Hi everybody:
   Hi Mr. Abell, thank you for bringing up the issue that mineral oil is
a pesticide, however I think that it's called FGMO (FOOD GRADE MINERAL
OIL), separates it from being considered a pesticide. I haven't been
able to find any FGAS,(FOOD GRADE APISTAN STRIPS),anywhere. The fact
that Apistan comes with many warnings about wearing gloves when
handling, removing before the honey supers are installed means to me
that this chemical is far more dangerous than FGMO. Mineral Oil doesn't
come with such warnings. I just feel better that my daughter and my
family will not be consuming any trace elements left over from Apistan.
I think that Mineral Oil is a better alternative at this time, than
Apistan. It might be more labor intensive to administer, but I'm just a
hobby beekeeper at this point so I have the extra time to make it work
for me.
     In regards to your second question about the methods used to detect
varroa. I have done many ether rolls last summer, and one about 2 or 3
weeks ago, where I have captured about 100 bee's in a jar and then
sprayed ether in to kill everything in the jar. Unfortunately it kills
the bee's as well. I'm not going to do another one till spring because
my hives are in winter conditions and not growing, and I don't want to
remove allot of bee's when they won't be replaced.
     Last fall, when there was still Drones in the hive I removed a
frame of drone comb, and opened about 25-50 cells to see if I could
locate any varroa, and I only found one. I think that the varroa are
under control at this point, and I did not use any Apistan in these
hives.
 
    I will use Apistan, but only if the mineral oil starts to fail. I
will use Apistan as a last resort to save a hive if infested, but at
this point I think if I can go another year without a problem then I
will think I will be able to go along time.
 
THANK YOU
BRIAN HENSEL
MONTE RIO CALIFORNIA
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Eric Abell wrote:
 
> I enjoyed your message and hearing about your success with Mineral oil.  You
> note that you found no Varroa after treatment.  Would you please explain the
> methods by which you checked for the presence of Varroa?
>
> Your sentiment of not using chemicals in the hive is great but please
> remember that mineral oil is a chemical as well.  Using it as you do it is
> also a pesticide, is it not?
 
 
> Eric Abell
> Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0
> Ph/fax (403) 998 3143
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