Great vmessage. Oxalic acid is a great treatment method whether vaporized or fogged. Folks need to remember that oxalic acid doesn't penetrate capped brood. So any mites closed up with the larva will reproduce and come out with the hatching bee. Therefore, 3 treatments are required 5-7 days apart. Last year I almost lost my first hive to deformed wing virus caused by the mites. I did oxalic acid and they recovered and made it through winter very strong. No problems this year with scheduled treatments.

I used a Burgess fogger as per your recommendations....back in 2017. Got two uses from it and the fog did do a great job killing mites. However the plastic parts in the machine were destroyed by the OA. They absolutely fell apart when touched. I did wash it thoroughly after using and put it away dry. I finally went to a pro vap machine. Expensive, but worth saving hives that are worth the price of the vaporizer.

Hi David, love your channel. I'm a 3rd year beekeeper here in Ohio and go to your videos a lot for advice. I tried OA treatment with Burgess fogger this year, as i have only used apivar strips . Burgess changed design here in 2020, i tried your recipe of 100ml alcohol and 25 g of OA but since plastic container was bigger it wouldn't draw it up... my solution that worked was, i got small glass jelly/ mason jar that screwed in correct, but had to mix a double batch(200 ml alcohol and 50 g of OA ) for it to fog correctly.Just wanted to to pass it along to your viewers to help save some aggravation. Thank you sir

I am a beginner backyard beekeeper this year and there are so many things to learn. I follow your vids, are very informative. I just bought a fogger, oxalic acid, grain alcohol and mason jars (regular mouth) and tried out last Sunday. I am still learn to work with the fogger properly. Thank you so much.

I'm really impressed at your attention to the new bee keeper. I have no interest in bee keeping but you do make it an interesting, compelling watch and I have learned a lot over the past few days watching safely from my keyboard. Thanks Barnyard Bees, for sharing the excellent content.

Thanks for the video, nobody seems to have tested dosage per pump to the hive. I measured 7 times 10 pumps and it turns out that mine (burgess like in video) delivers 0.31 gram of OA per pump. To deliver 1 gram per 10 frame deep box you need 3 pumps. For a double deep it would be 6 pumps (or 7 pumps to get 2.15 gram OA). Hope this helps.

When you said "You can pour out a little bit", I expected to hear a little "sluuurp!". :) But seriously, that looks like it would kill a LOT of bees!

Thanks David , good video!! I have a tip for you . You may already know this but I will tell you anyway. Harbor Freight sells an adapter that enables you to refil those gas bottles from a larger grill bottle ... keep the good videos coming !! Thanks again ....

Oxalic acid decarboxylase above 189°C so you don't use oxalic acid vapour, just formic acid vapour. This method don't kill more than 60% of varroa mite.

I have been using the battery power units you load up a tray and stick in the bottom of hive for two years now. The bees have been doing great but takes over hour to treat 25 hives in one yard. I am going to order one of these set ups and start using it next month. Thanks for sharing the video.

Wow David do you ever sleep? I appreciate a quick response but with the hour difference and responding back literally in minutes no wonder you are so successful in your work. Again thank you so much that alone solves a big question for us. “Your the Man again”!!! Go to sleep...

Instead of the alcohol I used vegetable glycerin and mineral oil because sometimes the alcohol will combust when really hot. I use 75 ml of veg glycerin and 25ml mineral oil with 25g of oxalic acid like you happy beekeeping 👍

When ever one uses a Respirator you need to be careful you are using the correct filters for what you want to filter out. Not all filters work for everything or anything. Some filters allow what you are trying to keep out through the filter and trap it in the mask making the bad chemical concentrated in the mask. So make sure you are using the correct filters. Just some good info to share.

So it's been a year, and you've had a chance now to produce long-term results. Do you have any stats of before/after results? What well did this perform to keep your numbers into check? Where there any hive losses? Any gotcha's or bugs you had to iron out?

I have just purchased the Black Flag/Burgess fogger. In the literature it clearly states, "The fogger is a dispenser of insecticides. Results obtained are directly related to the insecticide used. In order to produce a fog, the insecticide must have the proper oil base. Black Flag® Fogging Insecticide Formula 2 has the proper oil base. Do not use emulsifiable concentrate or other materials designed to be mixed with water." Use with alcohol has been reported here to cause internal parts to become brittle. Since neither water or alcohol are effective lubricants, would not mixing oxalic acid with glycerin and/or mineral oil be suggested for extending the life of the fogger?

