The beetles were smashed with my fingers, and about the varroa I use a paper with sunflower oil or vaseline, adding 5 gramos of thymol. Place the paper on the frames that contain brood. Repeat every 6 days during 4 weeks. If the temperature is too high nucleus can swarm out.
I use thymol only during emergency treatment during summer, when other treatment are more dangerous.
"Spanish scientists at Cordoba University’s Andalucian Centre for Ecological Apiculture (CAAPE) have therefore spent several years researching thymol with the idea of producing a cheap and effective preparation that the beekeepers will actually use. Firstly they found that pure thymol (99%) that came into contact with bees could cause retardation of the development of the colony and in some cases caused a decline in the colony. Careful dosage was therefore essential. Having found an effective dose they then devised a way of treating the colony effectively. They finally came up with the following, and extensive and wide ranging field trials in the various different climates of Spain are now underway. They advise the following:
8 grams of thymol (99%) pure is added to 12 grams of olive oil. (This is cheap in Spain, but I’m sure that any food grade vegetable oil would do). This should be warmed and stirred until the crystals are fully dissolved. Then obtain one of those green florist sponges and make a piece 9 X 5 X 0.8cm and soak it in the oil until it is full. Break the sponge into two pieces and place the pieces over the brood frames, equally spaced. Leave for 2 weeks and repeat. This should be done in the Spring and can be repeated in the Autumn, although they stress that thymol is only one tool in the fight and that alternate treatments of other varroacides are advised. To this end they are now beginning research on a cheap, easy and effective way of delivering oxalic acid to hives".
Topic: futurist battlefield (Read 3100 times)