# Maqs



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Does anyone have actual experience using this product in their commercial operations?

Thanks 

Ian


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

I treated about 550 last year.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

In Oct. I treated about 250 colonies.... tough on the hide!


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Is it too soon to tell the results of your treatments? Did you kill mites? How about queen mortality?
Are you going to use it again?
What did you do with the used pads?


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Really tough on the queens and brood. Something like 40% queen loss.
After 60 days I was getting mites in the double digits in an alcohol wash.
The used pads are not removed by the bees, must be removed by the keeper.
Harry VanDerpool recommended having queens on hand for immediate replacement. This is good advice, if you wait & see it will be too late.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

So this is basically a flash treatment 
what were your treatment temps?


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

I had some mortality, but not nearly as much as I thought there would be. Mortality was in hives that had too few bees. I have not done any testing.... only general observation that they seem to be doing well.

My plan is to use it only as a fall treatment.

I am scraping the old pads off as I work my way around. They do not disintegrate.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Ian temps when I treated were right in the middle of desired range, daytime highs in the low to mid eighties. 
Killed most of the brood.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Herb - What is the pad made out of? I would assume it would of been taken out of the hive by the bees, 
Do you treat in double hives? 
And your thinking of fall time treatment is because there are more bees in the fall or because of the lower temp


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Wow Tom, what your saying is exactly what they said they had solved from their original Formic treatments,


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

I do not know what the pad is made of (possibly a silica gel), just that it is something that the bees do not carry out... at least in last 3 months.

We treat in Doubles and in singles... but the singles better be pretty strong.

We treat in the late fall because brood laying is coming to an end with these bees and because it is still pretty warm down here... 70-80. It definitely puts an end to the brood laying.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

I treated a portion of my outfit with MAQS in 2011 in groups of 40 - 80.
Those hives are the best looking hives at this time.
Temps were in the low to mid 60s.
MAQS is a 3 day formic flash treatment.
I have been using formic for flash treatments on and off for about 20 years.
Flash treatments kill a certain amout of queens every single time and MAQS is no different.
My first MAQS application was in 80 hives. 5 days later, 28 hives had emergency cells present. NOT SS cells, emergency cells.
This indicates that the queen was lost in the last few days.
Also, ALL open brood was killed in the smaller hives. Emerging bees were killed in the first day of application as evidenced by rings of bees half way out of the cells, dead.
Much of the sealed brood survived.
Strong, or SUPER STRONG hives fared better, although much open brood in the area of the pads were killed as well.
Dr Ramesh Sagili, Carolyn Breese research assistant both from Oregon State University and I conducted disections and found that varroa was killed in all sealed cells, EXCEPT old thick waxy drone cells.
A lot of this sounds a bit scary, but if you have good strong hives that you don't mind setting back a couple of weeks, you will end up with some really good looking hives, low on varroa.
As Tom Laury mentioned, DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT WITHOUT A FRESHLY STOCKED QUEEN BANK!
Make sure to queen check every single hive at day 7 AT THE LATEST!
The instructions state that there is no need to remove the strips because the bees will do that. Unfortunatly, this implies that you needn't return to the hive any time soon. Disasterous advice! Return prior to day 7 and while you are there remove the strips so the bees don't have to screw with it.
The treatment is over on day 4. The pad has a faint odor of formic at this point but not enough volume to kill a flea. So while you are doing your own trials, don't hesitate to open the hive after day 3.
There have been panicked attempts to lower queen losses by suggesting that you stagger the boxes to give more ventilation; VERY POOR IDEA!
This is a flash treatment, and having wind blowing through the hive just lowers the efficacy. You are eather going to do the treatment or you are not; no inbetween.
There is some interest in trying one pad. One pad kills phoretic mites and maybe (I havent looked) some sealed brood right around the pad for 3 days. If you use one pad just remember that you are now NOT presenting enough vapor for a flash treatment and rather conducting a 3 day formic treatment. It will kill a lot of mites on the bees, but for 3 days only.
All of this is based on double deeps with one honey super present.
We exchanged our experience's with those of other larger outfits here in Oregon and found them to be identical.
Lowest queen loss was 20% highest was around 40%.
I will use MAQS in the future when it makes sense. I will just expect the same queen loss that our old liquid formic flash treatments typically delivered.
The main thing to know is to follow the instructions with the addition of queen check prior to day 7.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Thanks Harry