Thank you for this info David. I am a new beekeeper and I am loving it, but one thing that has intimidated me even after a decent amount of research was Varroa treatment. This is exactly what I have been looking for. I really needed a schedule for treatment as well (thanks again). This video also prompted me to research if Oxalic treatment could/should be done with honey supers on (not that I don't believe you, I just want to see the science myself). I found a number of scientific studies showing that there was pretty much no Oxalic added (honey naturally has Oxalic in it) while supers were present. Also, MANY vegetables we eat every day have decent amount of Oxalic acid in them naturally. EDIT: Please keep the videos coming, so much good info here on youtube from you and a number of others. I'm just consuming all of your experiences :D

Just wanted to say thank you for all that you are doing for the beekeeping community. I really appreciate the hard work and the advice; especially when it will end up saving me a lot of money and garner the high success levels that are necessary in the mite game. I've watched a lot of your bee videos and I always learn something else new from them. You guys are doing so much good in this realm! Keep going. You have certainly earned my subscription. I wish I could subscribe more than once to this channel!!!

Thank you ❤️. I seen this. Works great. My first year as a bees keep

Your videos are great, they've really helped me so far on my first season and I'll definitely be buying my bees from you next season.

To clean the fogger run some water mixed with baking soda when u are done.

I just got this whole set up but Im in Japan. I had top get a special adaptor so I could attach the propane tank. Im having a little problem getting the fogger to stay lit. But the treatment was fast. I treated 12 hives in about an hour and that included mixing the oxalic acid and taking off the hornet traps. We have giant Japanese hornets here. They are a nightmare.

A year later using this fogger, If I’m treating 75 hives, I put 150grams of OA,150grams of ever clear, and 75grams of food grade glycerin in an old pickle jar and heat on stove in a frying pan of water stirring until clears up. Have fogger on lowest setting to just keep flame on and pump trigger until smoke,then count 2 strong puffs on 5 frame nucs, and 5 on double 8 frame boxes. Makes it closer to the recommended 2grams per hive. Don’t count a puff until you see smoke. You must rinse the gun and cycle a jar of water thru the gun after use with flame on until you don’t see smoke or you use 1/2 a jar of water. do wear rubber gloves because jar will leak on you. Still a good kill.😉

A good respirator is important. The right filter is what's critical. Wrong filter = useless equipment. NIOSH and OSHA require a N100, R100, or P100 filter Don't use anything else or anything less. Some filters are effectively useless against oxalic acid fume.

Hello, I have that kind of fogger since last season and I use oxalic acid and glicerin (liquit) , it is true, it is a very cheap and quick method and bees looks ok after treatment but With "my mites" (I live in Chile South America ) I had to increase much more the dosis (800 g O. A. / litre glycerin) to kill mites in a good rate. I'd like to see an alcohol wash test before and after treatment. My concern is also the effect on very young bee larve. Anyway, good video Keep posting Kind regards from Chile 🐝🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱🐝🇨🇱

Can’t thank you enough for all you do-no words can express my appreciation.

Amazing that it only kills the mites and not the bees. Really good video!

I lost both hives in the Fall within two months of trying this. I think the fogging machines did not work reliably and injected too much alcohol. No bees left at all! Would stick with just oxalic dry heated to vapor.

Ordered all my stuff today! Thank you !

Definitely clean/rinse the white pump pick up tube after each use. If you don't it will become very brittle. The parts are only $10 to replace but a hassle to get. I didn't have a good kill rate using the fogger. It works, but for me it wasn't close to 100%. Could have been the pump pick up was damaged.

Anyone using this method? Never seen it before and I like it!

I noticed the fog wasn’t thick so I refined your recipe I added 1/8 cup of PEG propylene ethyl glycol to the mix and now it fogs the solution well. With thick lingering fog.

You might mention flushing the fogger out with straight alcohol or something after treating the hives! I bought one and it worked great...once! Now I have to see if I can take it apart and clean it out,

If you make another video with your resperator, you *_MUST_* say: "Luke, I am your Father!!"

Ever tried a green drone screen. Mites prefer the drone bee becasue they incubate longer and can hatch more mites. So get you a $5 green drone frame place it 3 away from ctr of hive and put it in the freezer just before the drones hatch each time they fill it. No chemical option. Works well.

Have you checked the resulting fog temperature to make certain it is not too hot i.e. too hot and it will break down oxalic acid into formic acid and carbon monoxide ( NO)? Have you done alcohol wash to check effectiveness? PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Thanks, mike

Some people use formic acid mixed diesel alcohol, but this effect does not seem to be very good. They say that direct injection of formic acid is more effective and in the absence of eggs. Another method uses formic acid mixed with sublimed sulfur and blown into the box.

David, I appreciate your swift comment returns. My 2nd Question is have you herdof any built up resistance with either oxalic acid or mineral oil treatments?

Barnyard is using 25 grams of Oxalic which would mean that each jar should only be able to spray in 12.5 hives with the recommended dose of 2 grams per hive. With that much liquid left in the jar there is no way those hives are getting anywhere close to 2 grams a hive. Has anyone ever seen one of these fogger acid treatment videos where the beekeeper gives you a before and after mite washes? I haven't. Why is that? Without numbers this treatment method efficiency is in question. In fairness we plan to try this in the spring an actual measure the results. From my own fogger experience over the years YOU HAVE TO PAUSE 30 TO 60 SECONDS FOR THE FOGGER'S COIL TO HEAT BACK UP. Or your are just spitting liquid alcohol not "fog".

Have you continued this method with fogger and continued to have success?

David thank you for your quick and helpful answer as always!

I tried this but it didn't work at first. I got a slightly different model and it had a yellow container to hold the insectiside. I think it didn't work because the level of the 100 ml of liquid did not reach the intake valve that went in to the yellow container. Eventually I filled the container to the top with water and it then worked. Backtracking I then mixed up 200 ml of liquid and tried again. This time it worked.

I've also seen you can mix the acid in distilled water instead of alcohol, what is your thought about that

I was all set to try this method and the state bee inspector said absolutely not to use it. Just buy the pan and do the vaporizer - no alcohol at all.

Hey David, as always thank you for the great videos! Im a little confused about your recipe and have one question: How do you set your scale to measure the alcohol in milliliters when milliliters is a volume measure? Does your scale know how much 100 ml of grain alcohol weighs? Thanks again for your videos. I'm learning a ton from you!

Me again I am in my 4 year of beekeeping and always used oxalic acid in a vaporiser I see your way of using oxalic acid with alcohol and thought that it would be easier instead of the way that I am doing it with a vaporiser I use gasVap and was thinking you’re fog Machine it’s far easier to do more hives

David, I caught a large swarm and put them in a 10 frame hive. Is it advisable to use oxcilic as treatment before the hive get going?

It's 100 percent on the bees in the hive but not on the capped larvae where most of the mites reside or the bees not in the hive

If you use 2 or 3 hits per nuc, how many on a double brood box hive? Thank you. A side note, your nucs have filled out a 10 frame brood box and half way on second boxes. Full of bees and all stages of eggs and brood in 5 weeks. Doing fantastic! Thank you.

I also found the black flag unit you were talking about on Amazon. I guess the two biggest differences would be the click starter like on a grill and you pour your fluid into the machine not using a jar. I am going to purchase one of those foggers. I'm leaning toward the one in your video because the jar would give me the ability to use different types of chemicals.

You guys doing bit hard work then us I leaving carins QLD Australia far north tropical we haven't this problem finger cross it stay safe hear. Tks for really good information

The varroa mite is easily dealt with by hive design. If you keep your bees in thin walled hives with all the environmental integrity of a cardboard box the varroa mite will thrive. Change that and the mite will fade away. It is well known that the varroa mite does not do well in a humid environment. (The precise mechanism is not known to me). If you put the bee entrance at the top of the brood chamber immediately below the queen excluder a VIBEZ (Ventilated Integrated Bee Entry Zone) is formed and this will serve to make the brood chamber a humid bucket. The only hive type that has this top entry and ventilation is the ZEST hive. If the pupation time of the bees can be reduced this will reduce the time available for the varroa mites to mature in the brood resulting in the exponential collapse of the varroa population. Individual pupa temperature varies over time of day and brood position. Above 37C. the pupa die. Below 29C. the pupa die. At 35C. it takes 10-11 days to hatch. At 31C. it takes it takes 14-15 days to hatch. 35C. is ideal. Winter time is varroa breeding heaven. Ideally the colony external enclosure will be of an insulated material that also has a thermal weight that carries the heat of the day into the cool of the night and the cool of the night back into the heat of the day. Aerated concrete blocks are ideal having a 39 times better R value than a thin walled hive and 19 times that of a polyhive. The ZEST DIY hive is functionally free of varroa together with the maladies and morbidities that it carries. It enables in honeybees diseases such as Nosema, Acarine and DWV. EFB and EFB have never been reported, but that may be because it is relatively rare. As a proof of concept you can adopt these hive design management techniques to see for yourself the truth of them.

$76.03 at My Walmart in Eugene, OR...quite a difference from $50.00 BUT still not bad for what it does and ease of use!

Did I miss something? Are all these hives without the supers when you applied treatment?

@BARNYARD BEES have you ever used this recipe on the ground below your hives to remove the mites that live there? ty for sharing your knowledge, bees and skill with all of us. "bee" well & thrive, ©¿~salli

David hello, another beginner question please. In California 190 proof Everclear is illegal and there is a few places that have a bottle of 150 proof Everclear still left on the shelf. Will the 150 proof still work or be as effective? Maybe a simple question but just want to make sure not to make any mistakes. (Any more mistakes!) Again thank you for your time and help with all that are trying to get started in the bee business. Best Regards

OK Ive got a huge apology to give you ..I was going on the sound of the fogger .. BUT,,, since then i decided to try in stead of calcimines the fogger way .. A n your totally wright an iam sorry for jumping without looking first. love your videos. keep up the good work.

I tried the burgess fogger and it does not produce enough OA fog... i gave it plenty of time to warm up and it fogs a little, not enough!!! I am going back to a traditional OA pan hooked to a battery. At least then I know they are getting the right dosage.

Since milliliters is a fluid unit of measure, how can to tell by weight unless you know the specific gravity of the fluid you are weighing? I’m asking because most kitchen scales have pounds or grams.

I am amazed this doesn't have a adverse effect on the bees

Awesome and very informative video! I am actually getting started with beekeeping and am currently located in Medellin, Colombia. Quick question...do I treat my honey supers as well?

grain alcohol is an organic neurotoxin, have you noticed any problems using it as the carrier for the OA. specifically with accidental queen kills?

Does this guy have any idea how to handle Oxalic Acid? Yes it works but hes pretty cavalier about mixing in his kitchen with food and ingestation. Make no misunderstanding this stuff is dangerous and should be handled properly and with protective equipment. If you care about your own health, vision, body.

You don't use screened bottom boards? You might mention how to use this application with folks that do.

Hello David always appreciate all your videos. Am using your rapid feeders now. One question please about the oxalis acid treatment. Can you do it in the winter (now) if temperatures are 60 degrees and above. We live in California where there is no snow or no extreme freezing temperatures. Would like to treat now if possible. Thanks again

Does it’s effects honey?

What do you do with the leftover mixture?? Does it separate during if you store the leftover mixture??

There are a lot of legitimate questions here that haven't been answered. I like that this process looks very convenient but before we jump on the idea, how about some facts. Did you compare numbers before and after. What was the effect on the brood. Remove honey supers? (yes) It is easy! Is it effective? Must use it at least a full brood cycle. Three weeks is not long enough.

See I was wondering why not do the treatment at night when all the bees are available for treatment

Have you made any measurements on the number of mites killed? Any research done on this method ?

Where did you get the grain alcohol and why heat it up before use?

Not to be picky, but grain alcohol is ethanol. Same thing.

What does that do to your honey, I mean if you have to wear a mask and gloves to handle it, it can't be good for your honey.

Please excuse my ignorance, I am new to the idea of beekeeping, it is so fascinating! I was thinking that if you don't want to breathe this stuff being the size of a human, out in the open air, what chance do the bees have? Also, doesn't this stuff get into the brood, wax and the honey as well? I did hear that bees breathe through spiracles, like most insects, and not like we do, but breathing is breathing. Thanks much.

