Last week I wrote about the high levels of mites in the drone bood of one of my hives when I pulled my Apistan strips. The strips were one year old at the time of placement in the hive and had been stored in their original package, out of sunlight. At the suggestion of Lloyd Spear I called the manufacurer. They felt that the strips were NO GOOD becasue they were old. Their reasoning was that because the original packaging was not sealed in an airtight package the fluvinate dried up and lost effectiveness. If you have extra strips after treating be sure to put them in two zip-lock bags, one inside the other, otherwise the strips may go to waste. Now if only they would really tell you how to store them we might not lose as many bees. I would like to thank Lloyd for his help. Sarah Grew Wildcat Canyon, CA USA