Venom Research is the brand name for our product research and development workshop. We operate and manufacture these vaporizers from a small cnc engineering business based in Lower Hutt, Wellington, NZ. Please see our contact page for more info..
No we don't.. but on the subject of bee stings, the best
advice
I can give about treating a bee sting is fairly common knowledge, and
that is: Honey bees are generally fairly mellow. They won't sting you
unless
threatened, but..
If
you do get stung, firstly - don't agitate more bees by quickly
brushing them
away - walk away fast.
Scrape the stinger out with your
nail, don't squeeze the stinger - it may push more venom into
the
sting.
You can then use a little mixed paste of ordinary baking soda - mixed
with water, or vinegar to neutralise the venom. Rub the liquid
paste into the sting mark. It will hopefully reduce the pain.
More importantly, if the person stung feels unwell, swells up, or gets other itches/rashes - see a doctor, as they may be allergic.
Yes, just one small hive, which came from a swarm I sucessfully captured, with the help of another local beekeeper. I have only used natural oxalic vapor treatment to keep the varroa mite count close to nil. The hive is in a peaceful corner of my garden, and it is where I often go to relax, and admire these little hard workers.
The Wikipedia article on Varroa Destructor
will give more details on the mite itself.
A PDF document from MAF NZ with Information for Beekeepers - about Varroa.
The NZ Beekeepers forums have many discussions on these pests.
Use a google search to find more info online.
Venom
Vapor Video 1: Setting up, amount of oxalic, timing, and
batteries.
Venom
Vapor Video 2: A closer look inside the hive
immediately after teatment.
Use a fully charged battery (12 volts+). VERY important that yur battery is in good condition. An old second hand used alarm battery may not work well.
7 Ahr “alarm” batteries are borderline fine, a 7.2 Ahr and higher are better – more power for longer.
The first treatment of the day, when the vaporiser tray or
temperature is
cold, the cycle ON time is 2 and a half minutes.
After this, when the tray is slightly warmer the battery ON time can be
2 minutes.
It will not harm the vaporiser if you accidentally leave it on for a little longer, however the heat may damage anything nearby, and can drain your battery to below its recommended threshold. (which reduces battery life).
The vaporiser tray, and part of the steel shaft
gets very hot in use! (200 degrees celcius).
This is hot enough to give you a burn, and could set fire to dry
scrub/wood if
left on in contact for too long.
Remember to leave hive entrance blocked with a rag, or towel
for at least 5 to 10 minutes after you disconnect the battery.
You can remove the vapouriser tool from the entrance (and use it on
another hive, for example) but leave it
blocked.
This
is so the vapourised oxalic acid can re-crystallise and not simply blow
out of the
hive.
Let the vaporiser cool down enough so that it dosn’t burn the next lot of oxalic crystals if you are treating multiple hives.
If you remove
the vaporiser and there is any whitish crystal bits left in the tray:-
If it's a cold day, leave connected to the battery for an
extra 15 seconds on the next hive (2 minutes and 15 seconds).
If it still dosen't vaporize all the crystals, your battery is going
below 11 volts, and needs recharging, or is a faulty, or old battery
which may not be charging to its full capacity.
A fully charged good battery will last many treatement cycles,
depending on its Amp-hour rating.
If there is
black, or
brown gunk left in the tray?
This is probably wax, or something else that has melted onto
the tray - scrape and clean it out before the next hive.
(the
vaporiser will normally get blackened from use, you can easily clean
it by
scraping the residues off with a scraper, or a steelo pad. You may use
a little
water, and mild detergents to clean it if you need to. Don't immerse
vaporiser in any liquids.
3 grams is more than enough for most standard size hives. Note, 3 grams is a rough guide, some use 2, some use 4, all with outstanding positive results. Using slightly more will do no harm. However, using alot more, will not kill more varroa, it may just put unneeded stress on your bees and hive (using too much oxalic vapor has NOT been known to kill bees, queen, or ruin a hive).
