I ran into an issue with the flow bottom board and hive body when attempting to do my winter oxalic treatment with a vaporizer. The opening is so narrow the vaporizer (at least the one I borrowed) could not be inserted into the hive. Now I have missed my window of opportunity to treat and will probably have to drench sometime in early spring
Anyone else run into this? Any suggestions? Are the vaporizers that different down under?
I have never done a drench so will probably be posting again in the next couple of month and asking for help on THAT too
Happy New Year! Sorry about your vaporizer trouble. I guess they can vary in size & shape, and I do know the Flow brood box + Flow bottom board makes for a more narrow, slightly angled opening compared to the standard Langstroth setups Iāve seen.
The good news is that there are some out there that work fine with the Flow setup - the one I bought on eBay fit ok, and I didnāt notice @Bobby_Thanepohn having a prob with the one he uses. If I can find a link to the one I bought, Iāll post it!
My Varrox fits by inserting it from the back, as @Dee suggests. I just cut a thin piece of plywood to the same dimensions as the core flute slider, and put it in the lower slot. Then put the Varrox on top of the plywood, but below the mesh. I did that, because I didnāt want the vaporizer to melt the plastic slider and release toxic fumes. The plywood might get a bit scorched, but no more than a solid hive floor would. Of course you still need to block the hive entrance, and I would also block off the gap at the back while vaporizing - it helps to minimize the fumes drifting towards any humans too!
Dee n Dawns notes should be helpful n spot on if your vaporizer will not fit the Flow entrance. I was lucky to have no issues with the unit I bought from Brushy Mtn earlier this year. B.T.W. Approximately where do you live ? It helps giving info to help knowing where you n your bees live.
Thanks Gerald for the link. I will probably purchase a vaporizer of my own sometime this year. I live in middle Tennessee ,USA, about halfway up the plateau (somewhere around 1200 feet in elevation) which makes slightly milder summers and colder winters than the rest of middle TN.
I use Heilyser JB700 since I have so many hives. It takes 15-20 seconds per hive and keeps the extreme heat outside of the hive. The nozzle is nothing more than 2" pvc so I can make adaptors to fit whatever hive entrance I come across.
Checked out the Heilyser JB700āwow niiiiice! AND wow----pricy! I can see the advantages if you have lots of hives and are a large honey producer. I canāt imagine having more than three or four hives. Actually, I donāt think my back can imagine it
OK, in that spirit. OA is not āreallyā approved and/or effective for use during a nectar flow in any of the above forms. Trickle is best when the winter cluster starts. Depends on your climate and hemisphere, but for most in the North that is somewhere between late October and early December. Works best when the hive is broodless. Same for OA vapor, except you can use it in Spring, with the caveat that if there is capped brood, you need to do 3 treatments 5 days apart to get all of the mites inside the capped cells. Randy Oliver shop towels are experimental, so there are no official recommendations.
As far as mite counts go, alcohol wash is the most accurate and the most lethal. You will kill at least 300 bees by doing it. However, you may save 30,000 or more, and the queen is laying 2,000 per day in peak season, so perhaps the sacrifice is worth it. Aggressive treaters start treating when the mite count is 5%. Moderate start at 7 to 8%. Willing to risk problems leave it to 10%. Laissez-faire donāt care and wouldnāt count. I count and treat at 7-8%, but if I see crawlers or DWV around my hives, I treat sooner.
That was probably clear as mud, but please ask more if you think I could help.
Dawn, that was actually clearer than you might think!
I was first introduced to the concept of OA Vaporization by watching a video by āDon the fat bee manā on Youtube. (Watching Beekeeping videos on youtube was how I bided my time until I actually got Bees!). My thought was that it seemed like a viable way to treat mites, but it was not without its own problems.
Considering that I am definitely in need of beetle traps, Iām figuring that mites are also one of those things that hitchhiked in with the bees. I was going with the thought that I would just treat with OA vapor, regardless of count, since its a(n assumed) given that mites are present.
