On 9/26/2011 4:49 PM, Bill T wrote: > Is that 65% Formic? Sorry, I was asked this by several off list as well. Yes we're using 65% formic. Some were also wondering about the Dri Locs. They are a "brand" of the pads used under packaged meat or vegetables to soak up liquids (sometimes called "blood pads"). They have holes on one side which is lightly marked "This side down". Using those spring loaded salad tongs found on buffet tables, we place the filled pad on the hive with the*holes up*. They are thin and depending on the space between the top bars and lid some outfits don't use any kind of additional rim. In fall our wintering covers have an additional 3/8" space over what evers on the brood box. In spring we quite often have a honey super on our singles for bee space by the time we treat, so we place it on the brood box under the excluder. The pads are usually dry in 16 to 24 hours. Colonies will chew them up and dispose of them by themselves. If we're a doing a 2nd treatment within 5 to 10 days we will sometimes remove the remnants of the previous pad. Often in fall there's no sign of it within a couple days. Back at the beginning we could only get 85% Formic and had to cut it down. One day when I was thinking about something else and not the job at hand, I prepared a 1000 pads at 75%. We had them all out by early afternoon and it was as I lay in bed that night thinking about the day when I realized my mistake. NO SLEEP THAT NIGHT! Next morning I shot out to the closest yards. As expected the pads were mostly dry, but the bees didn't look the worse for wear. The wintering losses & queenless hives from those colonies the following spring were no different than those which received the proper dosage. Somehow I had dodged the bullet. I have always felt that because they were strong fall single units and the temps remained below 15C that day & above 9C that night saved me. I can't prove that, but since I assume that someone somewhere with more knowledge than I on the subject came up with the 65% figure, I had traveled on very, very thin ice. Dave Tharle Ardmore, Alberta Canada *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm