# If you treat for mites using OA.....



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

If you treat or have thought about treating for mites using Oxalic Acid, now or very soon is a great time to start a series (once every 7 days for 3 weeks) of Oxalic Acid Vaporization treatments. The reason for the 3 treatments is to kill the existing phoretic (on the bees) mites and kill those mites that will emerge with hatching bees.

This time of the year, the mites are outbreeding the bees and the mite population is exploding. You can start those treatments once you pull your supers or if you’ve yet to pull them, remove them, treat and replace. If you wish, instead of removing them, place a barrier (such as coroplast) between the supers and the brood chamber, treat then remove the barrier OR even another option is to place newspaper between the brood nest and supers, treat and let the bees remove the newspaper!

OAV is not affected by high temperatures. Any temperature above 37 works. 

Remember, OA does not harm the brood, bees, queen or contaminate the wax! 

If you don’t want to open and close your hives for other treatments that cost a ton of money; if you don’t mind doing a series of treatments at less than 10cents per treatment that do not require you to open your hives; if you enjoy killing TONS of mites, OAV could be your answer to mites!


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## Joe Mac (Jun 1, 2016)

I zapped one colony today for the 3rd time. It was a colony I cut out in early May and by the end of May they had PMS, and quite a few newly hatched bees with DWV and lots of dead brood in all stages. I did an alcohol wash before the first treatment and the mite count was ~15%. I inspected them last week and the brood was looking much better and I haven't seen any more bees with DWV. I'll check them again after they start building back up. The Varrox vaporizer is really well made and easy to use.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I slip a bee-escape board in below my super the night before. Bees (well, most of them) go down overnight.

In the morning all I have to do is insert the "coroplast board" (aka an old political sign) above the bee escape board and treat. I like using the bees escape board because it means I can treat without disturbing the bees just before treatment, and so more bees are in the hive at the time of treatment, so more mites on them get zapped.

At this time of year I treat in the very early am in order to do so when most of the bees haven't left for work yet, so having the bee-escape in doesn't hamper them much at all. An hour or so later, I pull the bee-escape board and let every body get back to work.

Enj.


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## Garinder0 (May 2, 2016)

This is my first year, and I'm planning on using OA. I haven't decided between trickle or vapor yet though. If I go vapor, do my screen bottom boards have to be closed off?


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Garinder0 said:


> This is my first year, and I'm planning on using OA. I haven't decided between trickle or vapor yet though. If I go vapor, do my screen bottom boards have to be closed off?


Yes they do. You need to keep the vapors in the hive to kill the mites. Now closing the BB could be as simple as inserting a piece of coroplast (political sign material) to cover the screen. Now you don't want to set the vaporizer on the coroplast, so you might consider vaporizing from the top. Just make a 2" shim/rim the size of your brood box. Cut a slot in it for the vaporizer rod. You should also use a 4"x4" piece of 1/4" plywood to set the vaporizer on as you'll place the vaporizer right on top of the frames and you don't want to scorch the frames. 
So place the 1/4" plywood on the frames, set the vap on the plywood, set the shim, cover with your top cover and vaporize!


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## SouthTexasJohn (Mar 16, 2015)

snl said:


> Yes they do. You need to keep the vapors in the hive to kill the mites.
> So place the 1/4" plywood on the frames, set the vap on the plywood, set the shim, cover with your top cover and vaporize!


Or you could trim a piece of roof flashing to size and just slide it in on top of the screen and go.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

SouthTexasJohn said:


> Or you could trim a piece of roof flashing to size and just slide it in on top of the screen and go.


Yup! :thumbsup:


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

Garinder0 said:


> This is my first year, and I'm planning on using OA. I haven't decided between trickle or vapor yet though. If I go vapor, do my screen bottom boards have to be closed off?


The trickle method is not a good choice for this time of year. It is harder on the bees than vaporizing and repeated treatments are not recommended. Since you will need to do 3 treatments, it is a poor choice. A single treatment during a broodless period (winter for example) is the recommendation.


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## SS Auck (May 8, 2015)

snl 
I just re-queened a hive so it still has uncapped brood. Will this effect the newly requeened hive?


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## Cadence (Mar 31, 2014)

I have been anxious about my next mite treatment. I used the OAV coming out of winter and thought I'd use Apivar or Apiguard in late July or August. The problem is, I doubt my honey supers will be fully capped and ready to be removed prior to treating with the 2 above mentioned treatements. I can't see storing the uncapped honey supers for the length of time it takes to use those treatments correctly. I will be doing a mite count soon. If treatment is necessary, would it be out of line to treat 3x with OAV now, then apply the other treatments late in the fall after all consumable honey is removed if necessary? I had wanted to use alternating treatments, but don't want to remove and store partially full honey supers for a long time. Thank you for your advice.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

SS Auck said:


> snl
> I just re-queened a hive so it still has uncapped brood. Will this effect the newly requeened hive?


As long as she's laying, you're fine...


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Cadence said:


> I will be doing a mite count soon. If treatment is necessary, would it be out of line to treat 3x with OAV now, then apply the other treatments late in the fall after all consumable honey is removed if necessary? I had wanted to use alternating treatments, but don't want to remove and store partially full honey supers for a long time. Thank you for your advice.


No, not at all. You may want to check the timetable on the other treatments as to when you'll need to apply them........ OAV is a great fall/early winter treatment tho. You'll kill GT 95% of the phoretic mites...


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## Aroc (May 18, 2016)

I just did a sugar roll today. 3/300 so I guess that's not so bad. My one and only hive is growing pretty well. I figure I'd wait until closer to fall but maybe I should do it sooner.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Aroc said:


> I just did a sugar roll today. 3/300 so I guess that's not so bad. My one and only hive is growing pretty well. I figure I'd wait until closer to fall but maybe I should do it sooner.


Is that an adjusted number for the probable actual mite infestation rate? An alcohol wash will indicate a higher mite percentage. Keep doing your sugar rolls to see what the trend is. Dont get caught in the fall with last minute choices; mite population can peak as bee populations decline in late summer.


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## Charlestonbee (Mar 26, 2015)

I've never used oav for the round of 3 with supers on. My question is when you separate supers from rest of hive what ab all the bees in supers that don't get the vapor treatment?


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## Aroc (May 18, 2016)

crofter said:


> Is that an adjusted number for the probable actual mite infestation rate? An alcohol wash will indicate a higher mite percentage. Keep doing your sugar rolls to see what the trend is. Dont get caught in the fall with last minute choices; mite population can peak as bee populations decline in late summer.


I do plan on OAV treatment in a couple weeks. Thanks for the info.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Charlestonbee said:


> I've never used oav for the round of 3 with supers on. My question is when you separate supers from rest of hive what ab all the bees in supers that don't get the vapor treatment?


The mites looking to jump in a cell will be mainly in the brood area. A certain amount of fine OA crystals are deposited on hive surfaces which the bees spread around with their activities. I dont think the mites on the bees in honey supers will come away unscathed. 100% kill is not necessary to keep mite levels below economic threshold.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

This is worth posting again ......as now is the time............







If you treat for mites using OA.....If you treat or have thought about treating for mites using Oxalic Acid, now or very soon is a great time to start a series (once every 7 days for 3 weeks) of Oxalic Acid Vaporization treatments. The reason for the 3 treatments is to kill the existing phoretic (on the bees) mites and kill those mites that will emerge with hatching bees.

This time of the year, the mites are outbreeding the bees and the mite population is exploding. You can start those treatments once you pull your supers or if you’ve yet to pull them, remove them, treat and replace. If you wish, instead of removing them, place a barrier (such as coroplast) between the supers and the brood chamber, treat then remove the barrier OR even another option is to place newspaper between the brood nest and supers, treat and let the bees remove the newspaper!

OAV is not affected by high temperatures. Any temperature above 37 works. 

Remember, OA does not harm the brood, bees, queen or contaminate the wax! 

If you don’t want to open and close your hives for other treatments that cost a ton of money; if you don’t mind doing a series of treatments at less than 10 cents per treatment that do not require you to open your hives; if you enjoy killing TONS of mites, OAV could be your answer to mites!​


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## JTGaraas (Jun 7, 2014)

To SNL: Just a quick thank you for your periodic posts on oxalic acid. You are informative without being preachy, and every comment has proved helpful. Vaporization from the top is incredibly easy, and I always wear protection (respirator/eye covering).


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

I agree with everything than SNL says. However, I have had a better mite kill with 4 treatments instead of 3.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

We started with OAV last week. two more treatments left. Getting ready for that last going into fall build up. A nice comparably mite free round of brood or two.


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## Blueflint (Apr 19, 2016)

Started to see mites on the board below my SBB a few weeks ago and suddenly the number has risen fast! Did my first OAV treatment tonight on two hives, very easy and pretty fast. I reinstalled oiled pans under the SBB and will check them Sunday to see how things worked out. I will definitely follow with additional OAV treatments in the 7 day cycle.

Tony


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