Oxalic dilution

[Geo224]

I'd like to make up my own oxalic solution.

Can anyone tell me how they make theirs up?

Hope there's more of a general concensus about the quantities on this forum!!!

Cheers

[Calum]

here you go (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/entry.php?205-Trickling-treats) done my good deed of to bed.

[Geo224]

here you go (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/entry.php?205-Trickling-treats) done my good deed of to bed.

Thanks that's what I'm looking for.

[Jon]

7.5 Oxalic 100g sugar 100ml water is what I have used for 4 years.
It knocks the mites down and does not appear to kill the bees.

[Jimbo]

Made one batch yesterday 75g Oxalic Dihydrate, 1000g Sugar, 1000ml, 1000ml ultra pure distilled water. Place together in a 5 litre beaker and place on stirrer/mixer for about 1hr with no heat until dissolved. When dissolved aliquote into 50ml sterile Falcon tubes and label.
It's quite good having a big lab to play in and a research student with too much time on her hands.
Like Jon used this for more than 5 years in our association of about 80 colonies/year with no reported problems from any members.

[Geo224]

Thanks

I'll have to stir it myself though ;)

[gavin]

We're used to people stirring it on here! :p

I'm happy to use warmth to help dissolve the oxalic acid as it is quite stable in solution. The sugar will change if heated for long (days rather than minutes I think) with the acidic solution, so add it afterwards. The cool sugar brings the temperature down.

The excellent link Callum pointed you towards my foray into the weaker strength solution some use (and get away with). My bees were fine with that too, but a friend using that batch had a Varroa problem the next summer. I'm going back to the 75+1000+1000 recipe as it is tried and tested, and has worked fine for me too for years.

That counts as a consensus! We'll just have to keep Rosie quiet as I think he goes with a weaker solution.

[Jon]

I have not seen a colony get into difficulties with varroa for at least 4 years through using the combination of thymol product in August and Oxalic trickle in December.
I don't count the mite drop in every colony but I think the highest estimate would be between 500-1000 mites at the time of thymol application.
Most colonies of mine appear to have a mite level in the low hundreds at late summer and I attribute this to the efficiency of the Oxalic trickle in December. I reckon most colonies in spring have only a couple of dozen mites at worst.

[Geo224]

Seems its cheaper buying the crystals from non beekeeping websites.

Where do people buy from?

[Jon]

Even the Thorne price is really cheap as 500g costs about £8 and that would treat 300 colonies
The sugar will cost you as much as the Oxalic dihydrate.
You can likely get it from a pharmacy or somewhere which sells products to clean wood but you would need to be careful you are buying the same concentration. E-bay is bound to have it as well. I don't know if they do the stuff in different strengths.
At least with Thorne you know you are getting the right stuff.

We mix up several litres at a time and distribute it through the association in December.

[Calum]

yes, Goe224 save a pound on industrial quality or worse.

Deep fried dinner in motor oil too?

I only use medical quality and have never had an issue with winter or spring losses.
I'd not give my bees anything I'd consider as being less than the best I could find, they work for me after all. :)

[Geo224]

I agree

I only ask as some suppliers up the price because its for beekeeping. For example the posca Q marking pens, you can find them for half the price on non beekeeping websites.

[Jon]

Point taken as I got my posca pens from Amazon for a fraction of the price but I definitely would not want to take a risk with the Oxalic. Too strong might affect the longevity of the bees and too weak might be ineffective at killing the mites.

[Calum]

I agree the bee shops are a ripoff. Its a pity as it puts people off getting started with bees - the entry price is so high these days...
But in some cases I just pay what it costs and sleep better knowing I got the best for my bees (especially food & medicines) buying wax is tricky.
Whenever I heard of anyone giving up that has a good reputation my first call is to find out if they have wax for sale - the most valuable easily harvestable bee product.