>>MAQS is a 3 day formic flash treatment.<<

I was under the impression this was not a flash treatment. Ill have to re check my sources to see if I read this or just got the impression of this

>>Strong, or SUPER STRONG hives fared better, although much open brood in the area of the pads were killed as well<<

Again I was under the impression that they made claims of no brood damage

>>As Tom Laury mentioned, DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT WITHOUT A FRESHLY STOCKED QUEEN BANK!
Make sure to queen check every single hive at day 7 AT THE LATEST!<<

Again I was under the impression the treatment was not hard on queens

>>We exchanged our experience's with those of other larger outfits here in Oregon and found them to be identical.<<

Thanks for the imput Harry, Tom and Herb

Maybe Im not keeping up with the latest bee news but I know for a fact they had originally discribed this product as "easy on bees, kills mites in capped cells, no brood losses, low queen losses, treatment during flows, no need to remove old pads" I also think I thought I read they specifically mentioned that this was not a flash treatment. Maybe it was the representative speeker from NOD at a convention a couple of years back. She was mainly speeking on primary testing of this product. I also remember her mentioning this product worked by killing the volinrable male mites in the hive. 
Everything I said here is from memory and Im going to take a looksee for some factual claims

If your experiences and other experiences are as such, then I dont really want to use it in my hives.

There is going to be a booth at our local national convention this week, any questions I should have them field?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

From NOD Apiary Products web page

>>Males live only within the capped brood cell. They do not develop a hard outer shell so they are more susceptible to the formic acid vapours. With the MAQS formulation enough formic acid is able to penetrate the brood cell cappings to cause varroa death, yet leaves the pupating larva unharmed<<

>>In the field trials NOD’s formulation achieved almost 100% kill of the varroa males in both drone and worker cells and over 95% kill of the phoretic mites. As well, we achieved excellent efficacy killing female varroa under the cap; 65 to 80% in drone brood, over 95% in worker brood.<<


>>Upper Temperature Limit Tolerance Trial for
Mite Away Quick Strips™ (MAQS).
Researcher: David VanderDussen1. Observer/recorder: Kathleen Ireland2 
www.miteaway.com/MAQSTM/Research/MAQS_Hot_Weather_Data.pdf

25 colonies in Langstroth style hives of various configurations, ranging from single brood
chambers, no supers, up to two brood chambers and multiple supers, were used in the trial.
Colonies varied in strength from below the recommended 6-frame minimum (4 frame was the
smallest at time of application, it expanded to 5 frames by the time of the post application
examination) to greater than 20 frames. Queens were from 2009 or, if they had been
superseded, 2010.

The MAQS strips are considered spent after the first 3 days of treatment

Conclusion
There were no concerns regarding the colonies ability to handle MAQS at the temperatures
tested. 33 C is an advisable upper temperature limit for MAQS at the time of application and
during the treatment period.<<


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I was wrong about thinking MAQS was not a flash treatment

How is this product different from formic soaked cardboard?


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

It is more expensive.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

HarryVanderpool said:


> Flash treatments kill a certain amout of queens every single time and MAQS is no different.
> ...
> Also, ALL open brood was killed in the smaller hives
> ....
> ...


I was considering trying MAQS simply to AVOID issues like these . . . If we are talking a 20-40% queen loss and dead brood, I'm going to have to re-evaluate the use of this system.

