> My point: everything about beekeeping is a function of cost/benefit. My
> colonies thrive much better when I use oxalic dribble (we treated 300
> hives
> yesterday) than when I don't.
I have been using the OA dribble around Thanksgiving for years. Will finish
tomorrow.
I believe really helps.
The two years we had quite a bit of spring losses the only thing which stood
out was those hives were not given the OA treatment.
Randy is right about the function of cost/benefit. My heart doctor is always
saying the percent of risk with a medicine versus the shown percent of help
with a problem.
Example:
A heart blood thinner has a percent of risk of causing internal bleeding and
death versus a percent shown in studies of preventing a blood clot and a
stroke.
OA in the broodless period is kind of like insurance policy against mites
right before winter. seems to be a death sentence for varroa if the mixture
contacts the mite.
If there are problems with the OA treatment this time of year I have never
observed problems now or in spring.
bob
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm