Allen
History :
Apistan , coumaphose ,menthol , grease patties essential oils , FA ,
TerramYcin from 1995 to early fall 2000'
Modified  Sbb since 1999.
TM  encountered once and checked by lab. Total wipe out .TBH kenya type
>  . Infestation 100 % . was a swarm inmherited . Behavior : Bees look fine
but cannot fly , congrugate  and perish. ( Well observed  , location on
flat white roof. )
No lab tests after  ever . Year  of tm 1995.
During applied  miticides  heavy drop onto  sticky boards or  catchboard
below screen. Estimated  drop after / during treament  with Coumaphose
8000.
Since  2000 used  FGMO  , cords and  fog . Fogger did not work right  .
emulsion  and cords  was not quite  applied properly . So. whatever
influence it had  : Unknown. Therefore  used  coumaphose  once  more to be
sure .
Began fog and  emusion late fall/ winter 2000 into 2001 . Amount of
colonies  from 16 to max of 27 . Losses due to starving , too small and
weather  causing no gathering when required . Starved . ( March 2002 )
Location Wash. state  Olympic Peninsula .
No phoretic  mites detected  at any time . Minimal  mites found in drone
cells.
Removable  checkboards  afford daily check  of "drop off's" . This is not
stricktly adhered to . Sometimes  2 weeks pass without .
Until 4 weeks ago  all drop offs are  under 10 .alcohol checks  = 0%.  One
colony  50 daily incl males and immature females .. In the beginning of
drop some mites were alive  . Now all dead ones .  Alcohol check :2.5 %.
Now drop diminishing to low teens . All other colonies  drop either nil or
below  5 or below 10 . No significant drop after  fogging.
The  frequency of the  emulsion cords depends on the  ferocity to clean the
cords by the bees . I found it required  at a 2 week interval. Now use 4
cords per brood box ( Deep)
No losses due to mites before or after  FGMO other than mentioned above .
No mites found with alcohol wash in  dead bees on the screens.
No foul brood of any kind. Nosema prior to FGMO.
No residue detected by visual ( Which meas nothing ) No taste of Oil either
in honey.Fogging two week interval plus / minus  few days .Continous
application during honeyflow also.
Some colonies  have some 4.9 and now  the frames / combs are positioned by
the "Housel " Method .
I find the method of FGMO  very effective  and also must  recommend the two
kinds of application . One appears to compliment the other .
In any case . I am still testing  methods which are different  and appear
not to adversly affect the bees , also are  not  too expensive . The
fogging device  must be applied properly as per instructions .  At this
time I find no adversity and the  bees are  calm , are  gathering still
pollen  and possibly nectar. From where :???? . This year they collected
heavy stores for themselves . I do not feed  syrup . Never saw "chewed "
Cappings or  removed  brood to an extent noticable . No crippled wing
syndrome since  2001 . And those were very few. Drones disappeared  to
where ??? Some are still with the colonies . Yellow jackets still a problem
this year .
As mentioned in another  post , see Beesource.com. for  lab reports and
pertinent details  of the testing done by Dr Rodriguez et al.
Regards
JDF