If you want to see what happens when you treat with OA, watch this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gqikrMiJy5zKmpc.html

In the past few millennia, the domestic honeybee has been "genetically modified" (no matter how want to define that) strictly for increased honey output per hive. Unfortunately, this compaction of honeybee genetics has resulted in a smaller genetic pool and we're now seeing a substantial population that is susceptible to parasites (susceptibility probably bred out 88000 years ago, for all we know). Freddie very clearly addresses this susceptibility issue and how he addresses it. Thank you Freddie! This video is now shown to my high school Biology 2 class where I teach genetics and reiterate to my students just how important genetic diversity is, and how the honeybee is important to our food resources.

As a new beekeeper, I appreciate and welcome your seasoned knowledge OA.

Hi Fred. Hope you had a great Thanks Giving and Black Friday Holiday. Stores here in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 are now doing the 'USA' thing : on Clearance Sales etc. Alas no Turkey. . . That's our UK Christmas : In exactly x1 Months time. 🦃 Excellent Oxalic Acid "How To" Video. 👍 Memo : For UK 🇬🇧 Beekeepers : Re Vet/Medication Laws : We can only use "Licenced" O/A called "Api-Bioxal" (It's illegal to use O/A Crystal's "Wood Bleach" !) You might have the local Bee Inspector come and say "Nope," don't do what Fred shows here. . . Please Check your Rules & Regs. . . If not Stateside. 👀 Watching today : Like going back in Time (!) Wow your Studio setup and Production content has come on in so many levels. 😉 Tip : Think outside the Box. I've made my own "Gas" fired ("Api-Bioxal") using"Gas Vap." Saved my self £100s/$100s in making a Homemade DIY "V.M Treatment Gas Vap" Using a T:Junction, Cap Ends, Copper Pipe (+Solder) Combo setup. Easy to use and Refill. Made one for Wood Box and Poly Box use. Heated with a Chef Gas Flame Torch, and then control Heated recording Temp via my Infared Therm Tool/Gun. 👍 We can't easily access all that 'Elec/Battery Kit' stuff to use those Wands. In very Rural locations at Heather. So had to think, think,think out: an own Vap solution. Did get a few 'elements' via Amazon Black Friday Deals ! : Filtered 3M Mask, Eye Goggles, Thick Gloves, Teaspoon measure Cups. . .😉

I live in Western PA and knowing you're located in my general region I always pay great attention to what you do and when you do them. This will be the beginning of my 2nd year of backyard beekeeping so I'm still very new to this. I did however treat for varroa last November and December with this same OA vaporization method. One lesson from my experience I will say: once you put that wand into the hive, connect it to the power supply, wait the few minutes it takes to fully vaporize the OA crystals, and disconnect from power supply; immediately REMOVE the hot aluminum wand from the hive and quickly block the entrance again with your rag. I left mine inside for the 10 minutes the directions tells you to wait while the wand was in there cooling. The bees saw this hot Vaporizer as a threat and began to attack the very hot aluminum plate and the wire running down the handle. I found dozens of stingers stuck in the wire, and a mess of melted and half-melted bee carcasses in the aluminum bowl. On my second treatment, immediately after vaporization I removed the wand, quickly re-stuffed the entrance, waited the 10 minutes and found zero dead bees. Lesson learned. Everyone's experience will vary but that is what happened for me. Maybe it'll help someone else from needlessly killing a few of their bees like I did. Great video as always!

U are smart Never thought of a jumper box I was using a battery from a mower

Thank you Mr Dunn, I went to Blythewood Bee Supply and bought that vaporizer!!!!! you are the man!!!!!

Thanks Fred, as always an excellent video. I get very good results with oxalic acid vaporization.

I like your presentations. You are very thorough. Very systematic and informative.

This was a Great video for me . You answer a lot of my questions on this . Hope to see more of your videos . I am just getting back into Bee keeping from the 60’s and the 70’s Thanks

First year beekeeper, and completely lost in the treatment/no treatment debacle. This video has been incredible! Informative, to the point, and very well made ! I'm am ordering the vaporizer today!

