P-O Gustafsson said: > From my experience it takes no more than 30 sec to apply a > sugar-water-oxalic mixture to a 2 boxes hive in autumn. I > found no difference in efficiency between the methods. and Phil Moore said: > Drizzling takes about 1 - 2 minutes / hive Perhaps I am just lazy and work too slowly, but I wish your time studies applied to my apiary work. My estimate is: 1) Smoke the entrance (15 seconds) 2) Wait for the smoke to take effect (1 - 2 minutes) 3) Remove outer cover, inner cover, stores chamber, perhaps a feeder (1 min) 4) Treat topmost brood chamber (30 secs) 5) Treat second brood chamber (30 secs) 6) Treat 3rd brood chamber [I use 100% mediums] (30 secs) 7) Treat bottom brood chamber (30 secs) 8) Wonder about the bees on the inner cover (10 secs) 9) Shrug about (8) "Get 'em next time." (2 secs) ...which adds add up to over 5 mins per hive. It looks to me like a vaporizer would pay for itself quickly in any but the smallest operation assuming that one can simply insert the vaporizer into the hive entrance and that it heats up quickly (which I hope is true - are the "dish" assemblies less than 3/8ths inch high? Less than 3/4 inch high?) Sadly, all this is a moot point at the moment, as I am in the USA, where the Environmental "Protection" Agency is glacially slow to approve anything except things like higher limits on raw sewage in drinking water. http://news.tbo.com/news/MGASK849EHD.html jim (Who feels that even a bad day in an apiary is better than many other things) :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::