Lets be honest here, MAQS are not cheap. Roughly $5 a treatment, not counting shipping or labor. Now, if you get an (on average) 30% queen loss, and a queen costs $20, this means on average you will have to spend $6 on a new queen (even if you have one lying around, it wasn't free to get it, or to hold on to it). That takes your price up to $11 per treatment. That doesn't take into effect the brood loss. That is getting a little higher than I am interested in spending on a per treatment basis.

Assuming there is a 30% queen loss within the first three days (the only treatment days), would it be possible to remove the queen from the hive for that period of time? Perhaps bank her, returning her to the hive once the treatment is over?


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## benstung (Mar 20, 2011)

I also think MAQS is not a flash treatment, if it were i would not spend the money to buy it when you can make your own FLASH pads using meat pads and bulk formic diluted a bit. MAQS is hard on mostly old queens or bad queens which you dont want anyway. 80 degrees is way to hot to use these pads. to safely use MAQS it should be cooler than 75. I think ideal temps would be mid to high 60's. we treated over over 2000 colonies with MAQS and the overall out come is good. i wish it was cheaper


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Ian said:


> How is this product different from formic soaked cardboard?


1) Its legal.
2) It's legal to use with honey supers on.
3) Pre-soaked in handy plastic slips, in a sturdy bucket ready to use.
4) Pads are biodregradable, throw them on a pile and let them compost; legally!
5) Soaking pads while all suited up in resperator, gloves, apron, boots, face shield and all of the equipment and time can discourage beekeepers from using formic which I consider the silver bullet of treatments.

Now I am about to make a statement. PLEASE DO NOT DO WHAT IS IN THE STATEMENT. IF YOU DO, IT IS BASED ON YOUR OWN DECISIONS NOT MY RECOMENDATION.

Statement: Nobody that I know wears a resperator when using MAQS. We all wear acid gloves, period.
Notice to safety police: Yes, I know what the label says!
Read Randy Olivers opinion on this.
Also, (the above disclaimer still applies) at 7 days, I spent all day removing pads with my bare hands. The pads are spent.
I, (not you; remember?) can pick up the spent pads and stick them right up to my nose and take a big sniff. Nothing much there.

Now, what the above information means to me is a much safer, easy and ready to use product at a time of the year that beekeepers don't have lots of spare time.
As far as queen loss; I need to ramp up my requeening schedule anyway. Good time of the year to do it.
Someone mentioned using MAQS in the fall. My hunch is that timing is regional.
We treat hives in my area at the time that winter bees are starting to be produced. Seems to me that a formic treatment at that time would be the kiss of death.
My target date here is right after tree fruits in the spring when they are getting ideas of swarming.
And boy, if you ever wanted a treatment that knocks the swarm right out of them, MAQS is it.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

benstung said:


> I also think MAQS is not a flash treatment....


Then you know more than the manufacturer.
Go to their website and watch the video from the engineer that concieved of MAQS.


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## benstung (Mar 20, 2011)

If you put the pads on and its not hot (75 or so) they will still smell very strong 7+ days out. If you read NOD apiaries web sit they state everywhere that it is a 7+ day treatment, i wouldnt call that flash treatment. 
the cooler it is the longer it lasts.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

HarryVanderpool said:


> And boy, if you ever wanted a treatment that knocks the swarm right out of them, MAQS is it.


By destroying brood and bees?

Not sure if that's what I had in mind by planning swarm prevention techniques.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

The directions I got at the time said that it was safe to use as long as daytime highs were below 92f. Temps were about 10o lower than that. Perhaps that is why it was so hard on the bees. But the mite kill was not as complete as I hoped either.


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## Sweet to the Soul (Sep 1, 2010)

HarryVanderpool said:


> As far as queen loss; I need to ramp up my requeening schedule anyway. Good time of the year to do it.
> Someone mentioned using MAQS in the fall. My hunch is that timing is regional.
> We treat hives in my area at the time that winter bees are starting to be produced. Seems to me that a formic treatment at that time would be the kiss of death.
> My target date here is right after tree fruits in the spring when they are getting ideas of swarming.
> And boy, if you ever wanted a treatment that knocks the swarm right out of them, MAQS is it.