Looking for the next varroa video this one was done in Feb of 2019 thought the next one would be available bit I cannot find it. Great video very well done and lots more on your site. Thanks for all the work you do making high quality video like this and others on your site

Thank You for the demonstration . I had no idea of how many crystals to use for each box . 🙂

Very informative well done Mr Dunn👍

Hi Mr Dunn, i love all your bee video! Just started 2018 summer, so i’m learning alot. Sorry for my English... not my first language. I’ m from north of montréal and winter is really cold up here. Hope they ´ll survive. Continue your wonderfull job! 👍🏻

I love your video set up. Such a cool, old-school reporter feel with your equipment set around the space. "Reporting from the bee field, Frederick Dunn."

Thank you Frederick for your in-depth video on oxalic acid treatment. Your'e one of few that I trust when comes to beekeeping. Last year was my beekeeping journey. Made an mistake by using Apivar strips and leaving my honey super on during the treatment. Though my honeybees made it through the winter in the Pacific Northwest region. So I'm very thankful for that. No surplus honey for me to use but my bees survive nevertheless. That's an fair trade off. After all my number one priority was the ecology survival well being of honeybees. Harvesting for honey wasn't my goal. Using the oxalic acid vaporizer is less invasive than other methods. For sure I will lessening chance of rolling the queen or accidentally harm her with this method.

Frederick Have just come across your channel and am really enjoying your videos. You mentioned drones being thrown out of the hives in summer. Drones are one of your best indicators of colony nutrition. If you have young lava and no eggs, the hive has been short on nutrition for 3 days. If you have sealed brood but no lava, then the then the hive has been in a dearth for a week. 2 weeks without pollen or nectar the workers will start uncapping and throwing out the developing drone brood. 3-4 weeks and they start to expel the existing drones. Only to start the whole process again when the flow improves. Something to watch out for when you using that style of 'heated wand' for treatment. I know you mentioned the risk of fire, but there have been several reported cases of people setting fire to their hives, even with the commercially available wands. Apparently, you can't tell the difference between the oxalic acid vapour and smoke until it's too late. I was sceptical, until last year, when I was cleaning one of my boxes, only to find 2 frames in the centre had been badly scorched. It's really important not to leave the wands connected to the power for more than 2 minutes. Otherwise, you run the very real risk of setting fire to the wooden frames or potentially melting your plastic ones. I won't use this treatment now, as I consider it too much of a risk. Instead, I now use a ProVap 220. All the best from the UK

We did our first oxalic acid vapor treatment today after watching and rewatching this video. All went smoothly till trying to remover the vaporizer from the bottom of the hive. We have one plastic frame that came with the NUC and the vaporizer melted to the plastic frame. Lesson Learned. Thank you for all your informative videos, we have learned so much watching you.

Really excited for this series! I just did my first treatment of OA ever. I’m using a fogger though, not sure which is more effective🤷🏽‍♂️.

I have some VSH queens but i have been treating with OA. This year I plan to move a couple of hives aprox 5 miles to another location and leave them treatment free. As far as i know I have not lost a queen to OA. I did have 2 hives go queenless coming out of winter last year. For all i know i might have rolled those 2 on my last inspection before winter. In my location I try to do a one time OA early before brood build up and I do a series of OA in august to get the mites down before winter bees are raised.

Hi Fred - thanks a lot for this one. Some other treatments I saw along these same lines that may interest you to try as an experiment along side your oxalic acid test are: formic acid, and also saw people claiming that sugar powder dusting apparently removes 50% of the varroa.

thank you great information. AAA information.

This was good thanks

So I ran across a video where this gent made a vaporizer from pipe fittings. I just happened to have all the parts and put them together should I need the unit . The OA goes into a pipe cap and is heated outside the hive with a propane torch. One could make several of these for a not expensive amount of cash. Mine cost me nothing as I used up junk in my shop to be used for a good purpose instead of taking up space in a drawer. I drilled a small hole in the rear of the hive to push the brass tube into for the 2+ minutes. I took my contraption to my March bee meeting to show the 20 or so, mostly beginners, what might be an atternative to an expensive vaporizer. Some were impressed, others maybe not so much. The "leader" at the meeting said he would like for me to make a video of it being used. I gave him the KZfaq site where it is being demonstrated. Well, he did thank me for showing it to the group, but I thought he was less than impressed.

