The purpose of this thread is to carry out a cost comparison of the various mite treatments available.
The thread will assume 2 treatments per hive, and will assume the beekeeper has 10 hives. 2 deeps, full of bees.
Here we go:
1. OA Vaporization: No dead bees. Dose is not specific, quite flexible. Can be doubled with limited mortality. Can be performed any time of the year. Will not consider wand treatments, because of the labor and time making it unrealistic for 10+ hive beekeepers. That said, most good wands go for $100 or so, and are comparable in price to the Johno's Easy vap. The Easy Vap sells for approximately, $165 + a bag of OA $10. The "retail" vaporizers are Provap110 and retail for $500+ (not recommended for non wealthy beekeepers). For the provap, or a home made coil heating vap of similar nature, the total cost is as follows:
Roughly $17.5/hive for the first treatment, and then lowers the price to around $9 per hive for 2x treatment rounds. Treatments with easy vap/provap110 (and other such products) take about 30 seconds per hive, does not require opening of the hive. Just drill a hole. After the first year, the financial cost has a "half life" that eventually approaches zero, until the only cost of this treatment becomes the bag of oxalic acid. Having more hives makes this treatment exponentially more reasonable, price-wise. After 2 or so years, the price of OAV is basically the $10 bag of OA/ number of hives. So, around $1 per hive or so, per year (maybe less).
2. OA drip. Dead bees if performed too frequently, or in cold weather due to moisture. Dose is very specific. Can only perform once per brood cycle. Cost = $10 bag of OA and some syringes and sugar water. So basically, $1 per hive.
3. Formic Pro/MAQS: Dead bees, formic pro deadouts, etc etc etc. Can only be performed with the correct temperature. Approximately $7.50 per hive, per treatment. So approximately $15 per hive per year. The price never, ever goes down. It's always $7.50 per hive per treatment (please correct me if I'm wrong about this).
4. Apivar: No dead bees. $9-15 per hive, per treatment. Basically, $3 per strip, and a double deep needs 4 strips. Highly dense hives need 5 strips. That is, a minimum of 3 strips, and may be as many as 5 strips. Can basically be used any time of the year. So basically, $24 per hive per year for 2 treatments. Price never ever goes down, can be purchased in bulk, but it's still approximately $12/hive minimum per treatment.
5. Api life Var. No dead bees. Approximately $8 per hive per treatment, so $16 per hive per year approximately.
6. Hopguard 2. No dead bees. Specific time of year, and other restrictions I don't quite recall. Apparently it's $8 per treatment, so $16 per hive per year for 2 treatments.
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Price from lowest to highest (2X full treatments 10 hives, 2 deeps full of bees):
1. OA drip (Can only be used once per brood cycle) (less than $1 per hive).
2. OAV (with Easy Vap), approx. $9 per hive/year.
3. MAQs/Formic pro. Approx. $15/hive/year
4. Api-life Var, and Hopguard. Approx. $16/hive/year
5. Apivar. Approx. $24/hive/year.
The cheapest treatment, without a doubt, is the OA drip. At under $1 per hive, it's the most cost effective mite treatment, period. IMO - one could very well simply use 1 of the more expensive treatments, and conclude the year with the "OA Drip" to save $$$$. IMO that's a highly recommended course of action.
The advantage with OAV is clearly after the 1st year, the cost of the treatment continues to drop, year after year, treatment after treatment, until it's only the cost of the bag of oxalic acid. All the other non-OA treatments always stay the same price.
Overall, in my opinion, the most cost effective while maintaining maximum effectiveness - ( and limiting formic pro deadouts, etc etc) is to treat with either Api-life Var OR APIVAR, followed by a fall treatment of OA drip. Alternatively, the other option is to simply mix one of the more expensive treatments with with OAV over time. Or simply use exclusively OAV.
If anyone would like to make corrections, I have only personally used apivar, OAV, and OA drip.
Hope this helps.