Don't know if my input will be useful or safe  After bringing in 80% of my hives last winter due to poor mite treatment I needed a new plan. This year I used MAQS for my main treatment.

We have had nice some warm days in the 60s around the first of the year. Went through over 400 of my hives and only brought in 6 dead. Big improvement over last year, when I had over 300 dead by Jan 1. Ended up with loads of honey for my splits/packages because they did not eat much.

Now here is where I'm a little different on my treatment. I waited to treat right around the time the honey flow was just starting to pick up good. I looked at it this way. If I lose a queen at that time, or young brood is lost I will end up with more nurse bees who are not needed and they can go look for honey :thumbsup: Kind of like the beekeepers who pull a queen to get max honey flow. Any eggs at this time of year will not contribute much to my honey flow, by the time they become field bees anyway. 

I doubt I will use MAQS in the fall either, queen loss then dooms hive. Queen loss with my earlier summer treatment (June) just means I get my hive requeened (assuming they raise one). I also have nucs in each yard standing by for those who don't. My boys also started raising queens last year and will have those if needed.

So to sum up where I'm at now. Instead of buying over 400 packages this spring, like last spring. I've upped my queen order already and plan on selling nucs (Lord willing). I will be using MAQS again!

I'm sure I'll adjust how I use MAQS and deal with mites continually and appreciate any input.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>And boy, if you ever wanted a treatment that knocks the swarm right out of them, MAQS is it. 

Ihear what your saying Harry but knocking the swarm out of them isnot really what I had in mind


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>> If you read NOD apiaries web sit they state everywhere that it is a 7+ day treatment, i wouldnt call that flash treatment

No thats not what I read. Im finding them talk about 3 day treatment period. Definitely a flash treatment
If it were a 7 day plus treatment then I think I would trust their claims a bit more. 
I have used formic in the past and I am one of the many who quit using it becasue of its finicky nature. You can dress an elephant as many ways as you please, its still an elephant! They started alot of hype a couple of years ago claiming bee safe, honey safe and mite removal plus stating they had solved the problems from their previous treatments, brood loss and queen. From what I am hearing here is this treatment still causes brood and queen loss


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

I ordered some Mitegone pads recently and am going to try them in the spring. They are slow release and might lower queen/brood loss and still be effective with mites because they release formic over a longer period.


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## benstung (Mar 20, 2011)

here is the link to NOD's brochure. READ IT. clearly states 7 day treatment. If you looked at their web page about a year ago it stated 20 day treatment

http://www.miteaway.com/MAQS_Brochure_2.pdf

Jeez Ian, cant you read Canadian?


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## Nick Noyes (Apr 28, 2005)

Anyone planning on using this treatment should do thier own testing on a SMALL number of hives before treating thier whole outfit. 
We used it on 600 hives last spring (highs 70's) The big (12+frames bees) hives came through it o.k. but still had high mite levels 45 days later. The small(less than 12 frames of bees) hives suffered very high queen losses and took a tremendous amount of work to get back in shape for the honey flow.
I don't see how it can be used on commercial level succesfully. However we are going try it again on 20 hives at lower temps and see what happens. 
Not my idea of a Silver Bullet.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>here is the link to NOD's brochure. READ IT. clearly states 7 day treatment. If you looked at their web page about a year ago it stated 20 day treatment
http://www.miteaway.com/MAQS_Brochure_2.pdf
Jeez Ian, cant you read Canadian?<<



benstung,...if that is your real name,... 
no need to get snippy

look deeper into their trials. They expect the formic to be evaporated by the 3rd day, all this is found on their web page.
As I understand it, their "7 day treatment period" is the amount of time they suggest you leave the colony untouched after treatment, also found within their web page.

So all things considered, I still call this a flash treatment


>>The MAQS strips are considered spent after the first 3 days of treatment<< www.miteaway.com/MAQSTM/Research/MAQS_Hot_Weather_Data.pdf

>>The obs e r ved brood
damaged was minimal.
About 2/3 of the colonies
removed a few uncapped
larvae from the cells
d u r i n g t h e 3 d a y
treatment. Bees under
c a p p e d c e l l s w e r e
apparently unharmed by
the application.<<
http://www.miteaway.com/MAQSTM/Research/V1-wright-varroa.pdf

>>Do not disturb the hive for 7 days after treatment.<<
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/wrightm/Honey_Bee_Home_files/treatment_recommendations_(online).pdf

I can read and understand Canadian, British, Aulstralian, Irish, Scotish, NewZeland, American ..... very well. Im just wondering about you?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I was thinking about this treatment last night. Now understanding is as more of a flash treatment and accepting the fact that this treatment "MAY" damage brood and kill off old queens. If its efficacy is as efficient as they suggest in their trials, then perhaps I should look at this treatment from a different angle. Perhaps I should look at all the suggested disadvantages as being positives,

3day flash treatment
kill off of old queens

I have always said to myself if I could just go into a hive and have it tell me "I'm a bum queen" my work would go much quicker while I decide which hive to requeen or not. This 3 day flash treatment could be dropped into the hive at anytime only having to plan around a 7 day treatment period. On the 7th day, open the hives, and requeen anything that has cells. 
The hive would basically tell you which queen is expiring.

Include the advantages of efficient mite kill, no wax and honey residues, cost comparable to most other chemical treatments and ease of use and treatment at anytime during the year.

Hmmmmmmm
Let me think about this one a different way,

Any thoughts?


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

I have the same attitude for future use that you do.
Some years are heavier mite years than others. A quick in and out, queen check and there you are.

Nick Noyes said that he observed a heiver mite load than expected after the treatment. A couple of other friends have said the same.
I'm really curious about this.
One benifit that I had hoped for was better uniformity than the liquid flash treatments; but is that so?
Also, why did Randy oliver loose zero queens and most every one else did?
Much more to learn about MAQS.


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## swarm_trapper (Jun 19, 2003)

I just went and treated 600 hives with the strip and lost maybe 1-2% of my queens. Not bad considering i can lose that many at this time the the year any way. BUT i only did a one strip treatment on singles and story and a halfs; and on all i did do a 1/4 inch set back. 

It seemed to clean up the mites nicely but it is only been three weeks yet. The temps were in the mid 70's. I used this treatment after using a differant treatment in November. The Mite rolls (alcohol wash) were at about 4% after the first treatment in the 1st of Dec, after the MAQS they are ranging from 0%-1%, most at 0%. It did shut the queens down for a day or two but they are laying great now. I know my experience is much different than most i'm not sure why. 
Nick


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

HarryVanderpool said:


> Also, why did Randy oliver loose zero queens and most every one else did?
> Much more to learn about MAQS.


the first trial(I'm not 100% sure on the second) he applied the pads at lower temp. range so he did the trial at the coolest temps available, that was my first reaction.

went and looked at his temp graph. it looks like he put the maqs on in the afternoon, low temps for the first three days were in the upper 40's with highs copied for article
below.

The daily high temperatures for the first few days of heavy outgassing from the strips were in the mid to high 70’s. The hives were dark colored and in full sun.

Heavy nectar shake. Some hives starting to plug, so ended trial. Weather hot—about 90F.

Sealed brood looked very good in MAQS-treated hives, but also looked great in the controls


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

the biggest problem I see with trying to figure out how to use them without the queen killling(I didn't use and gave the product to a friend that was short), is everyone that I know that tried them had heard about the problems, so some went with one pad, some with two pads, screened bottom boards wide open, extra supers on and supers pushed back, and put the pads above the second brood chamber instead of between, so they wouldn't kill there queens. I'm not sure of the mite controls that were acheived yet?


