Thank you all very much I didn’t expect such a quick response, I will get onto this with confidents now

Here’s an answer to your question from bee expert Becky Tipton:

Re rhubarb for oxalic acid in hives: You are correct, there is oxalic acid in rhubarb and I have heard several people ask this question and heard it answered by a real scientist so I will paraphrase her answer here: To get the amount of oxalic acid comparable to an application dose, you would need to have bushels of rhubarb leaves in your hive—just not a practical application. It would be a little like saying penicillin comes from orange peel mold so I’m going to eat this moldy orange because I have an infection. Just not the same. I’ve also known of people considering planting rhubarb around their hives. There is no attractive bloom on the rhubarb to attract the honey bee and they will likely ignore the plants just like most other non flowering plants. If you choose to add rhubarb leaves to your hive, the bees will probably carry them out of the hive instead of preforming other housekeeping tasks. There is no scientific data to support this idea.

But then I remembered the college classes that I took in genetics, entomology, integrated pest management and biology. After thinking about it I just won’t do it.

The reason I came to this conclusion is the drones are the primary mechanism that healthy bees have to extend their genetics into the gene pool and allow the bees to evolve gradually to be resistant to pest and disease pressures, thereby adapting to the changing circumstances they face. If we kill off the male bees during mating season, we will completely undermine bees natural mechanism to adapt and evolve. I’m still really sad that this seemingly innocuous method of drone trapping has the power to slowly muscle bees into a weaker and weaker species. After a lot of consideration, reading, and failed experiments, I have settled on using oxalic acid vapor (Varrox) at the recommended dose, but less often than suggested. I allow some loss of productivity and hives to mite stress so the bees can adapt.

I continuing to read about both strengthening bees and controlling pests. I am open to changing my method as new knowledge becomes available, but I strongly believe killing off male bees in volume is a kamikaze approach.

Diatamacios earth in the tray under SBB after powder sugar or MOF works really well and noticed that any vegetable oils are attracting SHB . The cd cases painted black, roach poison boric acid small piece of comb. with with honey mixed works great. One in bottom and one on top. Ox acid after fall honey pull with vaporizer one time a week for well we do four weeks. Spring and summer MOF one time a month. Good Luck.