Hi all!
Sorry for the long post!
So, I’m not a beekeeper myself, but my uncle asked me if I could build him a device to treat bees without pesticides. He has a couple hives and has had bees die a few times already.
From what I understand, he’s worried most about something called varroa. He doesn’t want to use commercial pesticides since he’s afraid of them developing resistance. And he doesn’t want to use formic acid because he’s afraid (maybe paranoid) about how dangerous concentrated formic acid is. And he says oxalic acid doesn’t work well for him.
I’m an engineer, so I don’t want to just build something without understanding the problem.
Is this something you all experience as well?
What do you do to deal with varroa (and other pests)?
Are there other concerns he or I may be missing?
Thanks!
PS, the reason he asked me in particular is that I work with temperature control systems, and he read about using heat to treat varroa. I found some stuff online that claims to do that, but no research that verifies that it actually works.
Sorry for the long post!
So, I’m not a beekeeper myself, but my uncle asked me if I could build him a device to treat bees without pesticides. He has a couple hives and has had bees die a few times already.
From what I understand, he’s worried most about something called varroa. He doesn’t want to use commercial pesticides since he’s afraid of them developing resistance. And he doesn’t want to use formic acid because he’s afraid (maybe paranoid) about how dangerous concentrated formic acid is. And he says oxalic acid doesn’t work well for him.
I’m an engineer, so I don’t want to just build something without understanding the problem.
Is this something you all experience as well?
What do you do to deal with varroa (and other pests)?
Are there other concerns he or I may be missing?
Thanks!
PS, the reason he asked me in particular is that I work with temperature control systems, and he read about using heat to treat varroa. I found some stuff online that claims to do that, but no research that verifies that it actually works.