Hi Fred, I was watching some of your older videos on varroa treatment in preparation for getting a package of Saskatraz in a couple weeks. Right now, getting any protective gear (respirator, gloves etc) for oxalic acid vaporization is obviously not an option. I wondered if you had experience or knowledge on formic acid or thymol (Apiguard) as alternative treatment options. Also, I wanted to know how that vaporizer from Blythewood, the thin one that can fit into the Flow 2, performed for you. I'm thinking of purchasing one for later when I can hopefully purchase the PPE. Thanks!

Want to know more about Oxalic Acid and Human Health? Read on! www.healthline.com/nutrition/oxalate-good-or-bad#section8 More practical information regarding what the risks of Oxalates truly are: www.healthline.com/nutrition/oxalate-good-or-bad#section1 I have NOT been able to find a honey testing lab that will provide OA level tests. Since OA is present in every honey sample already, I'd like to get a baseline of levels before treatment and levels after a three-cycle treatment in order to understand exactly how much of the OA is actually introduced into the honey. The honey/nectar foraged by bees already has plant-based OA present.

Hello Frederick I was disappointed to count 60 dead varroa mites from these Buckfast bees on Saturday. I think there is room for discussion about the practice of treating the bees with Oxalic acid 'fumes'. However your excellent video in 2019 most probably covers it all. I am interested with the difference with the apparent volume of the more expensive contraption you demonstrated which is labelled a vaporizer. The sublimator (swithes the unit off at 60C ) I made did not have the outlet tube near enough to the crystals and so I think the powder stuck to the internal surfaces before they emitted to atmosphere inside the beehive. I feel the statement 'you get what you pay for' may well be spot on it this instance re different methods. Does the cheapo 'wand' application distribute the fumes suitably? I must pay attention to your excellent vid re your way of doing it through the observation glass. So it seems apparent that I must be eternally observant and have a definite plan to kill varroa. Due to being an ex heating engineer I like the German's heat method in their killing of varroa, not least because heat does not involve the use of chemicals so might be better for the bees. Best wishes Mick Hall

Thanks

I have screened bottom boards (I am in California near San Jose). I bought a vaporizer and it doesn’t fit into the openings of the Ultimate Hive bottom boards either - grrr! Now I to get the one you show here - thanks for that. My question is when you are doing a treatment, do you just leave the screened part open or do you close it up? Seems the corrugated board you insert would melt. I have cut a piece of sheet metal to insert instead of the corrugated board when treating but haven’t used it and wonder if I need to close it up. Thanks for your very well done videos and great information.

Hi ! Greeting from Mexico City I'm a beginner beekeeper this video it's going to be useful i have one question how many minutes in this treatment are ? I understand 8 total minutes , that's right, thank you so much

Question on the queens. like u get, how long does it take to become treatment free bees. also if your hive super seeds your queen does that mess up the treatment free bees since the queen is a sister and opened mated. I hope that makes since thanks

Great video. Thanks for the great information!

Hi Frederick. Thank you for all your amazingly helpful videos. Unfortunately the vaporizer you recommend is unavailable now (3 years later)...have you any idea where I might find an alternative that would work with the Flow Hive 2? Thanks in advance.

Hi Fred, I love your videos, they are very informative and well done. I have a John Deere 318 tractor that has a rear PTO hook up that is controlled with a switch on the dash. When it is turned on it supplies 12 volts to the PTO clutch assembly. .I do not need this on my tractor and have used it to supply power to my pull behind 12 volt sprayer. This is connected with a two prong trailer wire plug connection. By cutting off ten inches off the clip end of my Oxalic Acid vaporizer lead cable and adding a two prong connector on both ends of the cot off wires, I can connect the end to an extension cable that is five foot long with the matching two prong connectors on both ends. Now I can hook up to the tractor and control the vaporizer with the switch on the dash, or replace the end of the cable with the clips that came with the unit when it was new. I can reach two of my hives at a time with the tractor hook up and leave the engine running to give me a regulated voltage supply. When I do a friends hives I use the extension wire with the battery clips attached to his jumper. I may be lazy using the tractor, but it gives a constant regulated voltage and I dont have to lug a jumper battery from hive to hive.

