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Showing results for tags 'varoa'.
Found 6 results
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Greetings everyone, I'm looking to buy a Lega Oxalic Acid (OA) vaporiser/heat gun to do my varoa treatment for this winter. I'm not anti-strip/chemical treatment but simple exploring the alternatives. I wonder if any one has some experience with Lega vaporiser. The cost for Lega vaporiser is around $800 from Ecrotek plus you need to buy a portable generator. I also heard that the Lega gun doesn't work with the generator less than 15kw? I probably will need to spend another $1500 for a generator. I wonder if anyone has some experiences of Lega vaporiser and is able to share some tips? The alternative is using an insect fogger mixing OA with alcohol. I found this Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3pLEfwICIw The cost for the fogger is around $180 if you buy from ubuy.co.nz. The shipping accounts almost half of the price. I'm not sure whether this has been proven effective. If it works, it's a lot cheaper than a Lega gun plus a generator combination. Cheers
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Greetings everyone, I'm looking to buy a Lega Oxalic Acid (OA) vaporiser/heat gun to do my varoa treatment for this winter. I'm not anti-strip/chemical treatment but simple exploring the alternatives. I wonder if any one has some experience with Lega vaporiser. The cost for Lega vaporiser is around $800 from Ecrotek plus you need to buy a portable generator. I also heard that the Lega gun doesn't work with the generator less than 15kw? I probably will need to spend another $1500 for a generator. I wonder if anyone has some experiences of Lega vaporiser and is able to share some tips? The alternative is using an insect fogger mixing OA with alcohol. I found this Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3pLEfwICIw The cost for the fogger is around $180 if you buy from ubuy.co.nz. The shipping accounts almost half of the price. I'm not sure whether this has been proven effective. If it works, it's a lot cheaper than a Lega gun plus a generator combination. Cheers
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I'm an urban beek newbie (for those that don't know), and today was an overdue inspection of both hives. Apricot is going great guns! 2 ¾ boxes of brood, above that 3rd brood is full of honey with 1 full ¾ and 1 half full FD above the QE. Queen is still laying well & sugar shake found 1 varoa in a full cup of bees (I know that's too much, I've now marked the jar to ensure ½ cup next time) But its neighbour, Quince, is trying but failing. I've attached some pictures. This queen is new this year after superseding the queen that came with the nuc. She's laying well, and swathes of brood/eggs in good patterns. Varoa count was 8 in a cup (1-3%), with no signs of DWV etc. But there was a base full of dead bees and we've notice heaps in front of the hive too. And despite its neighbour clearly doing well this hive has no stores, none. Just a single frame of honey it inherited when I got the nuc, nothing new. 4 weeks ago it was behind but storing honey, I even supered up. But now nothing. No signs of AFB either. So I think varoa treatments will start, OA vaporiser, assuming 3% count today. And feeding, I'm thinking 1:1 syrup too. I've ripped open the remaining frame of FD honey with the capping scratcher and put the box above a feeder frame to encourage a bit of robbing. The bees don't seem to know its there. Anything else? Thanks for the mentorship.
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Hello everyone, I've maxed out my beekiness today. I've done a sugar shake test 13mites/300ish bees gives me 4% level in my new, and only, hive. I've done my first oxalic acid vaporisation ¼ teaspoon (1g) for my only brood box, as per kiwimana, and went well. Best I've ever done infact... I'm going to re-treat every 5-7 days for the next 3 treatments and retest my mite count after that (fingers crossed). It's amazing that despite this method being "mainstream" for the many years now, and well ahead of Europe's dribble method, that there is still a bit of variation in advice. I suspect it's a classic example of shining the cat & everyone does it slightly differently with the end result. Bee Culture recently recommended 2.25g/treatment/FD bloodless box, that's almost double most of the others. But it was single treatment of bloodless hive. Kiwimana recommends ¼ teaspoon per hive, others 1g (same as ¼ teaspoon) per FD brood box (assuming most "typical hives" have 1 or 2 FD boxes for brood. Scientific beekeeping hasn't really done anything on it yet, as it wasn't approved for the US when he wrote his things. I get why this technique isn't necessarily commercially viable, it's a bit time consuming, but it must be a good thing for everyone if hobbyists minimise resistance by choosing these sorts of techniques and only use strips for rescue. So it would be nice if some concrete advice on how to could be found. Also, in NZ, what do people consider acceptable levels of mite? 1%, 2% or some other figure? Thanks
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Hi team, Did my first inspection today, in light of all the online activity suggesting it was time to crack the lid. I found 3-4 frame ball of bees around empty frames. Some half emerged brood etc, but no capped brood. It was chilly & a cool breeze so as soon as I saw my queen I stopped. So no eggs seen but thats ok? I did see lots of DWV so have started weekly Oxalic, and I'll re-inspect in 2 weeks. I'm not doing a mite count (there was not that many bees) and with signs of mite syndrome I thought I'd treat anyway. On the good side, queen seen. And lots of capped honey (6 full frames) so I've taken off the feeder. And with lots of lay space I've not put on a top box. My first question; 1. Suggestions? 2. Any other Canterbury people finding hive in winter mode still (it has finally arrived)? Or am I actually seeing a weak varoa newbee overwintered hive?
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Hi everyone, Pondering the warm winter canterbury is having (and presumably elsewhere) and my bees are out several times/week. But it's not warm enough to confidently open the hive. With roaming bees and warmer climes, should I be considering winter varoa treatments with my vaporiser to help beat back the spring surge of varoa? It's a good treatment for winter in that I don't need to open the hive, and its not temperature sensitive. And some of the "science" behind oxalic acid uses it to target a bloodless treatment anyway. Further info - I don't currently strips, a philosophical choice & financial choice. Last mite count was 3% on sugar shake test (down from 8% pre-autumn treatment). I'd be interested to hear what others think/experience. I listened to kiwimana podcast recently discussing this very thing, and would be interested to hear what others think.
