making oxalic strips

[tristan]

small update:
got some time in the hives yesterday and a chance to look at the OAE strips after 4 weeks. a lot of them heavily 'eaten', tho quite variable from hive to hive. didn't see any chomped in half and dropped down. quite a few had about half the strip left. so at this stage i still think its only good for 4 weeks, anything more than that is a bonus.

 

[Alastair]

My experience was they got chewed a lot more in spring than they did in autumn.

I took chewing as a sign they were probably working because there was obviously a lot of bee contact.

But what I saw was the same as you Tristan, far as chewing goes there can be great variability from one hive to another and the reason was often not very obvious.

 

[tristan]

My experience was they got chewed a lot more in spring than they did in autumn.

I took chewing as a sign they were probably working because there was obviously a lot of bee contact.

But what I saw was the same as you Tristan, far as chewing goes there can be great variability from one hive to another and the reason was often not very obvious.

my suspicion at the mo is its brood rearing related. but also acid content. how fast the acid reduces in the strips may influence how fast they remove them. which is why they don't remove them from day 1. also i found in my earlier testing they don't touch any strip outside of the brood.
the problem with chewing is it may indicate not much acid left, but also a reduction in surface area (hung strips require about double surface area compared to flat pads).
why randy oliver seams to have different results (with nz staples) i don't know. his had similar to less removal at 8 weeks. does double FD broods make a difference?

 

[NatureAlley]

A question to Tristan, Alasdair and others who have experience with OA strips... Have you ever observed a clear relationship between strips being chewed or not and efficacy?
Last season, much to my surprise, none of my hives displayed extensive chewing, but mites dropped as usual.

 

[Alastair]

For me, they have given good mite kills whether chewed or not, unless the reason for no chewing is badly placed and not enough bee activity and contact around them.

 

[tristan]

A question to Tristan, Alasdair and others who have experience with OA strips... Have you ever observed a clear relationship between strips being chewed or not and efficacy?
Last season, much to my surprise, none of my hives displayed extensive chewing, but mites dropped as usual.

i think randy oliver had it in his early testing that chewing is not required. its walking and cleaning it that removes the acid off the surface.
what concerns me with the chewing is the opposite. that with half chewed out strips there is not enough surface area left to get enough acid on the bees to kill the mites.

also i have not tested for efficacy, simply because we can't run mites high enough to get clear results without the hives crashing. (we did mite counts many many years ago when testing thymol)
my mite testing has been very limited, enough to show it kills mites. i'll take randy's and others word for it, or more accurately the results the publish.

of interest the Swedish sponge wasn't to bad, very little removed. the bamboo cloth almost all of it was removed.