Beyond the Hive
Oxalic Acid Fogging
Commercial beekeeping
This beekeeper discovered a Varroa infestation in his hives following which he decided to use oxalic acid fogging as his primary treatment. The beekeeper soon discovered this particular treatment used in this way did not deliver the results he expected.
Profile
Name: Anonymous
Years in the Industry: 10 years
Number of Hives: 400
Operation type: Honey production and pollination
Varroa Discovery
This beekeeper first discovered Varroa at the end of December 2024. When working his hives he came across a weaker hive and discovered it was overrun by mites. This was the first time the beekeeper had encountered mites and he found it quite distressing to have an infestation in his hives.
Fogging as primary treatment
After researching treatments the beekeeper decided to try oxalic acid fogging. He fogged his hives, waited 7 days then fogged them again. He did this twice. He placed sticky mats in the bottom of the hive to monitor results and got a big mite drop after the first round of fogging. But he also saw bee numbers decline.
‘I was willing to take that loss if it worked as good as I thought it would.’
Although there was a mite drop this beekeeper found that the fogging was only killing mites on bees not in brood. Fogging again after 7 days he didn’t see a significant increase in mite numbers, however, numbers steadily increased over the following months when he used the treatment for a second time.
The beekeeper soon discovered that this treatment was not giving him the results he had hoped for and the method is best used in colder conditions when the bees are broodless.
Fogging should be used as a flash treatment even with brood present. The method can extend the time frame between other chemical use.
Expectations
The beekeeper chose to use fogging as their primary treatment due to the ease of use and seemingly great results after researching its use and effectiveness overseas. After trialling the treatment he discovered it wasn’t as effective as he thought it would be.
He had wall to wall brood so the fogging couldn’t reach mites within the brood and he found that he was losing too many bees to the treatment.
‘In peak times when I’ve got wall to wall brood fogging hasn’t been as effective as I would like’.
Looking to the future
This beekeeper is feeling positive about his future in beekeeping.