Juandefuca wrote:
>THE RESULTS OF THIS VINEGAR METHOD WAS absolutely negative and produced
>losses and red faces. So , stay away from it before you invest 500 bucks .
>Sorry about that !
>JDF

We all run experiments. Unfortunately our failures often go unreported.
We really do not like being painted the fool for believing the "snake
oil salesman". Years ago I tried menthol cough drops and did not find
one case of flu in the hive all winter. Found plenty of tracheal.

It was nice to see courage in telling us about the failure of spraying
vinegar. Generally we only see the "successes". And the failures go
unreported because the experimenter feels they obviously did something
wrong, since everyone else is succeeding, when the truth is that they
also failed.

It would be nice to hear of the successes and failure of experiments
over the past year.

I have a success, but I only mirror what has been commonplace with other
beekeepers in New Hampshire. I over wintered my hive with a screened
bottom board and did not close it but left it open to the Maine winter.
It came through fine. I lost two of my three hives the previous winter.
Did nothing different this year but had the open bottom. I am wondering
if there is Varroa drop with Apistan and resistant Varroa. Also wonder
if the cold would cause varroa drop. If so, I could have had some
control even with resistant varroa.

The failure was with two queen hives. They produced honey like mad, but
proved a major problem when it came to preparing them for winter. Too
many bees which required over wintering in three deeps. It has been
found that crowding in the winter provides the perfect conditions for
tracheal and viruses. I believe that is what caused my losses in the
previous winter with my two queen hives. I was lax in applying crisco
patties. Set up the perfect conditions for failure. One died and the
second came through the winter, but weak. I managed to kill it off with
Oxalic Acid, improperly applied. Embarrassing.

Any other experiments that were successful or failures? I am especially
interested in Oxalic Acid treatments. when I am back to three hives I
intend to test one with Oxalic Acid for varroa control.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME