I did a 2nd treatment of each of my hives yesterday again with 4 grams of OA per hive. It should be noted that my hives are 2 deeps only now, topped with a feeder box and then with a ventilation box.
24 hours later, earlier today, I pulled the perfectly clean white boards and checked how well things are doing.
Pictures of these white boards are attached. Again, hive 3 looks like I still have problems. Hives 1 and 2 are looking good, in my opinion.
I plan on treating all three hives this Friday or Saturday, weather permitting. Hive 3 may need two more treatments.
The premise is that the mites are deep in the cells with larvae and as long as they are capped over, the OA will not reach them. Multiple treatments over a 21 day period will eventually expose all the mites to a good hard treatment.
OA treatments, when mites are so prevalent, should be accomplished every 5 or 6 days until the 21 day brood cycle is covered. The current recommended dose, per OSU Bee Lab is 4 grams per brood chamber. Heretofore it was only 1 or 2 grams.
Mite levels are extremely high this fall and everyone needs to test, treat and do better than any previous year.
I tested my hives in July using the Alcohol Wash method and each hive had roughly 8% mites. That means that about 24 mites were counted out of the sample of 300 bees or ½ cup. Anything more than 3% is considered dangerous. I treated each hive with two pads of Formic Pro for two weeks.
I tested again in September and had less mites, but still had too many mites. I again treated each hive with two pads of Formic Pro for two weeks. At the end of that two week period (early October), I still had about 4 and 5% mite count. Each of my tests were with the Alcohol Wash method.
I waited until the arrival our new InstantVap device to treat, and on Thursday, October 27th I treated all three of my hives with 4 grams of oxalic acid vapor using our new InstantVap device. I should say that Chris and Patsy Weber performed the treatment, as my Asthma was acting up, and I was hesitant to get a whiff of OA.
Technically, I should have checked the white boards 24 hours after treatment, but I was not home. I did check on Monday October 31st. Attached are pictures of the white boards. Zoom in on them and see if you can see a mite problem. There is a lot of junk on the white boards that are not mites, but you will clearly see the mites. Check #3 for sure. I have a problem with hive 3.