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

I followed the procedure pretty closely, except I gave some singles with less than 6 frames of bees a full dose. Those with less than 6 frames got whacked.... All others looked good after a coupla weeks....


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

I too followed the procedure very closely. Applied in September in the mid 80's. This is the first year I've not lost a single hive over the winter (altho I have lost one queen.) I have found I need to go in and remove the residue from the MAQS as the bees do not............

I will use it again alternating usage with Ox treatments.

Larry


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

Swarmy,
I assume those treated hives where in Florida.
Why did you decide to alternate treatment and use MAQS?
Why not just give them another round of your other treatment?
Did you roll bees before you treated with MAQS and what was your % then?


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## swarm_trapper (Jun 19, 2003)

yea the hives were treated in Fl. Why would i not alternate treatments? I do not have 100% confidence in any mite treatment on the market. 
I want to go in to spring with a 0-1% infestation. That is what i have now, before the MAQS i think i had a 3-4% infestation. Also the thing i notice with non-synthetic miteicides (formic, thymol) is they are beneficial for more that just mites.


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

I ask the questions trying to better understand. You are very close to me and seem to have 600 hives right where they need to be in regards to mite control.
I want to have this type of success.
What benifit do the non- synthetic treatments have other than mite control?


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

Formic has a tendancy to be a disinfectant in the hive when used and it also controls trachea mites. This would be an advantage over synthetic mite treatments


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

For me, I am not sure i would use MAQS just yet. The cost is kind of high for them.
I like the flash treatment with the meat pads, and it was cheap enough. That said, the costs kicked in with 3-5 treatments done 4-7 days apart. Alot of trips in and out of the hives. The first treatment with the meat pads, the bees cleaned out maybe 25% of their pads. It was a bit cooler that week. However, the next two treatments at least 75-80% cleaned those little meat pads out on their own. The rest were propolized in. Queen damage, hard to tell. The treatments were done in the fall. However i will say this, all hives were young...spring 2011 queens. Treatments was 35-40ml per pad placed on the top of the double deep.
The 2010 flash treatments saw some queen loss. I will admit, I did not use the meat pads but rather the blue shop towels and they had double the dose as the 2011 fall flash treatments and they were shoved in on the bottom board with 65-70 ml dose. As luck would have it, day 5 or 6 post treatment, I had one of the provincial apiarists out testing hives for a residue study i signed up for. We specifically went into the hives which were flashed. He taught me that the since the cells were already or close to being capped at day 5 or 6 on the hives which lost the queens, the flash only sped up the inevitable. Older queens or weak can not handle these flash treatments. This might be a good thing.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>Also the thing i notice with non-synthetic miteicides (formic, thymol) is they are beneficial for more that just mites. 
>>What benifit do the non- synthetic treatments have other than mite control? 


Formic will help with t mites, thats a proven fact but dont start generalizing too much further


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

wildbranch2007 said:


> I didn't use and gave the product to a friend that was short


You have something against tall people?


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

beemandan said:


> You have something against tall people?


funny, I never usually read what I write, but in this case if you knew the person I gave it to, you would laugh at the statement also. thnaks for the winter laugh


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## benstung (Mar 20, 2011)

these pads make you work a little harder, if you can handle that than use them and your bees will be good. visit your hives often


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Talked to a sales rep from NOD at our convention. Also sat in on a presentation on the use of MAQS with some hives over the last 2 years.

They run it along side of the MiteAwayII application.

They are talking 90-95% efficacy
they are also talking OPENLY about brood losses, queen losses, lots of bee losses. They were talking 1500- 2500 dead bees collected on the 1st few days of the treatment
to me there was not alot different inthe trial between the MiteAwayII and the MAQS EXCEPT they did prove the MAQS killed almost all the mites found under the cappings

So, I guess if you used MiteAwayII before and liked it, this product is an up grade. Easier to use, no extra equipment, kills mites under the cappings. Might see higher bee brood and queen mortality but I think that went along with the MiteAwayII anyway

Cheers!


