In response to Pete, I see that others have covered my experience pretty well but I'll add a few points. The cost difference is huge but I would gladly pay it if the product lived up to the claims of the manufacture. For anyone that wants a detailed report of tests that I (unscientifically) ran in the summer of 2013 go to the archives and look up "MAQS Results" the thread ran for some time. I got 4 big pails that had an expiration date about a week after they came. Nowhere in the promotion was shelf life discussed and I didn't even notice it until after a very rude experience. Massive brood kill at a time of year that I can ill afford it. I tried again on a small sample last August with fresh pads and again massive brood kill. I believe that MAQS work for a narrow window of temp and humidity that do not prevail in eastern WA in Aug. Days are too hot and nights too cold. It is also my belief that they are only effective on colonies with pretty low infestations, something that after 3 1/2 months without treatment I can not guarantee.  

My current attempts are to try to find a scaleable method that will get the counts down to <3% in Sept. while winter brood rearing is going on without significant brood kill / egg disruption. Then clean them up with OA after shutdown in Nov.  So far 25ml on 2 pads (50 ml total) seems to have no ill effect on queens or brood but I can not yet say if it has the desired mite kill. After one round the infestation drops were fairly consistent at 50 to 60%. I'm looking at round 2 right now and will see. I am not seeing any counts that scare me, unlike 2013, so we will see how it goes. If after round 2 many are still >3% I'll try moving up to 30ml for a third round as the daytime temps for me here are dropping like a stone as usual.

Regards the question of why we are discussing "home brew or kitchen sink" methods, it is precisely because the one formic acid treatment registered in the US is not effective and in fact harmful to many beekeepers. Testimonials from many here and elsewhere bare that out. Liquid formic has been legal and encouraged in Canada for years, also Europe. Alberta is a hundred miles north of me. They have a progressive program to work with beekeepers to provide practical solutions to real problems. Would that we were so lucky. Until that day I'll take advise from where ever I can get it. Why would any manufacture go through the onerous bureaucratic maize and enormous expense to register a product that can be cheaply replicated by the user? I am not anti government anti regulation but we do need to look around the world and accept what others have found safe and effective.

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA   

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