Judging by the temperature outside its hard to believe its May. While having my morning coffee I looked out so see what the thermometer said. It was a balmy 5C. So I got up and turned on the furnace.
Barb and I had decided today we would try out my new toy. Yes I took the plunge and bought a Varrox Vaporizer to treat Varroa mites.
I had read up quite a few articles and talked to fellow beekeepers to the point I am sure they thought I was a real dim wit. Why is making a decision on how best to treat Mites so difficult. I can't seem to get it thru my head, when the right time is, can I treat with the honey left on, can I treat when there is brood, so on and so on.
So after much discussions I decided to purchase a vaporizer. I never plan on having tons of hives but do want to expand out to maybe 10 once retired. I wanted something easy and fairly quick (and inexpensive) and this was the way to go. After the initial purchase of 200.00, the acid is cheap. A 6.00 container of Oxalic Acid will treat 80 colonies!
Anyways, after watching all the You Tube videos and reading the instructions numerous times I was pretty darn confident I knew what to do. This was going to be easy and we would have it done in no time.
So armed with the vaporizer, a respirator, towels and small bucket of water, we marched out there. James had brought a battery out for us to hook the vaporizer too, as its 12V. We went over the plan and set to work. We waited for the vapors to come out of the hive...its suppose to take 2 1/2 minutes. Nothing. I reset the clamps on the battery and tried again. Nothing. Stupid battery must be dead. So went in the house and asked James to bring another one. Battery 2. Dead. So he brought the truck over and we preceded to use it. It worked great. James came out and moved the truck. We continued on to treat the 3rd hive, I pulled out the vaporizer while Barb covered the entrance with a towel. I dipped it into the bucket of water to cool it down and was about to add the acid when I realize it was still hot, so I plunged it into the cool water again and again. Oh ooops I forgot to unplug it. As I turned I realized the truck was parked in a way that you couldn't get out of the bee yard. We were trapped in the fenced enclosure. Now what to do. What a gong show. Yelling was certainly not going to work, but thankfully Barb had her phone so she called James who was in the Motel.
After what should of taken maybe a half an hour...took us, what felt like hours. Anyways, its all done for now. In another week we start again.
