Blasting Varroa Mites With Oxalic Acid

On this day in November 2022, we treated our bees with oxalic acid for the first time. The guys also worked on homemade frames in the woodshop.
Here are some key points for oxalic acid vaporization:
-This treatment is best done when bees are broodless.
-Ideal weather for treatment is between 40ºF and 48ºF so bees are not flying or very tightly clustered.
-Wear proper PPE while treating.
-Late season treatments are unlikely to save heavily mite infested colonies.This treatment is a reset for the upcoming season.
This was our first time using our InstantVap vaporizer as well as oxalic acid in general. We probably were not completely broodless yet on this day in November. In the current season (2023) we are doing this treatment about a month later, a couple weeks into December. This gives the bees a chance to uniformly go broodless. It takes about three weeks for eggs (for workers) to develop into fully formed bees. Especially if bees are still bringing in pollen in late October, there is a really good chance the colonies will not be broodless in November. We only have a short window of broodlessness and ideal temperatures for OA treatment in our area. Mid December appears to be an ideal time for OA treatment in Orange County, Virginia. We expect queens to start laying again soon after the winter solstice (late December) in response to increasing day length. By January we expect queens to have started laying again. We expect a drastic increase in laying to occur in February as the Maple pollen starts to flow.

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