That's the primary reason I use Apivar in the fall, the bees are raising their winter brood and I want them to be healthy and virus free. OAV works great the rest of they year.Give it some time before praising OAV as the cure-all.
OAV works in the winter when there is little or no brood. When I used it as my August treatment, I was still having 60% losses.
I read somewhere that OAV does not kill mites but makes it impossible for them to walk- something about OA crystals forming on their feet, which would mean they would have to evolve into completely different animal with different feet, which I guess is not as easy/fast as becoming immune to chemicals...My understanding is that they have been using OA for 20+ years in Europe without resistance developing.
100% survival rate . Even the "weakest" hives show strength.
My secret to success? OAV. I was certain that OAV would have some negative side effects, but that is clearly incorrect.
Just wanted to shout out to the band-heater vaporizer makers, thanking them for not having to mess around with expensive treatments. For less than $20 I can treat all my hives with high overwintering success, for the entire year. Honey is safe to eat, bees aren't harmed, no pesticides.
In fact, it was such a success that now I'm scrambling to try to find new apiary sites.
Ouch ...Good marketing for vaporizers.
Not much more.
Just wanted to shout out.
This is probably not likely since OA exists in many of the plants that we eat and/or drink (tea for instance).I think oav is great as well, but I would caution that this same elation with a "chemical" and dependency on a single "chemical" was going on 20-25 years ago between farmers and a chemical called glyphosate. Now look at the problems we have both with weed escapes and with image.
Within 10 years, there will be studies published showing "proof" that oxalic acid is a "probable carcinogen" and honey will be labeled as a non-healthy, chemical tainted food. No matter how much you swear that it is safe, the headlines will lead the mob.
That is likely a huge understatement! Probably harder to find many foods that do not contain oxalic acid. Fruits, berries, vegetables, many grains. Formic acid too, is very common in our food as well.This is probably not likely since OA exists in many of the plants that we eat and/or drink (tea for instance).