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How many staples?
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<blockquote data-quote="John B" data-source="post: 10204" data-attributes="member: 207"><p>Checked my oxalic acid test hive again today. It's three weeks since the last check and bee numbers are about half what they were with deformed wing everywhere and varroa are visible on bees. Alcohol wash gave 140 mites per 400 bees.</p><p>I put the strips in seven weeks ago and then replaced after one month. Today I pulled the plug on the experiment as I considered it no longer ethical to leave the hive in this state.</p><p>I was using cardboard strips and these were produced using the recommended recipe that came with them, from memory I think is a 60\40 mix.</p><p>I think the strips had some beneficial effect but nowhere near enough to keep the hive alive even at this time of year and certainly not going into winter. I have used some pretty ineffective organic treatments in the past but this would be the worst. I will start again in the spring and see if I can work out some way of making them work but for now they go into my snake oil category.</p><p>Formic acid is the only organic treatment I have used that showed any promise of living up to its promises but it was very hard on the bees and also potentially very dangerous to use.</p><p>I know some very good beekeepers who have had good results with oxalic acid strips and I don't know why mine didn't work but anybody who is using them at the moment and depending on them would be well advised to check if they are working.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="John B, post: 10204, member: 207"] Checked my oxalic acid test hive again today. It's three weeks since the last check and bee numbers are about half what they were with deformed wing everywhere and varroa are visible on bees. Alcohol wash gave 140 mites per 400 bees. I put the strips in seven weeks ago and then replaced after one month. Today I pulled the plug on the experiment as I considered it no longer ethical to leave the hive in this state. I was using cardboard strips and these were produced using the recommended recipe that came with them, from memory I think is a 60\40 mix. I think the strips had some beneficial effect but nowhere near enough to keep the hive alive even at this time of year and certainly not going into winter. I have used some pretty ineffective organic treatments in the past but this would be the worst. I will start again in the spring and see if I can work out some way of making them work but for now they go into my snake oil category. Formic acid is the only organic treatment I have used that showed any promise of living up to its promises but it was very hard on the bees and also potentially very dangerous to use. I know some very good beekeepers who have had good results with oxalic acid strips and I don't know why mine didn't work but anybody who is using them at the moment and depending on them would be well advised to check if they are working. [/QUOTE]
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