[jimbo3]

Soooo, I was about to treat with OA vape and saw this. Would you guys still treat? It's been 5 days since my last treatment and I should've done it earlier, but decided to wait until more foragers were back at the hive. Well, they're back! Maybe I should just wait until tomorrow and try again? I need to take off the supers and now it just looks like I'll have a bunch of pissed off bees if I try to get in there.

edit: I apologize for the sideways picture. I still haven't figured out saving pictures, apparently.

 

[Tim KS]

I pulled all my supers when the bees were bearding like that. They didn't seem anymore upset than usual. I thought it nice that they were on the outside of hive instead of hanging in the supers.

 

[Hogback Honey]

One reason I hate OAing when it's warm, and summer time. Have to get up REAL early before they start heading out to forage. Yes, wait till tomorrow, get up real early and OA them.

 

[jimbo3]

I pulled all my supers when the bees were bearding like that. They didn't seem anymore upset than usual. I thought it nice that they were on the outside of hive instead of hanging in the supers.

Problem is that I want them in the hive.

 

[Tim KS]

Sorry, I thought you wanted to remove the supers.

 

[jimbo3]

One reason I hate OAing when it's warm, and summer time. Have to get up REAL early before they start heading out to forage. Yes, wait till tomorrow, get up real early and OA them.

Ha! Up real early! On my day off??
Okay, no matter what, when I wake up I'll do it as early as possible.
They're actually bearding even worse when I looked at them at 10pm. Strange it's 74 degrees and they're acting like it's wicked hot. I'm not feeding, so it's not humidity from that.

 

[jimbo3]

Sorry, I thought you wanted to remove the supers.

Well, temporarily set them aside. But I want to treat those bees on the outside of the hive. It appears treating the hive while bearding or treating them while foraging is probably the same. Either method misses a bunch of bees.

I've been trying to smoke the bees in the supers as much as possible to get them down into the deeps before I remove them.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure the bearded or foraging bees not being treated make a whole lot of difference.

 

[Trin]

If you have 2 extra deeps foundation or comb, you could add those to the bottom of each hive. This should give the bees somewhere to go inside. I did this today because of bearding and will check on them tomorrow as I pulled the last of the honey supers and plan on doing OAV treatments for the next 4-5 weeks. My lids have some popcycle sticks under them for a little more ventilation during the 90 degree days. This did reduce bearding for a while. If the bees are really packed in the hive then it is simply an issue of them needing more space.

I plan on doing treatments after dark.

 

[Dan the bee guy]

I don't treat with OAV at this time of year I use Apiguard or Apivar them i use OAV on the last day of the year when it gets above 40. Last year it was October 30th.

 

[Murdock]

I use oil trays for SHB management and i have Screened bottoms so I treat late in the evening rain or shine from the back. A little mist of water will send them inside.

 

[Gray Goose]

Soooo, I was about to treat with OA vape and saw this. Would you guys still treat? It's been 5 days since my last treatment and I should've done it earlier, but decided to wait until more foragers were back at the hive. Well, they're back! Maybe I should just wait until tomorrow and try again? I need to take off the supers and now it just looks like I'll have a bunch of pissed off bees if I try to get in there.

edit: I apologize for the sideways picture. I still haven't figured out saving pictures, apparently.

View attachment 57983

you miss the ones in the brood cells as well.
Treat, and get the process started.

They may need more room, As Trin stated, maybe give cluster space, for a while under the whole hive.

GG

 

[Smokeybee]

I'm a 4th year beginner, but here's what works for me.

I live in SC so it's hot. Always...They beard like crazy all summer.

I smoke as many into the hive as possible and then just roll with it. The nurse bees inside are the ones you're really targeting, so I just don't worry about a couple hundred bees that I miss. Additionally, I'm doing 3-4 treatments 7 days apart, so I will either get the stragglers next time or I won't.

If you treat during the day, there are untold numbers of foragers you're missing anyway. Multiple treatments solves that.

 

[Trin]

Don't forget the drone brood, which mites prefer. I pulled some honey supers and found a little drone brood on one of the frames. Pulling the pupae out revealed 4 mites in one cell. 1 in another. I should have taken a picture as the 4 mites were a red/brown adult, a full sized clear mite and 2 smaller clear mites. One about a 1/16"diameter. Past time to treat for varroa for my hives. I had a week or 2 off for a hospital stay and recuperation. It kind of messed with my plan, but you have to get back to the battle.........I might do a combined warfare approach. OAV first followed by something else. I don't want to mess with winter bee rearing so I might have to go a bit conservative.

 

[SeaCucumber]

1. I think you should try to get as many as possible in the first and last of the 5 treatments. I don't care about that for the middle ones.
2. The winter broodless treatment is the most important, so make it more severe.
3. Add boxes.
4. Long before treating, vent a lot (open screened bottom board, screened inner cover). Then, unvent and treat.
5. Treat at the coldest darkest time of day.
6. Requeen to get treatment free.

 

[Fivej]

If you stick to your scheduled series you will be better off. They will not always be bearding and eventually you will get what you usually do which is not 100 0/0. J

 

[rkereid]

Oxalic is a good cleanup when the colony is broodless, like Nov or Dec. How many times do you have to treat to get all the mites as they rotate in and out of the capped cells? Too many in my opinion. Why not just use something like formic, or amitraz one time?

 

[TJC1]

Oxalic is a good cleanup when the colony is broodless, like Nov or Dec. How many times do you have to treat to get all the mites as they rotate in and out of the capped cells? Too many in my opinion. Why not just use something like formic, or amitraz one time?

+1 on this - After a couple of years just OAV, I am returning this year to an August treatment with Formic Pro (trying the '2 pads 10 days apart' method), then an OAV series in early fall, and a final OAV in november when the hives are broodless.

 

[rkereid]

+1 on this - After a couple of years just OAV, I am returning this year to an August treatment with Formic Pro (trying the '2 pads 10 days apart' method), then an OAV series in early fall, and a final OAV in november when the hives are broodless.

Agreed, formic has worked well for me as well, in either of the recommended methods, and sometimes as a reduced dose when mite counts are low. Like I said, I like to use the OAV as a cleanup around early Dec.

 

[allniter]

treat from the top -U need the the bees in side to do a good job of treatment

 

[TJC1]

Agreed, formic has worked well for me as well, in either of the recommended methods, and sometimes as a reduced dose when mite counts are low. Like I said, I like to use the OAV as a cleanup around early Dec.

Interested in knowing how you use it as a reduced dose. I also just treated tho the mite count was low because of an explosion of mite population most years around this time (tho I know this could be in part a robbing mite-bomb phenomenon).