Bill,
My modest data set generally showed faster return to higher levels of mites after the 3 x 7-day regimens than after the 4 x 5-day series. Note this does not mean high, threshold-nudging mite numbers, just higher raw numbers that were still indicating acceptable control in both instances. I do weekly sticky board counts year-round, on every colony.
My OAV practice, like yours, involves very early morning treatment, when everybody is at home. (Except, of course, in winter when I have to wait for temps to get up to 40F.) Bees only rarely seem to have any reaction to the treatment. I am puzzled by the reports of angry, reactive bees. Not my experience, at all.
I always use a puff of smoke to loosen the cluster inside a bit - I like to hear a little growl in response to the smoke.
I use the standard dose (1/4 tsp wood bleach/box) but I generally am doing stacks of four boxes high (three deeps + 1 medium, all nominally 10-frame) so a full tsp. in each burn I use a Varrox wand that can handle that quantity.
Since I can vary the number of frames within each box - though using the same number of frames per box within a particular stack- I count any frame number-width above seven as being a "full box", but when running four, five, or six frame-widths, I recalibrate the dose, based on the total number frames. So, in the case of, say, five-frame arrangements, I would use a 2-box dose, not a 4-box dose, even if the strack was actually four boxes high. This is how I overwinter young colonies, nucs, or any undersized group - I fit the space to the colony, using the same number of boxes as I find bees winter better being able to move up, rather than sideways, given the same number of frames.
In very cold weather (below 45F) I lengthen the primary burn period of 2m 30 sec to 2 min 45 sec to account for a colder wand.
I use a rimless aluminum cookie sheet under the wand, over the screened bottom board floor. (My SBB are backed up by a solid BB below and all is sealed, so this is not an open air type of bottom. I just need the SBB floor for doing stickies all the time.)
I close the entrance of my 10-frame equipment with 5 Bounty paper towels and stand by with painters' tape to close off any cracks that appear.
My old-woman's brain can only process the simultaneous prepping and treating of two colonies at the same time.
I measure my doses accurately and I time meticulously and I wear my personal protective gear without fail. (Gosh, what a prig I am!) I only wish I didn't feel that I need to switch up to other chemicals from time to time to delay resistance. I'd be happy to use OAV exclusively, since I have had such success with it.
Nancy
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