I’ve talked a lot over the past two years about varroa mites and the need to treat them. This week we’ll be using a mixture recommended by master beekeeper Phil at the Honey Exchange.

I’ll be treating the bees for 3 weeks, every seven days to ensure that those varroa that came out on larva that had been capped during a previous treatment, are caught during successive treatments.

What we use:

• Oxalic Acid - I may have not bought a 5 lb bag had I realized that the treatment requires 2 tablespoons per hive, but I guess nothing exceeds like excess, right?

Oxalic acid is an organic compound with the formula C2H2O4. It is a colorless crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water….

…It occurs naturally in many foods, but excessive ingestion of oxalic acid or prolonged skin contact can be dangerous.

Its name comes from the fact that early investigators isolated oxalic acid from wood-sorrel (Oxalis) flowering plants.

~ Wikipedia

• Grain Alcohol - To make sure the beekeeper has a little fun… just kidding, the grain alcohol simply aids in the fogging process.

Everclear is a brand name of rectified spirit (also known as grain alcohol and neutral spirit) produced by the American company Luxco (formerly known as the David Sherman Corporation). It is made from grain[1] and is bottled at 151 and 190 U.S. proof (75.5% and 95% alcohol by volume).[2] 

~Wikipedia

• Insect fogger - This will allow the mixture to be fogged and dispersed into the hives

Once back to the hive, the bees are angry..  Remember that we both checked the hives and then started our varroa treatment on the same day. So I’ve been in the hives a fair bit just before I did this treatment.

You can see on the hive, I have added a barrier to make sure the varroa treatment doesn’t impact our honey. I don’t want to treat the hive and alter the taste of the honey.  OA gives spinach it’s bitter taste, so we don’t want that to end up on our sweet fall honey.

The treatment gets fogged into the hive at the entrance.  That will treat the all the living bees that have mites. Once the larvae that have mites are born, they will be treated by one of the final 2 treatments we do over the next few weeks.

~Chris, The Boxing Beekeeper