Oxalic acid wands

[Linda]

I'm seeing many price differences. What should I be looking for. Half a dozen hives.
Linda

[Jacobs]

A basic wand should be fine for 6 hives. The $400+ that go into a small hole in the hive and immediately vaporize the OA are really nice for treating large numbers of hives, but not necessary for a smaller number. With the basic wand, just remember that as you continue to use the wand, it maintains heat and may start to "boil" the liquid out of the OA as soon as you put it in the plate. You don't want to be breathing this or having it go in your eyes.

[1alley]

I have a wand I bought last year. I have gotten more hives and and need something to faster.

[Linda]

Thank you for info. Good to know why I need mask and goggles. Did the club have loaner wands?

[Jacobs]

We have wands and OA as part of our Mite Patrol program to instruct our new beekeepers on mite monitoring and OAV. We do not have a loaner program for the equipment. We may eventually move to a loaner program, but have not reached any consensus on how it might work.

[Linda]

Thank you for the info. I was only looking on forum site. Forgot all about the links. Bush and pink. Then I even see a link on varroa treatment. Got my reading to do on this rainy day

[1alley]

Hey Linda, Sorry I was a little tired when I posted last night. I have a wand I will sell for $50 if you want it. I got it on ebay last year for around $100. I used it on 10 hives last winter.

[frank]

If you plan to grow your apiary and have power nearby (I use an 150ft extension cable), it is much better and way faster to use band heater style vaporizer. I built mine a few years ago and it's still going strong with no issues. Here is the thread on beesource at https://www.beesource.com/forums/showth ... -vaporizer if you choose to build one by yourself.

I'd recommend buying a cheaper version (under $200) of ProVap that is sold by johno at https://www.beesource.com/forums/showth ... -Vaporizer or Biermann at https://www.beesource.com/forums/showth ... zer-110VAC

It takes about 30 sec to OAV a hive after initial warmup, which takes about 3-4 minutes.

[Linda]

After looking at several online sites. There are people who use the dribble method. OA mixed with sugar syrup and dribbled with syringe . efficacy? With just six hives this could work .right now I'm using formic pro. Thinking if I need a last knockout before winter the OA is an option.

[Jacobs]

In doing some reading on OA dribble, I have a few concerns--if you do not get your mixture right and have too much OA in the syrup I think you can kill bees that OAV avoids. Also, I would not want to open hives and put a liquid on bees when OA is most effective in mid-November to mid-December, our period of lowest brood in the hives. I am more comfortable with OAV. As long as the temperature outside is 37F or greater for a couple of hours after using a vaporizer, OAV will work. I don't feel any pressure to do mite counts when using OAV. Although I haven't seen definitive information on how OAV kills mites, it is a physical kill so that resistance is unlikely to develop. I don't think any resistance has been shown in decades of OA use in Europe. I thought I heard that our state inspectors will be doing some resistance testing this coming season with Apivar (amitraz) since it is a chemical kill and there may be some reports of mites developing resistance to it. I have generally stuck with physical kill miticides, formic acid, oxalic acid, and thymol based treatments.

[Linda]

1alley. Still have that OA wand? I am Interested

[1alley]

Hey Linda I do.

[Linda]

1 alley
I am in the yellow book. I texted Danielle. Or are you Dean? Not sure how to connect.

[Wally]

The forum has a private message link. You can connect that way.