I neglected my bees last year and paid for it with one hive gone by fall
from Varroa. It had the classic crash - strong in summer and dead by fall.

After my own health problems settled down and I learned I would be
around for a bit more, I started paying attention to my bees. I treated
the other three with oxalic acid drip in November (mostly broodless, the
right time to treat) and sent the other three hives, which were fairly
weak and had Varroa, into an uncertain winter. I started planning for a
complete loss of all the remaining colonies.

Wife and I went away in late March for two weeks and when we came back
one hive had literally "crashed" after torrential rains washed away the
front blocks supporting it. They had been drenched, hive bodies split
apart but they were still alive. Put the colony back together and have
come through the winter with no losses. Even the "crashed" hive had
about five frames of bees still doing fine. Better than a nuc.

So even though I had a "crash" I have 100% survival with oxalic acid
drip treatment. I am amazed. Granted, little science involved here, but
they were in bad shape and should have died so I can only attribute
success to oxalic acid.

Several experienced beekeepers in the area have suffered significant
losses. They did not use oxalic. One used Apistan and thought they were
in good shape since they had large mite drops, but that only showed
there were more mites where they came from. They lost over half their bees.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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