>>> .what is its advantage over formic, thymol or oxalic?

> The answer is simply that Apivar works like a damn if properly applied
> and can clean up if the others screw up, which they do quite often.

I just did four washes on a random sampling of my 70 or so hives.

The wash counts were 3, 1, 1, & 1.

I have not treated with anything since last September at which time one
of my better washes looked like this:
http://honeybeeworld.com/diary/images/2012/diary2.jpg

At that time, my daily natural drops were
HIVE #	COUNT
1	41
2	90
3	155
4	76
5	21
6	22
7	31
8	174
9	4
10	113

I had been using oxalic vapour and dribble and formic pads the
previous fall and nothing since.

Details are in my diary for the previous fall. (See sig).

Anyhow, I freaked and used two strips of Apivar last Set as
soon as I saw that I was looking at wintering problems coming up
due to the loads.

It was a bad winter with 35-60% loss, depending on how I count
the losses, but I did not lose all as I am sure I would have if
I tried using oxalic or formic.

This fall, I am much happier.

---
Why go fast if you can go slow?

Allen Dick
Swalwell, Alberta, Canada
51°33'37.58"N  113°18'54.24"W
Semi-retired - 40+ years keeping bees - 4500 hives max
Currently running 20 to 100 hives
Hives for sale year-round
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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