Yes, I just bought the small riding lawn mower battery to use with my o.a. vaporizor.  I put it all into a wagon and pull it around to my hives. :)
Works great, then I just plug it into a trickle charger to make sure it stays charged.  Yes, you are correct about riding lawn mowers, too. If you disengage the mower and put it into neutral, it will stay running when you stand up and leave the mower.  But you don't need to have it running to use it for OA treatments.  It's not going to use enough electricity to run the battery down, esp. with only 3 hives.

Speaking of O.A. vaporizor treatments.  I have used it on about 20-30 smallish nuc colonies. (only 1/8th of a teaspoon) I used a timer, etc.  Out of all of the colonies treated, I would say about 4-6 ended up dying out.  Some dwindled after the treatment, then were queenless, so I combined them with a neighbor hive, but then that colony too would eventually end up dead.  This was maybe 2 withing a couple days, then a few more in the 1-2 week time period post treatment.

I have read through a lot of forums etc. on the topic of using OA Vapor treatments.  Some accounts say it kills any open brood, others say its one of the more gentle, but effective treatments out there and one that doesn't kill the queen, etc.  Is there any definitive proof on whether or not it tends to kill brood? I am thinking that perhaps the smaller nucs were already compromised, either with varroa or just a size issue.  (it may have had nothing to do with OA, or maybe it was the tipping point)  At any rate, since it's a relatively new treatment for ME to use, I am seeking opinions from some more experienced folks.  I think next year I will use it earlier, BEFORE I start making splits and then it likely won't be so noticable for the colonies as a whole.  I will also use it in the fall this year before they over-winter, hopefully giving me stronger colonies to start with as well. 

Thanks in advance for the input,

Tanya Phillips
Austin, TX

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