# New to site from Saratoga Springs NY



## tfelog (Mar 26, 2016)

Just found this site. I'm a relatively new bee keeper. Going on my third year. I started with three hives now I'm done to one. With it being such a mild winter, I was confused. So I started talking to more seasoned beekers and they asked what my mite treatment regiment was? I told them I didn't have one. They all agreed that that was probably my problem. 
So I learned about oxalic acid vapor treatment from YouTube. So I ordered a vaporizer and did my first treatment. Plan on doing three more a week apart. 
I hope to learn a lot here and increase my bee yard.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Welcome! Good luck with the Bees in the future.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Welcome to BeeSource from a fellow Capital District beekeeper!

Are you a member of the Southern Adirondacks Beekeepers' Assoc. (SABA)? We meet every other month in Ballston Spa, which isn't too far from Saratoga. (Third Monday, of the odd numbered months - Jan/Mar/May/July/Sept/Nov at 7 pm at the Cooperative Extension building.) There is also a great seminar coming up on April 9 in Malta, with nationally-known speakers. See our website: www.adirondackbees.org to find out if there are still tickets available. You are welcome to come to the regular SABA meeting as a guest, it's a great way to meet other beekeepers in your area. 

Going forward, I think with good mite control, and diligent, all-season mite monitoring your bees will thrive. I, too, use OAV and have gotten excellent results from it. It is not as effective at this time of year, when there is brood in the hive, as when it is used in late fall/early winter when there isn't any brood. But a series will still make a significant improvement - just be sure to keep checking the levels regularly over the next few months to make sure you don't get an early summer spike. Another useful (and somewhat similar type of miticide) treatment, is Mite- Away Quick Strips (MAQS). The active ingredient there is formic acid. it has one important advantage over OAV: it kills mites under the cappings, so it's better when there is brood. It has critical temperature ranges (both high and low) for bee safety so you have to chose your treatment period carefully. It is particularly useful as a follow-on treatment in the case of bees first treated with OAV in the spring which may then need a clean-up early in the summer because too many under-capping mites escaped the first OAV treatment, resulting in a rebound. Don't get me wrong, OAV now is not a bad choice, nor is it ineffective or a waste of time. I used it last spring for a friend's hive that had a lot of mites and had never been treated before. And it certainly did the trick. But there are times of year when it is even more effective, and with fewer doses needed. Your mite counts will keep you on top of the situation.

Hope to see you at a SABA meeting - I am the club librarian, so please come over and say hi to me at the library table.

Enjambres


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## tfelog (Mar 26, 2016)

I am a member of SABA and I already have my tickets for the April seminar. The last meeting is where I met Aaron. We had coffee the next morning and talked for well over an hour. Learned a lot in that short period. Hope to meet more of the members in the future.


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Welcome to BeeSource and good luck this year!


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome!


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