oxalic acid dribble

[FlowerPlanter]

FP…my oa crystals dissolved just fine in the sugar syrup…no alcohol needed. And I’d think getting the mixture right would be important no matter how you planned to apply it.
This is surely one downside. Another is the need for extra hardware. And last but surely not least, if you have a couple of dozen (or more) beeyards making one trip to each is a lot simpler and less labor intensive than making three.

As in many things beekeeping…..there is no one size fits all.
I’m glad you like the fogging….for me the one time dribble looks good.

beemandan
You mix the OA right in your sugar water, that’s saves you several steps. How much per gallon? How much sugar water per hive? How much per space between frames? Do you break the boxes apart?

You do need more equipment, a scales to measure grams, a vaporizer, which can be a manufactured on from Canada or a homemade pipe and torch. And a respirator is recommended.

You do not need to treat more if you vaporize. OA only kills phoretic mites weather it's vapor or dribble makes no difference and I believe both treatment methods are at 93%+ mite kill rate. You don’t need to make extra trip to the bee yards. Unless you are treating when there is brood with which ever OA method you used.

Could treat your hives in less than half the time it would take if to use dribble method? And there is less prep time as well. Watch the video, can you do it quicker, remember he is going slow to make the video. I will let you decide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpktnn9lZU4

I'd bet the acid would wreck the fogger after the 1st use.

+1

[GLOCK]

Yes

beemandan how can you use oa in a fooger?

[danno]

Unless you have 100's of colonies to treat gallons are not nessessary in fact any solution you mix has to be used or dumped. It doesn't keep for long. As for how much I measure with a triple beam scale in grams so no one is going to give you a recipe like one tablespoon to whatever. To apply you need a syringe. 5CC will work fine. A cc and a ml are the same. You apply 5 cc's or ml per seam for total of 50ml.for a double deep. You just need to count out 10 shots of 5. I do not break the doubles apart. This causes to much disruption at the time I do this which is Nov in michigan.

[Rolande]

Could treat your hives in less than half the time it would take if to use dribble method? And there is less prep time as well. Watch the video, can you do it quicker, remember he is going slow to make the video. I will let you decide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpktnn9lZU4

Take roof off. Take crown board off (if used). Dribble OA -not actually necessary to split boxes. Put crown board back on. Replace roof. Move to next colony.

[squarepeg]

danno, right after they finish brooding the winter bees? double deeps?

[danno]

yes they are broodless

[squarepeg]

good plan, thanks.

[Rye]

I am not sure that cyclone is the proper name. It has a propane torch that heats up a metal bowl from underneath.Then a 12 volt car blower motor moves air across this bowl as you put the liquid in. It was sold by a supply company for a year or two. I cant find out much about it online.

[danno]

I think the "cyclone" you are talking about was not for oxalic but instead acetic acid or 25%vinegar. They sold a propain model and a 110volt model. I think the company was out of Iowa. They disapeared 6 or 7 years ago. Never caught on or didn't work

[Rye]

Danno, Your so right. I am sorry. It was acetic and not oxalic. Did seem to work well. Sorry all to have stuck my foot in my mouth so early in my forum chatting.

[Flyer Jim]

Unless you have 100's of colonies to treat gallons are not nessessary in fact any solution you mix has to be used or dumped. It doesn't keep for long. As for how much I measure with a triple beam scale in grams so no one is going to give you a recipe like one tablespoon to whatever. To apply you need a syringe. 5CC will work fine. A cc and a ml are the same. You apply 5 cc's or ml per seam for total of 50ml.for a double deep. You just need to count out 10 shots of 5. I do not break the doubles apart. This causes to much disruption at the time I do this which is Nov in michigan.

danno at most feed stores you can get 30cc syringes for about $1

[beemandan]

danno at most feed stores you can get 30cc syringes for about $1

A pack of two 60cc...for 3.29 at Tractor Supply...refill once per hive.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/produce...k-of-2-1019805

[Tony Rogers]

I use a spray bottle! I initially purchased a syringe to measure the number of times I had to pull the triger on a given spray bottle until I reached 5 ml. I prefer to pull the frame and spray each side. I will likely play around with a garden sprayer next time.

[jim lyon]

Tony: I wouldn't feel like you need to actually spray each bee. Think of it more as treating a cluster of bees as if the cluster itself is a living thing and do so at the recommended dosages. The bees readily distribute the oxalic through grooming behavior.

[Tony Rogers]

Jim, you make a great point. I hadn't thought of that. This year was my first bad experiance with mites. I had looked for them, but had not test for them and sadly when my hives were at their strongest, the mite population was as well. When the nectar flow stopped, and the queens stopped laying as many eggs in September, my hives went from strong to near devistation. The only way I saved the 22 out of 34 I had was by breaking them down into 4 frame nucs, and blancing hives. Perhaps it was overkill to spray the bees. I was in emergency mode :-) Thankfully the 22 I have remaining seem to be doing well. I am keeping them between 35-45 degrees with a thermocube and I saved all the comb from the big hives so I think they will take off well. Last year will be the last year that I will go without treating for mites and checking on a regular basis.

[danno]

A pack of two 60cc...for 3.29 at Tractor Supply...refill once per hive.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/produce...k-of-2-1019805

I actually use a 50ml meat pump. I like the needle on it. it doesn't have a hole in the end but instead 4 holes in the sides. Its very strong and twice as long as a syringe

[beemandan]

I actually use a 50ml meat meat pump.

My friend uses a small hand pump garden sprayer....holds about 2 gallons...I think. He looked at the syringes but decided that it would be a nuisance to keep refilling one.

[Rolande]

You apply 5 cc's or ml per seam for total of 50ml.for a double deep. You just need to count out 10 shots of 5. I do not break the doubles apart. This causes to much disruption at the time I do this which is Nov in michigan.

Hi Danno, I never registered this quote previously. Just wondering, are you applying 50ml per hive irrespective of how many seams of bees there are rather than the usual European method of 5ml per seam up to a maximum of 50ml per colony?

[danno]

Hi Danno, I never registered this quote previously. Just wondering, are you applying 50ml per hive irrespective of how many seams of bees there are rather than the usual European method of 5ml per seam up to a maximum of 50ml per colony?

I do 5ml per seam. The bee's will go through cleaning it up and spreading it around

[Rolande]

I was just thinking that someone reading your post who's not used the method previously could assume that there was a standard dose of 50ml per colony irrespective of how many seams of bees they had rather than a maximum recommended dose of 50ml. But I assume that you're applying across the box irrespective of where the cluster is centred. Always interesting to learn how other people are working.