> I am working in Moldova on a bee project and some of the
> beekeepers there tell me they are able to reduce the number of
> vaporizations to 1 or 2 after fairly intensive treatments in year 1.  I
> began vaporizing last summer and must say I had outstanding overwintering
> survival this past winter.
>

I use the "wand" and had the same experience after year one. I use the wand
for mite counts during the year so there is no need to open the hive and
get bees for an alcohol wash. My experience last year was near zero mites
all year long until October which I attribute to crashing hives around me
from no-treatment beekeepers. I treat in October until I get less than 100
mites after a treatment (which would be about 1 mite in an alcohol wash)
and follow that with a single treatment after Thanksgiving when they are
near broodless.

My guess about the problem with invading bees is it is not so much the
mites (about 3-400 max drop which would be 4 or less in a wash) but the
virus they bring in with them. I check the bees that are thrown out of the
hive with a carpet in front of the hives and there were many sick bees
(BPV, K wing, stunted bodies) all of a sudden appearing in October after I
treated with MAQS in September. I had recently bought a wand so used it and
that colony survived the winter fine and is still going strong. It was OAV
from that time on and have never had a repetition of sick bees in front of
a hive.

Result this year is no losses, 5 for 5. Only one hive is a bit on the
"weak" side and I will look at it more closely when it warms up. It was a
part of a three way split. The other two from the split are fine (Minnesota
hygienic), the weak one is a mutt. The remaining two are loaded with bees.
So they did not just survive the winter, they are thriving.

I am creating a small empire of beekeepers in my area- mentoring them and
all are now using OAV for treatment. A first year beekeeper and a beekeeper
she was helping had no losses but one beekeeper had three losses but none
to mites. A beekeeper who just joined this spring (we spotted the hives)
lost all their bees to Varroa (may have been the cause of the October
mites) and agreed to use OAV this year. As we all identify beekeepers in
the area around us we invite them to join us.

A friend  of mine does the same thing further up the coast and has 25
beekeepers whose bees all made it through a year ago with OAV. Have not
heard from him this year.

Very happy camper with OAV.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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