Mr Dunn: Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, very informative. I had not thought about treating when my bees when they show up I was planning to do so in late summer. I do have a couple of questions but first let here is my situation. 1st year (2019) at beekeeping, NE Kansas (USA), have ordered one 3 lb package and one five frame (deep) nuc (I know I should have ordered two nucs). Once I get the package installed (flow hive 2/deep, 8 frame brood box. Should I treat within the first couple of days while the queen is still in the cage and am I right in thinking maybe only one treatment? (remember I'm new with no drawn comb). Next question, the nuc is going into a 10 frame deep, does the 1/4 tsp apply to both 8 frame and 10 frame boxes? Thanks again

The blythwood vaporizer is unavailable. Is there a suitable substitute to use for the flow hive? Thank, great vids as always.

Looking forward to those videos. Qn: any chance the Oxalic Ac. will make bees lazy and cut back on housekeeping?

In cells with a perforated base, can the Australian-type cap with air vents be successfully applied χ sublimation? Thank you.

I took a disposable aluminum BBQ pan the size of the hive floor, smashed it flat to rest the hot OA iron on in the hive. A little assurance I wasn't burning my hive body wood floor

Hi! Thank you for pointing out that the entrance is too small for a mouse guard!! Good to know. Do you use entrance reducers on your Flow hive 2? If so, where did you get yours? Thank you!

Ha Mr Dunn I came back to watch this video again it is really good. I went on Amazon about the jumper box they want 800.00 I cant do that, will any jumper box work or is this a real high voltage thanks

My Stanley power charger did not work with my OA vaporizer. It gave an error code- ended up getting a 12v RV battery- (make sure it is 12v! I accidently got a 6v at first) wondering how to utilize Stanley.

Helping a fellow club member with treatment- she has a horizontal hive, not mentioned in any KZfaq videos'. she is going to use a follower board reducing the area. any other tips before I visit?

Can the vaporizer not just be positioned under the screened bottom board?, I have two flow hives, and purchased a vaporizer that will not fit in the landing board opening?

Any thoughts on feeding mushroom extractions to bees as a natural disease and mite remedy?

if you were to vaporize the OA into an empty hive before you installed a package or Nuc, would the residual OA crystals in and on the hive components have an effect. Could be a way to expose the bees to one less treatment. I know that would be exposing them to a treatment with out actually monitoring levels, probably not the best practice either. The last video where you noted that your ready to go box in the yard is often moved into comes in to mind also , would be like a fresh coat of paint before the new tenants move in. Any thoughts?

Hi Fred Can I keep feeding the bees their sugar water and pollen patties when I do the Oxalic vape?

Be interested to know what you do for treatment in your horizontal layens Fredrick.

I have purchased the Hulkman 85s jumpstarter, do you think that it would work the same way your jumpstarter does by hooking it to the starters cables?

❤

Sorry to add to my previous message. I have the luxury of a laser thermometer. It took 4 minutes to reach 157 C!. Amazon cheapo wand......... It is the offset type 'tray'. ie not in line with the handle rod £20?

My vaporizer is too tall for my FlowHive2. I just open the tray compartment, remove the plastic tray and insert the vaporizer beneath the bottom plate. Will that be effective?

So, if I have 4 big boxes and smaller for the honey on the top which makes total 5. How many minutes and tsp do I use ? Thank you

Fred my paper work says no more than 5 amps. How do you control the amps

lucky we dont have varroa in australia (yet)

Seems like a lot of work when you can just use Apivar strips. Can you explain why you use this method over all the others? Thanks again!

How do you treat Oxalic acid to a layens hive with round gate opening? I plan on getting packages of sasatraz bees in the spring.

I built my own. I'm not liking sliding it in the entrance and I'm about to fashion a special bottom board that will temporarily slide in and replace the "sticky" board. The vaporizer will be affixed to that. No kamikaze bee deaths and your working behind the hive were the bees don't guard much. I only have two hives now (one more than I wanted) so speed is not important. In fact I don't need to treat both on the same day. Treating just as it gets dark. I am wondering if high humidity which I have plenty of is altering the OA effectiveness and duration of the same.

Any thoughts on mineral oil fogging for varroa?

The Blythewood vaporizer is no longer available. Any ideas on a suitable replacement for a flow hive 2+?

