I have 100% survival as of now. Still cold so we have a bit to go before
real spring, but I have no doubt the bees will make it fine.

I ascribe the success to my OA Vapor treatments after the "mite bombs" hit
in late September early October. I saw a dramatic increase in mites after
the invasion of away bees, plus a lot of dead, diseased bees in front of
the hives.

In the past, with late summer treatments and low Varroa counts after them,
I thought all was well going into the winter. But I still had limited
success (kill a hive occasionally, but still had better success than all of
those around me) which was unusual for me. Usually I had great success,
just as this year is proving out.

I now think my problem was non-treatment beekeepers in the area and their
bees collapsing. I would pick up the mite and diseased bees from them and,
depending on the health of my hives, they would either make it through the
winter or die during the winter, often late and toward spring. So I would
see that they had Varroa issues in an autopsy but I could not figure out
how they could have picked them up and had so many since I treated and
knocked the mites down.I would also see diseased bees and wondered how that
could have happened so quickly.

I ascribe my failures to the late season mite bombs which I think are
actually bees from away invading my colonies. With the OAV treatments, I
killed off the new mites and that led to healthy bees for the whole winter
and success in the spring.

My bet is that many who have success with one treatment in the fall are in
the category I was once in which is near zero beekeepers in the area, or at
least competent ones. No "mite bombs" no issue. Plus, even if there are bad
guys in the area, if your bees are healthy, they have a chance of making it
through, albeit in a weekend state.

So I am now programmed for an Autumn (October) treatment which is easy to
do with OAV but not with most other methods.

I am very happy with OAV as it has allowed me to get back to successful
overwintering in Maine, along with the recognition of my problem, which is
treatment free beekeepers, and now able to do something about it.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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