MAQS and All Medium Boxes

[Palouse]

I was planning on using the Oxalic method this Dec. on my bees, but an old climbing injury has reared it's ugly head on one of my knees, and two knee surgeries about eight weeks apart changed those plans; ergo, I bought MAQS to take care of the mites before my first surgery. My first and initial question is, how do I use MAQS with medium boxes? I have two hives in my back yard here in town, and I use all mediums. All of the instructions I've read an the searches I've done on the two bee forums have yielded nothing.

One of my hives is pretty weak, and I believe it is tanking and won't survive the winter; it has two medium broods and two honey boxes, only one of which is filled last I checked two weeks ago. I could not find the queen but could find no evidence of a LW. I did see empty queen cells and assume they have a queen, but I'll know more about that tonight when I check for queen/eggs/brood.

The strong hive is doing really well, and I'm thinking of combining the weak with the strong if I can't find the queen or evidence of her in my weak hive. We're still in warm weather, but Sept. will likely see our first hard frost. If I can find no evidence of a queen in the weak hive, how do I go about combining the two and treating with MAQS before it gets cold?

Many, many thanks. With the info that I'm likely to have to go through not only one knee surgery but two on the same knee, I'm really stressed about my hives. I had surgery on the knee in '94 after the climbing accident, and recovery was about a year, and the thought of going through it again fills me with dread. To add insult to injury, I've got no one to help me...my girls rely entirely on me. Any advice on how to treat for mites and get them ready for winter is welcome.

[Michael Bush]

The math:
3 10-frame mediums = 2 10-frame deeps
4 8-frame mediums = 2 10-frame deeps.

Does that help?  If it isn't dosage you are concerned with, then I'm not sure what your concern is.

[Palouse]

The math:
3 10-frame mediums = 2 10-frame deeps
4 8-frame mediums = 2 10-frame deeps.

Does that help?  If it isn't dosage you are concerned with, then I'm not sure what your concern is.

It is, thank you. But do you put the strips on top of the bottom medium (just under the second), or do you put the strips on top of the second medium (and below the third)?

EDIT: In a moment of clarity, the thought came to me to just call the folks who make the stuff. They said the strips should go on top of the second box and below the third.

[Parksguyy]

Just a word of caution,
One of the local beeks here (I think he has +300 hives) and has been keeping bees for years, very knowledgable guy ... used MAQS last year for the first time.  He followed instructions and ended up with major queen losses. After the dust settled, and thru discussion with the manufacturer ... the initial treatmen should be cut in half.  I don't have much more information than that unfortunately, but know that there was nothing else going on with his hives that would have caused this loss of queens.  The fact it was a fall treatment made it even worst being so late into the season.  So be careful using this product.
   

[Palouse]

Thanks. I haven't put them on yet, but a local guy who had 20 hives last fall ended up with seven in the spring, and he blamed it on mites. I think I may go oxalic.