Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Anyone planning on using OAV to treat for mites?
Anyone already using OAV to treat for mites?

This is one I am in the process of putting together.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w45/ ... bhytac.jpg

Finally got my two home made OA vaporizers wired, assembled and tested.
The sheet metal below the aluminum block keeps the vaporizer from scorching wood on solid bottom boards.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w45/ ... qvsdbi.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w45/ ... igdmav.jpg


It takes 5 minutes for the OA to completely vaporize and I have read that the hive should remain closed for another several minutes after vaporization is completed.

load a vaporizer up with a half of a teaspoon of OA.
Smoke the front entrance to move the bees away so they don’t get cooked by the vaporizer.
Put the unit in the front entrance and close the front entrance with cloth and power it up.
After 5 minutes disconnect the power and start on the second hive with the second vaporizer.
After a total time of about 10 minutes I remove the first unit pour a little water on it to cool it down and move it to the third hive.

The screened bottom boards will be closed.
I read one beekeeper went through his hives and removed all the burr comb before using the vaporizer.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w45/ ... 6rzejh.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w45/ ... uxin1c.jpg

Hives treated 8/01/2015
24 hour mite drop -
48 hour mite drop -

VERY NICE.

You make them and I'll market them.

SERIOUSLY.......

Unless we had 60-70 of them not sure it would be worth it.
Anyway there are quite a few folks making them and I am not interested in a Job right now.

I treated my home yard and the two out yards with OAV.

The home yard had 3 treatments but the third treatment was 10 days after the second which I think accounts for the high mite counts I got during sugar rolls.
Hive # 1 mite count - 16
Hive # 3 mite count - 13
Hive # 4 mite count - 0
Hive # 5 mite count - 9
Didn't check the rest of the hives.

The two out yards were treated 4 times with the last 3 treatments being 5 days apart.
I think the hives with 5 and 6 mites are in the treatment threshold.

Strawberry Farm Hives
Treated August – 9, 19, 24, 29
Sugar Roll Sept 2, 2015
Hive S1 – Mite Count - 6
Hive S2 - Mite Count - 4
Hive S3 – Mite Count - 3

Blueberry Farm Hives
Treated Sept 8, 19, 24, 29
Sugar Roll Sept 3, 2015
Hive B1 - 3
Hive B2 - 5

A beekeeper that has been doing OAV for a few years suggested that I do one more OAV treatment now and another when broodless.

But I don’t feel comfortable enough to only use oav on the two outyards.
So I will use a half dose of MAQS on the hives at the strawberry farm and the home yard.
The blueberry farm will get one more OAV treatment now and another when broodless.

OAV takes some work and I think the timing of the treatments being 5-7 days apart is critical to getting the mite load down.
All I can say is that it has been fun getting the vaporizers together and treating the hives.
Comments and questions are welcome.

Have you looked for and are you seeing any significant brood kill during these treatments?

I have not seen any larvae or pupae outside the hive and during the sugar rolls I shook bees from the brood frames and they looked ok.
So I have not seen anything abnormal so far.