# MAQS and Queen kill



## spreerider (Jun 23, 2013)

I treated 4 of my hives that had heavy mite loads and were starting to get deformed wings with MAQS, the weather was between 17C and 28C and i propped the outter lid up with a rock to increase air flow and removed all entrance reducers. 
I lost 3 of the 4 queens, 2 have queen cells capped and one is so hot i cant get into the second deep to see but they definatly have no queen and no open brood in the top deep. 
i followed the MAQS treatment exactly as the package said so why did i lose my queens?
I am on vancouver island and am wondering if the queens growing now will have a chance to breed before the winter or should i look at buying some queens and requeen asap?


----------



## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

If you had a heavy mite load perhaps your Queens weren't well at the time of treatment.


----------



## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

WBVC has it right - you waited until your hives were in crisis to treat. MAQS was never intended to be a miracle cure.

How long will it be that you have a decent drone population for mating? If you are in doubt about achieving quality mating (and it is late in the season - too late where I am) order mated queens ASAP.


----------



## spreerider (Jun 23, 2013)

i should have drones for 2 to 3 more weeks but their population is getting lower now.


----------



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

MAQS has the unfortunate reputation of killing queens at times.........Next time you need to treat, perhaps try Oxalic Acid Vaporization? Lots of information here on BS. Does not harm bees, brood or the queen! And you can treat anytime the temps are 40f or higher.


----------



## RAK (May 2, 2010)

Maqs are great for spring mite and swarm prevention.


----------



## spreerider (Jun 23, 2013)

I managed to check the hives today, first hive was definatly queenless, second had a queen and brood in all stages, third had a queen and lots of about to hatch brood but not much else, and the last one had a virgin queen that i somehow managed to find but no eggs or brood yet. we have about 2 weeks of descent weather before it gets cold with some rain days, i think the one definatly queenless i will combine with one of my nucs but i am going to give it a few days just incase a queen was flying that day.


----------



## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

RAK said:


> Maqs are great for spring mite and swarm prevention.


I am considering using the MAQS next year. How does MAQS helps to control swarming? Thank you!


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

>Maqs are great for spring mite and swarm prevention.

I want to hear more about this also.


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

When I do FA treatment I expect a certain amount of queen loss, it happens. 3 out of 4 is rather high but each hive is a risk, you only treatred 4 hives, and just got unlucky.

Agree with the other posters also, FA is not suitable for hives with very high mite levels, those bees are weakened and the FA can deliver the _coup de grass_ to the hive. When I'm doing my fall FA treatments I will find a few hives suffering from mites badly, and they get treated with Apivar instead or the odds of loosing their queens or the entire hive are too high.

Interesting comment about swarm control. I never use FA in spring, however it would seem reasonable that the FA causing the queen to shut down for a couple weeks, plus the general disruption to the hive, could delay swarming.


----------



## wdale (Jun 27, 2014)

I have found that Formic acid treatments at this time of the year is too cool to use effectively. I do not use premade "MAQS" I end up using 65% Formic acid in bottles and then cut down to be about 55-60% and only use MAX of 20ml per deep brood box of 10 frames using mite pads placed at the top of each brood box and placed need the outside frames Formic acid is very hard on the SOFT body Queens (under 1 to 1.5 years old) 
On my monthly checks mite loads should NOT exceed upper thresh hold of 0.8 mites PER 100 bees in a 24hr natural (5-6) drop using a screen broad. 
I do have a mite calculator to figure this out if one wants the link this link is to a site in the UK


----------



## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

RAK said:


> Maqs are great for spring mite and swarm prevention.


I think he means it kills the queen so you don't have to worry about swarming.


----------

