> The only downside.... is that the needed OAV equipment is pretty expensive ...
We wanted to keep varroa out of at least Manhattan as best we could, so a 1-gallon pesticide sprayer was purchased for a few dollars, and Oxalic solution (per Marion Ellis of U Nebraska, who did the long, hard slogging, unappreciated work to get EPA/FDA/USDA to see that Oxalic Acid was far better for beekeeping than corporate-produced organophosphate products) was sprayed on every packages screens, on both sides at the pickup location. Tarps were spread in the cargo bay of DeVolvo, and later, in the back of a borrowed Econoline van when the novice count grew, and the sprayed bees were transported from pickup in PA (first at Brushy Mountain Bee Farm's PA warehouse, later at Mann Lake's PA warehouse) to distribution, at whatever community garden was hosting the collective's "package day".
This worked great, and initial mite counts showed that infestation of the shook package bees varied all over the map. Some novices, well-educated from my class, emailed photos of mites on drop cards and asked about partial refunds for "infested bees". They had a good point, as not all packages had large mite counts.
We were not the only source of packages, so our efforts were mostly in vain. But we do what we must because we can.
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