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Using Formic & Oxalic Acids
for treatment of
Varroa & Tracheal
Honey Bee Parasitic Mites |
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CONTROL OF VARROA
A Guide for New Zealand Beekeepers |
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Use of Medical Drugs Against Varroosis (Italy) |
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Oxalic acid trickling
(Practical illustrated demonstration) |
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Coordination in Europe of research on integrated control
of Varroa
mites in honey bee colonies |
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A Device for Quick, Safe Oxalic Acid Vaporization
Another Oxalic Acid Vaporizer
Evaporation Properties of Oxalic |
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Central Science Laboratory:
The New
Varroa Model & Calculator
This is a comprehensive, well illustrated site.
Monitor honeybee colonies for varroa mites, Predict when treatment is
necessary. |
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From Germany:
Vaporisation of oxalic acid
in a field trial with 1'509 colonies
Vaporisation of oxalic acid
and working safety
Another
German
oxalic acid page |
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Do it yourself
Oxalic Acid Vaporizer |
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Practical Finnish methods, using formic and oxalic
acids and thymol
Article
Graphs Thymol |
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SMR Bees
may someday make this page unnecessary |
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Swiss Bee
Research on varroa
including diverse treatments
Not all Oxalic Acid Evaporation Devices are very effective!
Bee tolerance of different winter Varroa treatments |
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Info on Varroa, Tracheal Mites and Resistant Russian
Bees:
Honey Bee Breeding,
Genetics & Physiology Laboratory |
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See varroa and
tracheal mites live in streaming video |
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A new, more sensitive and
non-destructive
variation on the standard ether roll test.
Click here and
here and
here |
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Tracheal Mites in US Breeder Queens |
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Some varroa and acarine pages from
www.honeybeworld.com
Tracheal Mites in US Breeder Queens
Blue Shop Towel Tracheal Control
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Testing for mites
More
Applying Formic
Oxalic Acid
for Varroa |
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Download or
view our Our Formic Costing Spreadsheet
MS Excel 4.0
Version MS
Excel 2000 Version
 Formic Acid is well
established in Europe and in Canada as a legal and recommended
treatment for parasitic mites of honey bees -- both Varroa and
Tracheal. Currently, there are a number of methods in use .
This article is an attempt to bring information forward without any
judgment of the claims of the originators. One of its strongest
points is the lack of harmful residues in honey and wax.. Its
major drawback is that treating with formic involves handling of a
dangerous substance. Ontario
recommendations.
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Recent reports indicate that
oxalic acid shows promise too.
The books and websites below catalogue a wide variety of methods for
control and provide enough understanding of the mite and its
activities to employ them intelligently .
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IPM is the latest buzzword for mite control.
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First of all...
Background Varroa Information
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Books:
I've learned a lot from the internet and discussion groups, but I
learned a lot more, and a lot more quickly, from just reading these
books:
- Living With Varroa edited by Andrew
Matheson:
- The New Varroa Handbook by Bernhard
Mobus & Clive de Bruyn. Arc & Throstle Press, Nanholme Mill,
Shaw Wood Road, Todmorden, OL14 6DA ISBN 0-907908-67-5
- Varroa! Fight the Mite edited by Pamela
Munn & Richard Jones: ISBN 0 86098 224 6
IBRA
None of these books are listed at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, but
bee book specialists such as
Larry Connor (US), Doug
McCutcheon (Canada) and the
IBRA (UK) should be able
to provide them.
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Websites:
This is a list of sites I've found that deal with varroa, formic
acid and Integrated Pest Management approaches to varroa control.
I can't vouch for all the ideas and methods here, and they are
presented just so you can get an idea what is out there. There is
no particular order to this list.
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| Some Relevant
BEE-L Discussion Articles
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Slow Release Formic Acid
Devices |
MiteGone -- formic application method
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Mite-Away -- formic application method
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Google search
Medhat Nasr's 'Homesote' Method
Article From BeesCene, the British
Columbia Honey Producers Association's magazine
Article on this method from sci.agriculture.beekeeping
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The Nassenheider Device.
- The
manufacturer's literature -- not necessarily in the
correct order.
These pages were designed to be folded into a leaflet:
Page One, Page
Two, Page Three,
Page Four, Page
Five, Page Six
- Link to an
email message to
BEE-L:
- Visit the
Nassenheider page
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| Miscellaneous
Information |
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| Oxalic Acid
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Thymol
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Guideline on use of oxalic acid for varroa control:
an instructional PDF file from New Zealand.
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The small print:
This page is for information purposes only.
I cannot, and do not, guarantee the accuracy, safety
or legality of any information or methods discussed on this page or on
the pages mentioned here.
Formic and oxalic acids are dangerous substances and
can cause injury if handled carelessly.
Methods documented here and on linked pages may not
be legal in some jurisdictions. Be sure to consult your local authorities
about legal and safety issues before proceeding with formic use..
This page has not been updated exhaustively for a
while, so is getting a bit out-of-date. Hopefully, however, it is still a
good starting point. |
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Google search for 'formic acid bees'
Reports, literature and corrections are, of course
welcome. Write me |