This video is now 4 years old. I would love to know if you still use this method and how it has worked for you since you made this. I haven't seen any responses from David yet, so I'm not anticipating an answer....

Try formic and glycerine gets into the capped brood which gives better kill. Oxalic acid is wood cleaner /whitener too.

will this work if you reduce the recipe in like a quarter the amount you used.

Have you heard anything about the alcohol eating up the probe on the fogger?

got it coming and thankyou for this vido you do a wonderful job

Hi David Frank here from Ireland got one from wall mart cant get jar to fit it in ireland didnt use it yet will try it with yellow container

Hi David, i'm a newbie to honey bee keeping, I lost several hives in the severe 2017 December freeze. I love the videos, i started fogging last spring with the mineral oil, but i still have some mites, my question is, " do you have to use the 190 alcohol with the acid or could it be added to water or even heated mineral oil" and "can i use this method on a regular basis through out the year"? .

Grain alcohol in a propane fogger?...😳🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I wonder how hot the gas is that comes out of the fogger???? It didn't seem to kill the bees in front of the gas...??????

Just a small warning to people who do this. Don’t pump the trigger to many times inside one hive. In one of my hives I pumped the trigger multiple times and my hive filled with alcohol vapors. Well those vapors ignited off of the fogger and it literally blew the lid off my hive. I killed a bunch of bees but the queen survived and I’ll go in the hive in a few days to see if they recovered and are going to make it.

As of 4/12/22, is this still your preferred method of treating mites? PLEASE RESPOND ASAP. Thanks

well i just did mine two days ago two days later did it again and no mites where present on the second time great deal

Thanks again for a great video and the on going help provided. One question to a beginner please, is the honey in the hive after a treatment still ok for consumption? If not do the bees in a hive still feed on their honey during the dearth or only storing for winter use? Naive question I'm sure but oh well. Last question I bought a few of your rapid feeders and have experienced the bees getting under the cup and dying in the feeder? It is a great way to feed sugar water! Thanks again for all your time!

Dave, grain alcohol in a fogger? Isn't there a concern of fire with this stuff? How is this working for you? Have you done mite counts after the treatments? 50 to60 dollars for a fogger is nothing compared to the cost of those other mite treatments.

You are the only one I have ever seen that says fogging is 100%........everything I ever read and have seen other beeks say is 40%

Super vid David! My question to you is if I'm treating with mineral oil and wintergreenoil, how often can I my hives ?

Hello, I tried this last year and it worked great! I still have a jar of the solution left from last year. Can I use this or do I need to make a new batch?

Nice video. Thanks for sharing. How would you do this treatment when in the honey flowing season?

With all that alcohol you must be trying to get those mites trunk, so they fall off the wagon train.

Hi David I am looking for the connection size for the propane as I am struggling to find the cylinders in the uk. any ideas

love your videos please keep them coming they are great

Would like to know if you still use this method. And wondered why water couldn’t replace alcohol?

Definitely puts out alot of vapor more than the ones you hook to a battery

Is it possible to save any of the left over mix in the jar?

DAVID .... Hold ON a Second When you heat that mixture - a safer and CHEAPER way would be use Ethyl Alcohol in the mix and use HOT WATER (No OPEN FLAMES) in a heavy pan or pot to heat it. As you are buying a quality product, it's unlikely you need to filter it unless you can SEE solids suspended after the Oxalic acid has gone into the solution which it can do at much temperatures. Sadly I'm only a chemist / "wannaBEE" keeper only at this point - I'll do some research on the Do and DO NOT'S of using that product and send you a message for your research or to convey to viewers. Presently I'm thinking the solution if used with at least partial mineral oil, would be more sustained. However as you're using it directly against mites and it blocks their ability to feed on the bees, penetration may be the key factor. So many questions....and I love a good problem to solve! LOL Thanks for the food for thought - and also letting you know -your own body produces that same acid! LOL Typically it's the over-production and exposure that nrings on Kidney Stones! Hope this helps you and others.

i also have bees to day am going to try your farmola...

Have you had any issues using a short propane bottle with your fogger