Spring Treament: Oxysol for American Foul Brood (AFB)

When reading the history of bees in North America they say the Pilgrims brought hives with them across the Atlantic Ocean to North America.

And they brought a bee disease too--American Foul Brood.

The Oxysol treatment, mixed into powdered sugar helps prevent an AFB infection from taking over the hive.

This treatment is 4 grams of Oxysol which is mixed into 32 grams of powdered sugar.

The hive is to be given 32 grams of this powdered mix once a week for four weeks.

The instructions mention sprinkling it on the bars, but a better way is to lay a square of wax paper on the frames and put the powder on that.

[Confectioner's sugar is regular white sugar but it's very finely ground so it dissolves very quickly.  Baker's often use it as a decorative sprinkle on fruits or for a quick dissolving sugar for drinks].

The reason for the 32 grams of sugar is to be sure the bees take in the treatment at a certain rate.

From reading the last two posts you can probably guess that having a small scales is a handy piece of equipment to have around.  Dad got our scales for under $10.00.

Here is a quote from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture on spring/fall treatments with Oxysol:

OXYTET-25-S or OXYSOL-62.5 powdered sugar mix. Follow the label directions for preparation of material. Label must indicate that
the mixture can be used for honey bees. Treat according to the label on OXYTET-25-S or OXYSOL-62.5 with the powdered sugar mix along the margins of the brood chamber. Be careful not to put powdered mix directly on to open brood. Repeat 3 times at 4-5 day intervals in the spring and
in the fall. Stop treating 4 weeks before the main honey flow.

PREVENTATIVE MEASURE:
All bee colonies should be treated.
It is not recommended to use the sugar syrup method of application or products such as pollen substitutes as carriers, as this can contaminate honey, is less effective and will promote resistant AFB strains.

Fall Treatments for AFB, Nosema and Varroa Mites

My mite counts have been high. Really high. It was scary looking at the mite boards a few weeks ago.

Just about every round dot on the sticky board from the bottom of the hive was a mite.

The count would have been well over 300 in a week. Easily that many. Damn. Or I should say Damn Mites.



My poor hard working bees. I knew they needed some help.



I certainly prefer to use Formic Acid over other chemicals but for this fall treatment I opted to use Apivar strips.

The strips are made of plastic with a v-point cutout at the top of one end. They slide down vertically between the frames of the brood chamber. The v-point catches on the top of the frame which holds it in place.



The instructions advise to place the strips at a maximum of 2 frames apart and to put them in where the bees are clustering, where the brood are.



This pesticide works via contact, unlike Formic Acid which is a vapour. With Apivar, the bees brush past the strip and that's how the treatment is applied to the bees.


I recharged the sticky boards and have done a 'before' mite count so that I can compare the 'after' treatment mite count.

I also gave the bees an AFB treatment, mixed with fruit sugar and sprinkled on wax paper. A few weeks ago I also gave them baggies of sugar water, placed on top of the frames, with Fumagilin to combat Nosema.

I notice that my one hive (#1) takes down all the medications right away whereas the other three hives are slower to eat up theirs.

Of course, no honey supers are on the hive at this time while this chemical is in the hives.