[BurleyBee]

Location Mississippi. Was planning on treating at some point and was curious when those of you in the South start? I have a vaporizer and the OA. How many consecutive weeks do you treat?

 

[Tim KS]

I treat them real nice all year long, but for OA treatment I start the first week or two if August....4 treatments 5 days apart.....then a single treatment between Thanksgiving Day & Christmas.....final treatment about mid-February if the weather allows. It may vary some, but that's the plan.

The single treatments are aimed at broodless periods or near broodless. Your weather down south may vary.

 

[JWPalmer]

Burleybee, I have already started with OAV. Hitting them once per week for three weeks and then wait three weeks to keep the numbers low. If you have a high mite count now, you should treat every five days for three weeks or until only a few mites drop. Where I live, it is important to treat regularly throughout the fall as many mites will be coming in from the hives of those that do not treat or non-resistant feral bees (escaped swarms from packages). Like Tim, I treat again at Thanksgiving and Christmas with single doses as there is little foraging activity and the hives are broodless.

 

[kaizen]

I'm a month behind you but i'm seeing signs of large mite population growth so i'd start now if i were you. Well maybe after it gets below 100 degrees.

 

[Barhopper]

When I get home this weekend. Uncapped some drone brood last week and wasn’t happy with the results.

 

[BurleyBee]

What about my honey supers that I’m leaving for bees? As stated in a previous thread I have a lot of capped sugar syrup. Is is ok to treat with those on and later use those frames for my own honey or will OA contaminate my frames indefinitely?

 

[JWPalmer]

The OA does not get into the wax, so yes, you can treat with supers that will be fed to the bees. You may want to mark those frames so you don't forget which are which and make sure they are completely empty before using for honey.