That vaporizer that fits the Flow Hive 2 is discontented. Do you know of another that definitely fits?

Are you going to do a control hive?

Thanks for the great video. Does the Oxalic Acid somehow get transfered to the honey?

Is this still your go to method? Amended of course for the approved OA mix.

Why do we have to remove honey super (bees food) before treating with oxcylic acid?

I just got a nuc with brood. Can I use OA vaporization now?

Do you consider using powdered sugar to make the varroa mites drop off a bad "treatment"? I figure it's a non toxic way to do it and the bees do groom themselves free of the dusting. But even though powdered sugar wont kill the bees, it's not what they are designed to consume.

I have heard that you should not use oxalic acid in certain temperatures I don't know what they are it is my first season with bees

If we cant breathe this, how can the bees survive this stuff?

Is this treatment considered organic?

The description of Oxalic Acid Vaporization is similar to chemotherapy in human cancer treatment. OA is toxic, but the idea is treating to kill the varroa faster than you kill the bees.

Dear Frederick And another thing. Even the most diligent hunter that is able to 'take' a roe deer which has the most acute self preservation senses, can miss seeing varroa mites, even when they are there! This makes me wonder that due to evolution have the varroa changed their camouflage tactics? All the ones counted are brownish and not easily seen and totally different visually to the red ones photographed? Nature is cleaver as you out of thousands will know first hand! The little buggers! Are they now 'blending in with the scenery' which every successful hunter will will copy. The only way of combatting this unseen enemy is to be one step in front of it to be able to kill it.

I’m going to propose a theory here… maybe it’s out to lunch but I don’t see anyone looking in to it… Yes the bees are grooming the mites… but what if you have less aggressive mites that you have bred You’re not just raising bees… you are also raising mites…you might have a more gentle form of varoah mite… that is existing in a balance with your bees Killing gentle mites might open the door to the more aggressive ones to setup shop Maybe all mites are the same… but maybe not… it would be in the mites interest to evolve into a more gentle form over time if allowed … to be able to live off the bees and not eliminate the hive and it’s food source

I read it acts like diatomaceous earth and physically damages the exoskeleton.

If you know somebody that needs one I have one I will share because I know they are expensive and everybody can't afford one

Formic acid- you can use it all year long and kills varroa even in capped brood cells but also kills manny bees.Oxalic acid- i use it only after cold started and the bees dont have larvae because it doesnt kills varroa under capped cells.There is the risk that the queen might die so i isolate the queens especially because the bees dont have eggs and larvae when i treat and they cant make another queen.Oxalic its a bio treatment that kills less bees than formic acid .Great advice about the 3M masks.I would ask you what you think about Dee and Ed Lusby and Michael Bush small bees theory.

Hey there, need some real good help. Myself and two other people have this exact same problem. Have a brood box then the flow hive super. No queen excluder the first year. Honey is made in the brood box only..... second year. Suggestion from the flow hive people.....pull one flow hive frame, replace with a normal waxed frame. Honey produced on the waxed frame, but again not in the flow hive.......third year...spray sugar water on the frames to entice the bees to put honey into the cells.....one flow frame had ten cells a little honey in them , then they stopped putting honey in the cells. This is the fourth year....will try your suggestion of putting a med box on it, then put the flow hive on it, when needed....I'm at Witt's end. I'm ready to quit with this flow hive system...I was a very strong proponent of flow hive, but right now I have my doubts. Any suggestions?

Hmmm, treating mite resistant bees might be exactly the wrong thing to do.

You either are sponsored and given this stuff, or a good sales man :) Either way, TY for being a good guy. Keep up the great work. Chemicals to kill things, not quite balanced perspective. If you are afraid of the stuff you are using, its a sign there is something wrong with the approach? And no demonstration in this video, but lets see the actual use.

Need to grow your beard back Mr Dun .....just saying 😏

Grams 2 or 3 Grams

I have TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED OXALIC ACID SUBLIMATOR at wat temperature 🌡 and man

Watch Varroa Resistant Bees by Honey Bees UK and see if you still want to treat the bees

Are you not using Dadant or langstroft hives. Flow hives. 🤔 U couldn't do that on a commercial basis...