cluster in this cold weather to do housecleaning? Why would the bees carry the mites out front when during the summer they tend to just leave them on the bottom board any old place?

[Brent Bean]

I agree with BB, the mites wouldn’t crawl out onto the landing board to take in the view of your beautiful Canadian sunsets. So the bees must be cleaning house. I use screen bottom boards on all my hives so when they die they just fall threw the screen. I have been using Mite-Away since 2005 and have never noticed it killing the grass. Interesting ?

[PerryBee]

Brent Bean, are these screened bottom boards open to the out doors or do you have them closed off in the winter? I have screened bottom boards but I put my hives back on solid boards when I wrapped them.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Thanks for the reply Bullseye,so the bees will actually break cluster in this cold weather to do housecleaning? Why would the bees carry the mites out front when during the summer they tend to just leave them on the bottom board any old place?

Grant that I don't know your weather, but, we see bees flying in the low forties down here. Even on cold snowy but bright days the bees will fly out ten or fifteen feet to crap and do a quick U turn and return to the hive. Since you wrap your hives it is logical that the temperature inside the hive is at least that warm on most any sunny day. Being that warm will give the bees a chance to loosen their cluster and move honey and groom.

I suspect that they would do a little light housekeeping and grooming since they can not forage.

I am curious about your summer observation about the mites being left on the bottom board while you also state that you have SSB's?

[PerryBee]

Grant that I don't know your weather, but, we see bees flying in the low forties down here. Even on cold snowy but bright days the bees will fly out ten or fifteen feet to crap and do a quick U turn and return to the hive. Since you wrap your hives it is logical that the temperature inside the hive is at least that warm on most any sunny day. Being that warm will give the bees a chance to loosen their cluster and move honey and groom.

I suspect that they would do a little light housekeeping and grooming since they can not forage.

I am curious about your summer observation about the mites being left on the bottom board while you also state that you have SSB's?

Thanks for the responses,What I did this fall is just before I treated with the MiteawayII , I put my hives onto solid bottom boards for a couple of reasons.One is they are easier to move, and the second more important thing is I want to achieve as tight a seal as possible when treating ( maybe too tight with the Formic as all the grass in front of my hives died ) Same thing with the Oxalic vaporisation, I want as little escaping as possible. You are probably right about the wraps causing it to get warm enough for the cluster to become active..Do you leave your hives on screened bottoms year round and are they open on the bottom or do you close the bottoms off? Thanks

[BULLSEYE BILL]

I put my trays in the SSB's during the winter (when night time temps get below 50) to knock down the cold winds. It is not tight by any means and I use mouse guards leaving them about six 1/2 inch holes. I do not wrap and the inner covers I use have two 1 inch by 3/8th openings for a little ventilation.

Our average winter temps for the coldest part of winter is in the high 30's, but we do have periods that get below zero for a few days on end. It will stay below freezing for two or three weeks, have a mid Jan thaw, back in the freezer for a couple more weeks then tends to bounce up and down thawing and freezing every few days until spring.

In this area it's the cold wind we worry about, not how cold it gets.

[Brent Bean]

PerryBee: I install trays in by SBB’s during winter, It keep the cold winds from wiping into the hive. I wrap my hives in winter with roofing black felt paper. It don’t provide any insulation but it dose provide them a wind break and gives them some solar gain during sunny days ( living next to lake Michigan don’t happen much in December) and they can loosen their cluster to stay in contact with their food. This is especially important when the queen starts to lay small clusters of brood in late January. They will have an opportunity to relocate stores when the sun warms up the hive.