Brood break and OAV

[Aroc]

Been having trouble getting good results from OAV.  I ended up using Apivar last year and ultimately Apiguard this year. 

I've decided I really don't like what the Apiguard did to my bees.

I've heard a change in administration of OAV has been circulating around from the standard once a week for 4 weeks to a one time application after a brood break.  The brood break is caused by isolation of the queen for a certain amount of time. 

Can anyone give me some more specifics on this method?  Has anyone done this yet?  If so what were the results?

Thanks in advance

[BeeMaster2]

To isolate the queen, she is put in a cage that keeps her from laying eggs. One method is to make a 3x3" cage of #8 wire cloth to keep her locked to a small area in the hive.
Jim

[KeyLargoBees]

Vapor or some other method? I have had great results with vapor...and the new trend is moving it from once a week 4 times to 4 times once every 4 days...that seems to be giving a lot of people great results since you are getting multiple treatments on all larval bees as well as those hatching out that might have mites in the cells with them already.

But since you appear to be a northern beek based on profile traditional treatment is late summer/early fall and then early spring for a natural brood break.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Aroc, you will have natural brood breaks in Montana, like all winter, very shortly.  However, I don't know if you winter your hives in MT.  Sawdust, Jim explained very well, (brood break)nothing I can add.  I lived in Mt. for decades, knapweed honey is premium, so light, mild and delicate and off subject.

[Aroc]

I get the natural brood break in winter.  In fact I have one hive that shut down several weeks ago.  No brood at all in there, but there is a queen.  I can do the OAV in winter, but I'm concerned more with the mite buildup in late summer.

And I have a beautiful field of knapweed just down the road that I pray each year they won't spray....

[GSF]

I treat with OAV late summer mid fall, on a particular day each week for 4 weeks. Never failed me. If I would have done anything different this year it would have been treat in the spring as well. Mainly because of the very warm winter we had.(I don't even know if that has anything to do with mite build up - but it would have given me a warm and fuzzy..)

[Michael Bush]

I don't do brood breaks or OAV for Varroa.  But if I were to do them for treating for Varroa with some treatment (OAV etc.), I would try to time them to three weeks before the main flow.  This will not decrease your honey production and give you a chance to hit the Varroa while there is no capped brood.  Do your OAV just before you put on the supers.  You could remove the queen and let them raise a new one or you could confine the queen in a nuc and reintroduce her three weeks later (assuming you destroyed all the queen cells after a week of being queenless so they can't raise one).