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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Justin Kay <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 2 Jun 2015 11:16:04 -0400
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>
> My only concern with Formic this time of year is it's temperamental nature
> with temperatures. OA Vapor is impacted little by the outside temps, except
> it needs to be warm enough to make the colony break cluster. If you apply
> Formic when the temps are too cold, it won't work. If you apply Formic when
> the temps are too high, it'll fry some of the brood, sometimes kill the
> queen, and in my experience cause the queen to stop laying for a 3-4 week
> time period. Add into that, the size of the hive that's being treated and
> the size of the treatment also play as factors.


With three variables at play (hive size, treatment dose, and temp), and no
hard and fast rule that I can find on how to adjust for the variables, it
would take me considerable time and energy to get enough experience to feel
comfortable that the treatment I'm giving will have the best mite kill.
While I'm getting that experience, I'm bound to lose hives to high mite
counts on treatments that were less than effective, and lose hives to side
effects of the treatment itself when the formic was too effective.

Unless I'm seeing it incorrectly, I'd rather take my chances with OA Vapor,
Apiguard, Apivar, or the mites themselves during the hot summer months then
Formic.

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