# OAV treatments in a long hive tips?



## WillH (Jun 25, 2010)

4 mites in 300 bees. That is .0133%. I will not treat.


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

4 mites in 300 bees is 1.33%


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## WillH (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks. I forgot to multiply by 100. I will not treat until 3%.


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## Apismellifera (Oct 12, 2014)

Vapor or dribble? With the dribble you just drizzle it down in between the seams of bees. I'd bypass the honey frames, they probably don't have many bees on 'em, right? Don't need to touch them, just shift the other bars a bit, another reason I like a top gap entrance - I can use that in a situation like this and not have to move frames in the back of the hive. If you have a window, just see where the bees are and treat those seams. I like to do the dribble early in the am or late when it's cooler and most bees are in the hive. 5cc per seam of bees. Randy Oliver has the recipe on his site, if you need it I'll dig out the link, it's kind of buried.

That having been said... As others have noted, should you treat at that level? I key off of what I see on my tray, but not my advice. ;-) How comfortable are you that this is a good representative sample? One time shot of half a cup of bees sounds a bit light in the data dept to me.

Maybe do a 2-3 more samples from different combs? At least then you can be more sure of what the level is and decide what you are comfortable with. From what I've read 1.33 might be right on the edge? Anyone want to chime in on this? 'Twould be nice to know at what level folks treat and with what, it's probably been discussed ad nauseum but I haven't seen any of those threads in my time here, could have missed it.


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## NSBee (Dec 20, 2014)

I would like to avoid treating but i would like to avoid loosing the hive over winter even more . I only have the 1 hive at the moment and realy want it to survive . plus this is my 1st year bee keeping . i did a sugar roll in late july and had 0 mites , 6 weeks later 4 . i will check again this weekend . 
the bees are Carneolean bees started from a nuc this may , with a hawian bread queen . 
I want to get them through the winter and split in the spring  
I did find a source for OA , i poped into the local pharmacy and they ordered me 500g . the stuff is hard to find up here in Canada , i tried my local hardware stores and none of them carry it as wood bleach . the stuff from the pharmacy should be pure with no additives which is nice though .

how late can I wait to determine if i treat or not ?


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## Apismellifera (Oct 12, 2014)

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-questions-answers-and-more-questions-part-1-of-2-parts/
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-heat-vaporization-and-other-methods-part-2-of-2-parts/
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/the-learning-curve-part-3-the-natural-miticides/
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-treatment-table/

Your concentration will be different with the "pure" - Oliver covers it. You can accurately measure grams?

Timing is when brood has stopped/slowed. What's the brood situation?

And balance the Oliver info with MB's "Four Simple Steps to Healthier Bees" talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3qniBf7_U0


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## MarkSaratoga (Mar 21, 2013)

Is it pointless doing oav by sticking the vaporizer on top of the boards and putting the roof back on. Don't think ideal but wouldn't a lot of the vapor circulate?


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## Apismellifera (Oct 12, 2014)

Can't see how that would work, the bars make a solid top on the hive. The roof is there only to shed rain. Dribble easiest for topbar.


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## erikebrown (Oct 27, 2014)

Apismellifera said:


> Vapor or dribble? With the dribble you just drizzle it down in between the seams of bees. I'd bypass the honey frames, they probably don't have many bees on 'em, right? Don't need to touch them, just shift the other bars a bit, another reason I like a top gap entrance - I can use that in a situation like this and not have to move frames in the back of the hive. If you have a window, just see where the bees are and treat those seams. I like to do the dribble early in the am or late when it's cooler and most bees are in the hive. 5cc per seam of bees. Randy Oliver has the recipe on his site, if you need it I'll dig out the link, it's kind of buried.


Can you explain what you mean by a top gap entrance? Do you leave a space before the first bar, or put a space in that you can remove, or something else? My bars get pretty tight and I've been wondering how I would do an OA dribble if I ever wanted to. Thanks.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Michael Bush has some photos of a 'top gap' TBH entrance on this page ...
http://bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm

Mine are built similarly. The first bar of mine is set back from the front edge by about 1/2", with protroding a screw on each side to make sure the entrance doesn't accidentally get blocked by a misplaced bar.


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## NSBee (Dec 20, 2014)

so i did end up treating , it was less hastle than i thought it would be . 
I made a tube with one end closed out of copper tubing , drilled a hole in the side of the hive below where the brood area is popped in the tube and heated it up with a blow torch . getting the torch lit was the hard part . 
before doing the treatment i corked the entrance . i left the hive after treatment for about 3 hours then went back and un corked the entrance and made sure the new treatment hole was corked up good . 

The next week i was in the hive putting on dry sugar for the winter and saw a bunch of little read dots on the floor of the hive . Lots of them so i assumed the treatment worked  at the very least it knocked back a chunk of the varoa before heading into winter .


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