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## Jonathan Hofer (Aug 10, 2005)

Hi Ian,

I was at the presentation as well. What you say sounds about right in what the researchers presented in their study. 

I am still concerned about using MAQS in the fall due to the higher queen losses. The amount of bees lost is also a concern for me; however if the bees are older bees (which I don't know), then they would be lost anyways before winter. If the bees on the other hand are young bees that are supposed to be over-wintering, then maybe this is not entirely a good thing.


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## ga.beeman (Mar 29, 2009)

I have used the the MAQS and had pretty good luck with them in august. it is really hard to get the temp down low enough for me to use it. But I am pleased with results i saw. according to weather conditions it can be all over the charts. but overall i like what i see. If you are having queen issues add Honeybee-Healthy to the pads ahead of time and this should help on queens issue. it is not fool proof but it does help.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Do you notice that the bees do NOT remove the MAQS as advertised or is it just me?

Larry


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Larry I had to remove 99% of the ones I put in, and they get propilized down and break apart.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Tom G. Laury said:


> Larry I had to remove 99% of the ones I put in, and they get propilized down and break apart.


Ditto! Ditto!


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## ga.beeman (Mar 29, 2009)

I did have to remove them


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

I just found this by mistake on the government site, I only copied the first and last paragraph as I'm having trouble with copying it. they don't reference the product as maqs but since the study was done in 2011 I assume it is or a new product. Interesting that they are looking at it as a treatment for nosema. I'm also trying to find the study they reference.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?ACCN_NO=419853&showpars=true&fy=2011





1a.Objectives (from AD-416) 
The objectives of this cooperative research project is: a) to determine the efficacy of an innovative formulation of formic acid preparation for controlling Varroa destructor under field conditions, b) to determine its impact, if any, on colony strength, and c) to measure residues in honey. 


3.Progress Report 
This report documents research conducted under a Trust Agreement between ARS and the NOD APIARY PRODUCTS LTD. Additional details for the research can be found in the report for the parent project 6204-21000-010-00D, PESTS, PARASITES, DISEASES AND STRESS OF MANAGED HONEY BEES USED IN HONEY PRODUCTION AND POLLINATION
The goal of this project was to test the performance of the NOD product, containing formic acid, in a hot weather environment. Formic acid is volatile and its vapor pressure is dependant on temperature. High levels of formic acid are adverse to honey bee health. A study was conducted in August 2010 in south Texas. All open brood was killed, but queen bees were not. Unfortunately, mite efficacy was low and the product was not considered efficacious. We do not anticipate further work on this product for the control of V. destructor, but we will focus on control of Nosema. A fortuitous observation during this time found that colonies with Nosema ceranae infections had significant lower levels when treated with formic acid.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

I found parent project 6204-21000-010-00D, PESTS, PARASITES, DISEASES AND STRESS OF MANAGED HONEY BEES USED IN HONEY PRODUCTION AND POLLINATION

but all it gave me was a headache, no reference to the formic test, but I did find this although not relevant to the thread it is interesting.

In cooperation with Mann Lake Ltd., we tested Comite II for control of Varroa destructor. We found that Comite II significantly reduced V. destructor populations in field trial. In cooperation with Elanco, we tested Spinosad for control of Varroa destructor and Aethina tumida, the small hive beetle. We found little or no efficacy in controlling V. destructor with Spinosad, but A. tumida were controlled.



http://www.reeis.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/407511.html

Never heard of commit-II but will have to go look at the mann lake site


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## JD's Bees (Nov 25, 2011)

Does the formic treatment work in the same way as acetic acid fumigation of dead outs to control nosema?


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