OA Vaporizing

[RHBee]

Why is it recommended to close up the hive for 10 minutes during a treatment? It seems like an unnecessary time consuming step. The vapor is dispersed through out the hive by natural circulation and adheres to the bees and hive components.
Has anyone ever given this a try?

[adamant]

I believe you have to maximize the fumigation of the bees 

[Gary and Margaret - kiwimana]

Hi,

The ten minutes allows the vapor to condense inside the hive, it also reduces the chance of the operator breathing in the vapour (which isn't fun at all)

Cheers...Gary

[OldMech]

Un approved or not, this IS how I treat my bees,  err...  I mean Bleach my frames, and the results have exceeded spectacular..
   I DO NOT leave the hive blocked in for ten minutes, but I do leave it blocked for a few minutes...

   I run the jumper cables from my truck battery and hook them to the Varrox Vaporizer.. I hook the hot (positive, +) cable but leav the ground unhooked..    Prepare the vaporizer, tape over the top entrance..   Slide the vaporizer into the hive and block the entrance with a rag..
   Walk back to the battery and hook the ground cable and start the stop watch..
   two and a half minutes later I unhook the ground cable...  Give it another minute, then go lift the rag and pull the vaporizer out and re block the entrance.
   Dip the vaporizer in water to cool it, and prepare the next hive. Add the OA to the vaporizer and insert it into hive two. Block with another rag and walk back to the battery..   hook the ground cable up and wait two and a half minutes..  after unhooking the ground I go to hive number one, remove the rag and the tape on the upper entrance, and take these things to hive three, and prepare it for treatment..  Remove the vaproizer from hive two and re block the entrance....    Rinse and repeat until all 40 + hives are done...

   More information can be found here;
  http://outyard.weebly.com/treatments.html

[Gary and Margaret - kiwimana]

Hi,

Here's a link to the video of how we use our vaporizer:-

Oxalic Acid Vaporizer - How to use the Kiwi Oxalic Acid Vaporizer

I'm guessing its similar for other models of vaporizers.