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Bees usually try to remove Apilife Var - and Apiguard. Sometimes it is thrown out quickly. Occasionally Apiguard seems to be ignored. Sometimes bees will try to propolise it to seal it up, rather than remove it.

I finally bit the bullet a couple of weeks back and bought a Sublimox. What a beautifully engineered bit of kit and a delight to use. Bizzarely I bought it online from a shop in Romania for just under £300 including postage. http://www.prisacadobrogea.ro/cumpara/s ... ic-7344086
It arrived in five days.

that's horrendously expensive compared to Thornes https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?rout ... ct_id=1712

DianeBees wrote: ↑

07 Oct 2018, 15:15

that's horrendously expensive compared to Thornes https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?rout ... ct_id=1712

Diane, that's a varrox, below is a sublimox...A totally different beast. They create a pressurized stream of oxalic acid vapour, approx 30 seconds to treat each hive. Safety masks are a must when using them.
Abelo sell them at £349.

Apiarisnt wrote: ↑

05 Oct 2018, 21:52

I finally bit the bullet a couple of weeks back and bought a Sublimox. What a beautifully engineered bit of kit and a delight to use. Bizzarely I bought it online from a shop in Romania for just under £300 including postage. http://www.prisacadobrogea.ro/cumpara/s ... ic-7344086
It arrived in five days.

bargain, I hope that will be something I wil be aquiring shortly.

...and Thorne's sell the Sublimox for £360...

Sublimox is in a different league to the Varrox (and so it should be at that price) . It is more of an active rather than passive sytem. The Varrox heats up the oxalic acid until it is at roughly the right temperature then most of it wafts its way through the brood. With the Sublimox the pan is heated to precisely the right temperature ( using a proportional–integral–derivative controller ), you then invert it, the oxalic acid immediatley sublimates and is shot out into the hive. Temperature control is rather important, otherwise the oxalic acid breaks down into formic acid and carbon dioxide, the former risks killing the queen.

I made myself a Varrox lookalike for under ten quid using a PTC heating element off ebay which was set at 170C - the right(ish) temperature for the sublimation of oxalic acid. The Sublimox is far, far preferable.

But listen to the expert, not to me: http://theapiarist.org/sublimox/

Ah! Thank you all. Have only ever seen the varrox type!

Then there is this variety...best seen on utube. They reckon-you can do a few hundred hives per hour...It's the Schwarzenegger of vaporizers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJ7P4gWCN0

NigelP wrote: ↑

07 Oct 2018, 17:35

Then there is this variety...best seen on utube. They reckon-you can do a few hundred hives per hour...It's the Schwarzenegger of vaporizers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJ7P4gWCN0

Wow! That's a serious bit of kit!

> what is popular in your area or indeed are you considering not treating at all?

I don't treat and most of the experienced beeks round me don't - IF you ask them. They tend to keep heir heads down on this as the pro-treatment lobby is so aggressive towards non-treaters.