UPDATED: Hives preferably are treated over a month. That is once a week for 4 weeks. This schedule is proven to be the most effective at eradicating the varroa mites that survived previous treatments by being protected under a capped larvae cell (usually a drone, but if you have a high infestation level, they will be in many other cells). This treatment cycle is how a hive can be almost completely (99%+) cleared of varroa.
There is also no exact timing between these four treatments. Some do every 2 months, and some every 6 months or more. It can, and may depend on other bees and hives (possibly semi wild) in the area re-infecting treated hives.
If you have a hive that is heavily infested (and if left untreated - it will expire), it can be saved by doing daily oxalic vapour treatments over a few weeks.
Vaporizing oxalic crystals in the hive has been used for many
many
years, and most bee keepers are self monitoring the various methods to
ascertain which treatment methods are more effective than others. There
is a steady
growing
amount of positive results and feedback from using the oxalic
vapor method
alone. I like to avoid promoting the destructve sampling methods
(alcohol shake) which will kill
a
few hundred bees at a time to obtain a mite count prior to a treatment.
The sugar bottle shake is a
method which apparently dosen't kill your sampled bees but a good DIY
method is placing a "sticky mat" under the hive prior to a treatment
(open bottom hives only). A "sticky mat" is a vaseline
covered white card, or white plastic.
See this Scientific Beekeeping page for
more
info on sampling and making your own.
You can then capture and record the deceased varroa mites which fall out of the hive. The mite drop will be most noticable the next day after an oxalic vapor treatment,
Oxalic acid is poisonous if swallowed, but is safe if used
properly,
and proper instructions are followed.
The honey bee can tolerate the recommended quantities, and the hive
functions as
normal during the treatment process.
Oxalic is available (at a premium) from hardware stores as a
wood bleach. It
is a natural organic substance, and is present in very small quantities
in nature. Most notably in rhubarb leaves, which, if you eat too much
of - will make you unwell too.
Don't allow pure oxalic acid powder to spill onto anything you dont want possibly bleached, including your skin, and most importantly your eyes. If you touch the dry powder, I'd suggest you wash away with plenty of water before you might rub it into your eyes and cause a serious acid burn.
It dosen't immediately burn skin, but upon dissolving into a liquid (especially in eyes for example) it becomes a extreme irritant, and will cause serious acid burn.
Only one teaspoon of oxalic acid can kill a child. It is very
bitter, and would be near impossible to swallow, but don't take any
chances. Keep safe
and locked away from children, as will burn eyes causing serious
damage, and possibly blindness.
It is a white
crystal powder, that looks very similar to salt, or sugar, and it is
soluble (dissolves)
in water easily. Oxalic is not soluable in fats, oils, and most
importantly, wax, or beeswax.
When the oxalic acid crystal is heated, it first turns to liquid at about 110 degrees celcius, boils at 140, then between 160 & 180 degrees, it sublimes into a fine vapor phase. DO NOT INHALE THIS VAPOUR! You can operate a vapouriser safely, without any danger, if you stand upwind, or away from the hive using common sense. If only a very small part of this vapour is inhaled (breathed in), it quickly re-condenses back into a liquid acid (very irritating) which causes you to cough (a lot) to remove it. You won't axphysiate on smelling a very small whiff, but it is very very unpleasant. DO NOT test or vaporise oxalic acid indoors - if you can't get away from the dense vapour, then you will breath lots of it, and cause serious acid burns to your throat and lungs. Oxalic acid naturally and safely decomposes in the hive, and in the enviroment if you spill some outside.
Because this device uses a heavy duty battery, gets very very hot and is intended to vaporise a poisonous acid, please read the following:
The sale or use of any Venom Research (VR) product constitutes an acceptance of the following terms. VR are supplying a custom designed heating tool, with accurate advice and instructions based on publicly available free and proven knowledge. VR and associates can not be held responsible for any consequenses arising from misadventure by the use or misuse or lack of any detail in the advice given regarding this heating tool. All advice and instructions are presumed understood, and are given to the best of our knowledge to be true and accurate regarding the correct and safe operation. The new owner or operator of this product is expected to do further research into this method and usage, and only operate it if they understand and accept the dangers involved.