>1) Package Bee Treatment Project

>Summary: This Spring many beekeepers will be replenishing dead hives with packages. As all bees have some level of varroa >mites, controlling mites in newly installed hives before brood is capped is key to ensure colony growth in the spring and >summer. NY Bee Wellness, partnering with Beta-tec, maker of HopGuard II, will be conducting a program where beekeepers will >treat their newly hived packages with either HopGuard II or oxalic acid, retreating in the Fall, and checked monthly for efficacy >of treatments. This monitored trial is a first for the Northeast region. Similar trials have been done in the Southwest.

I realize that more information will likely follow once a participant demonstrates interest, but I think it would be helpful if more information concerning the OA part were provided upfront, especially in this forum. Those of us that use OA are aware that the formulation and application are more complicated than dropping a few fixed-formula HopGuard strips over frames in a newly installed package.  It would be a shame if well-meaning participants were led astray with formulations or applications that were not reasonably comparable and an erroneous outcome led Beta-tec to unwittingly make mistaken claims. I think this comparison should be treated carefully especially since some related science is already done and the variables in this project seem, to some extent, uncontrollable.  


>Treatment was conducted in one apiary consisting 30 colonies kept in Langstroth hives kind. Oxalic acid dripped directly on bees >5ml of this solution of oxalic acid per lane occupied by a syringe. Three doses were tested: 4.2, 3.2 and 2.1% oxalic acid is 100, >75 and 50 g of oxalic acid dehydrate in one litter of sugar syrup (1water to1 surge) concentration.

Adjlane, N., Tarek, E. O., & Haddad, N. (2016). Evaluation of oxalic acid treatments against the mite Varroa destructor and secondary effects on honey bees Apis mellifera. Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases, 10(4), 501.


>Bee packages weighing 1.4 kg and containing approximately 9,000 bees were prepared at Pendell Apiaries (Stonyford, CA, USA) on May 2, 2011. Twenty packages were treated with [HopGuard] HG for 48 h before installation into the hives. Five packages received no treatment (controls). 

DeGrandi-Hoffman, G., Ahumada, F., Probasco, G., & Schantz, L. (2012). The effects of beta acids from hops (Humulus lupulus) on mortality of Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae). Experimental and Applied Acarology, 58(4), 407-421.

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