Autumn Products
Prepare your hive for autumn with our beekeeping essentials collection! Safeguard your bees from Varroa mites, wasps, and robbing with our effective control solutions. Enhance their diet with our protein-rich Feedbee supplement. Shop now for a thriving, healthy hive!
InstantVap COMPACT 18 volt
760-0050-Ma
Price excludes GST
Regular price
$870.00
2nd Gen InstantVap
InstantVap COMPACT 18 Volt
The latest 2nd Gen version of the popular InstantVap has arrived. The InstantVap COMPACT makes vaporising oxalic acid in beehives simple, fast and practical in the field.
Similar to the previous generation, this unit makes OA treatment an absolute breeze — now in a smaller, lighter and stronger design with simplified LED operation.
Smaller & lighter Easier to handle across multiple hives.
Simple LED control Watch the light to know exactly what the unit is doing.
Field-ready design Strong stainless, acid-resistant frame and dispenser.
Low cost per hive Treat 1000 beehives from approximately $15.00 + GST in materials.
Important: The device is compatible with only one type of battery fitting. Please select your battery style carefully. Price does not include batteries.
Video of the original InstantVap model showing application procedures is also available here. This applies to all InstantVap models.
New compact design
This updated model has had a radical overhaul. It is smaller, lighter and stronger than the previous unit, while focusing on the essentials needed for practical treatment in the field.
The unit sits better with most standard batteries and is controlled by one switch with a clear LED indicator.
LED status guide
The InstantVap COMPACT is preset to the right parameters. Simply watch the LED to understand the current status.
- •Slow flashing: Heating up
- •Solid light: Ready
- •Fast flashing: Treating
- •Intermittent flashing: Flat battery
Applications & suggested dose rates
1
Beehives with solid bases
Apply 2g of OA vapour at the bottom entry. Block the entry with a wet towel for 5–7 minutes to trap vapour in the beehive while treating other beehives.
2
Beehives with vented bases
Use a vent blocker sheet and carry out the same process as above. Vent blockers can be removed after 5–7 minutes.
3
Difficult-to-block vented bases
Use a 3g dose from the top of the hive. A small notch in the hive mat, or in the rim of the queen excluder, can provide good access for the vaporiser.
4
Front-plate application
Apply vapour through a hole in the front plate of the brood box. Drill a 6.5mm hole if using the bare brass nozzle, or a 9.5mm hole if using the silicone sleeve. Block the hole with a golf tee after treatment.
Included with each vaporiser
- ✓1 x Vaporiser
- ✓1 x Plunger
- ✓1 x 500g of OA
- ✓2 x Silicone caps
- ✓2 x Silicone sleeves
- ✓2 x Spare O-rings
- ✓2 x Cleaning caps
Useful accessories
- → 6Ah 18V Makita LXT batteries
- → Respirators — must be worn when vaporising.
- → Cleaning video
- → InstantVap Support Stand
Technical details
| Power | 18V–20V; 250W; 14A |
|---|---|
| Power use | Approx. 1Ah for heating up, then 1Ah provides enough power for 9–10 two gram doses. |
| Dose timing | Each 2g dose takes approximately 18 seconds to vaporise. |
| Build material | Stainless, acid-resistant steel frame and dispenser. |
| Operating temperature | Pre-set at 230℃ / 445F. Not adjustable. |
| Dispenser | Fast, tool-free, roll-on adjustment with 1–4 gram scale. |
| Nozzle | 6mm strong brass outlet pipe, designed to reduce clogging and allow easy cleaning. |
| Clearance | Minimum 100mm free space in front of the nozzle is recommended. |
| Weather performance | Double-wall furnace works well in cold, windy weather. |
Battery compatibility
The InstantVap COMPACT is powered by common power tool batteries. Select the correct battery fitting before ordering.
Makita LXT 18V Milwaukee M18 Bosch Blue / ProCore 18V Dewalt XR18/20V Metabo 18V Ozito PXC 18V AEG Pro 18V HiKOKI / Hitachi 18V
Battery note: Dewalt Power Stack batteries are incompatible. Batteries are not included.
Queen Isolation Cage 240
760-0240
Price excludes GST
Regular price
$6.00
For brood breaks and healthy hive management.
Queen Isolation Cage
As varroa mites become resistant to miticides, and varroa re-invasion issues become more severe, beekeepers all over the world are searching for alternative treatments. Brood breaks in conjunction with Oxalic Acid vaporisation are extremely effective and low cost, and are becoming a very popular option.
Quick summary
- Purpose-built cages made from food-grade Polypropylene.
- Sliding door on one side.
- Side openings in the grill are 4.2mm, the same as a queen excluder.
- Nurse bees can go in and out to care for the queen.
- Large enough to allow plenty of pheromone distribution, so the bees don’t try to supersede her.
Technical details
| Material | Food-grade Polypropylene |
|---|---|
| Side openings | 4.2mm, same as a queen excluder |
| Outside dimensions | 240mm x 29mm x 34mm high |
| Pack size | Packed 100 per carton |
Releasing the queen
To release the queen, slide open a door on the cage and she will come out as soon as the hive is closed back up.
Product video
Fitting into a brood frame
It is recommended to cut a window out of a brood frame and fit the cage into the window. The bees will secure it in place.
The frame can live permanently in the hive. Position it as an outer frame in the brood box when it has no queen enclosed. When the queen is inside, keep it near the middle of the brood box so she keeps warm and fed.
Using a ¾ depth frame
It is recommended to use a ¾ depth frame in a full depth brood box. The bees will build drone comb underneath it.
If there are any mites in the hive, they will tend to go to these drone cells. When they are all capped, they can be easily scraped from the bottom of the frame and disposed of, mites and all.
Alternative cage position
Some beekeepers fit the cage between 2 frames in a horizontal position instead of vertical. The comb is scraped back to the foundation. There is a question whether this way allows enough pheromone to be released, but it seems to be okay.
Applications
- Varroa control by creating a brood break, then vaporising with Oxalic Acid.
- Swarm control.
- To maximise a honey crop.
- When requeening with cells.
- For overwintering.
The InstantVap Vaporizer is very quick and efficient for brood break and Oxalic Acid applications.
1. Varroa control
From mid-Spring to mid-Summer, 75% of the varroa mites in a hive can be breeding inside the capped brood cells and are protected from most varroa treatments.
By creating a brood break, all the varroa mites are exposed and can be killed with 1–3 cents worth of Oxalic Acid by vaporisation.
Procedure
- Cage the queen for 18 days.
- Release her and wait 6 days.
- Then you will have 2 days where there will be no capped brood.
- Vaporise the beehive with Oxalic Acid and kill almost every varroa mite inside.
Most commercial queen breeders will mark queens for no extra charge. That makes them very easy to find to allow for quick caging and very low cost varroa control.
2. Swarm control
Cage the queen in Spring to control swarming and varroa mite populations.
There are 3 stages that usually precede swarming:
- Build excess amounts of drone brood.
- Build queen cell cups.
- Add eggs to cell cups to produce new queens.
The procedure is best performed during the first or second stage.
Procedure
- Cage the queen for 18 days.
- Release her and wait 6 days.
- Then you will have 2 days where there will be no capped brood. Vaporise the beehive with Oxalic Acid and kill almost every varroa mite inside.
- 18 days with no eggs makes the bees forget about swarming for a while.
It is important to time this procedure to maximise field bee numbers at the start of the honey flow.
3. To maximise a honey crop
Some honey flows can be very valuable but occur for an intense and brief period of only 2 or 3 weeks.
To maximise the crop, cage the queen 2 or 3 days before the start of the expected honey flow. This allows for the following:
- The queen excluder can be removed.
- 8 days after caging, there will be no brood to feed.
- More bees get involved in field duties to maximise the crop.
- Less food and pollen required in the brood nest.
- Very few foragers collect pollen. They focus on the honey crop.
- No chance of getting brood in the honey supers.
The honey crop can then be removed, queen released, and the hive can be vaporised with Oxalic Acid to kill virtually all the varroa mites in the hive.
4. Requeening with cells
Put the old queen into the cage when adding a queen cell. Check the hive 24 days later to see if there is a new laying queen.
If not, the old queen can be let out to continue laying. If there is a good new queen, the old queen can be removed.
There is likely to be no capped brood, so the hive can be vaporised with Oxalic Acid to kill virtually every varroa mite in the hive.
5. Over winter
Beehives in good condition in Autumn will greatly benefit from a brood break in the winter.
If you have hives in a location where this doesn’t happen, you can do it with an isolation cage.
The bees that hatch out after you cage the queen will live happily until the next batch of brood arrives several months later, after the brood break period.
This is all conditional to the bees being healthy and having enough of them at the time of caging.
The queen can be caged for 3 to 4 months without any detrimental effects to her health or performance.
24 days after caging, there will be no capped brood and the hive can be vaporised with Oxalic Acid.
If done with the correct technique, it will kill virtually every varroa mite in the beehive. There is no capped brood for them to shelter in.
Another treatment one week later is recommended to wipe out any possible varroa mite remnants.
Varroa mites can potentially turn up from stray bees from other colonies, but they cannot breed when there is no brood.
Winter brood break advantages
The temperature in the cluster will drop from 34°C to around 22°C to 28°C. With the lower temperature and no brood, there are significant advantages such as:
- A lot less honey required in the winter.
- A lot less pollen is required.
- The worker bees and the queen live a lot longer because they have very little work to do.
- There is less condensation in the beehive.
- The timber stays dryer and lasts longer.
- Only one box of bees is required over winter.
- Easier to keep secure in case of storms or floods.
No varroa strips will be required in the beehive unless you have massive varroa mite re-invasion issues from nearby colonies.
Caging the queens in the first week of April and releasing in the last week of July worked very well on some trial beehives in the Nelson region in 2023.
The queens went crazy and laid a lot of eggs very fast. A month later, there were lots of beautiful big frames of very healthy brood.
When the queens are released, the hive can be vaporised with Oxalic Acid so that if there are any varroa mites present, they are virtually all killed.
Example of a cage in a plastic frame secured with SIKA MS bond.
Related option
Another Queen Isolation Cage option is the Technoset Queen Cage Frame. It takes the place of a frame and works on all the same principles listed above.
InstantVap TURBO 18 volt
760-0065-Ma
Price excludes GST
Regular price
$990.00
The all-new InstantVap® 18V TURBO has arrived — faster, smarter and more powerful than ever!
Building on the success of the Compact, the TURBO makes vaporizing oxalic acid (OA) in beehives even more efficient, with a high-power furnace, dynamic temperature control, and a smart LED interface for large-scale, reliable treatment.
NEW Turbo Design:
This model delivers quicker cycles (around 13 seconds per 2g dose) and precision control. With an easy-to-read LED display showing temperature, battery voltage, cycle counters and status lights, the Turbo is purpose-built for professional beekeepers needing speed in the field.
NEW LED display & counters
This includes live temperature and battery voltage, total cycles, cycles per battery, plus smart status light codes noted below: -
Slow blink = warming up, Solid = ready, Fast blink = vaporizing, Double blink + pause = low battery.
The Turbo combines strength and practicality — stainless-steel, acid-resistant frame, replaceable 6mm brass nozzle, double-wall furnace for cold/windy weather, and built-in over-discharge battery protection.
It is extremely cost-effective per application! Oxalic Acid costs less than 2 cents per hive for a 2 gram dose (based on bulk pricing). Treat thousands of hives for just a few dollars in materials.
Check out our InstantVap Operational Guide for more info.
The Vaporizer bowl temperature is very important to maximize the output of the Oxalic Acid without degrading it. Extensive lab testing shows that keeping the bowl temperature between 230 and 260 degrees Celsius is best:
Applications & suggested dose rates.
1. For beehives with solid bases, apply 2g of OA vapour at the bottom entry. Block the entry with a wet towel for 5–7 minutes.
2. For vented bases, use a vent blocker sheet, then follow the same process.
3. For hives with difficult-to-seal vented bases, apply 3g from the top via hive mat notch or excluder door/notch. See our stainless steel excluders with entry.
4. If the hive has a top feeder with a wooden rim, many beekeepers are applying the vapour through the rim directly below the feeder tray and into the bee space. Drill a 6.5mm hole in the rim on a slight downward angle to direct the vapour below the feeder tray. Plug with a golf tee or similar between treatments.
5. Through-the-wall dosing: drill a 6.5mm hole in the brood box and insert the brass nozzle. Plug with a golf tee or similar between treatments. It is best to locate the hole as high as possible at the side of the front plate so the vapour is directed alongside the outer frame. This method is the least most desirable of the 5 options.
NB. There should be 80mm to 100mm of free air space in front of the nozzle during discharge. Otherwise, 10% - 20% of the oxalic acid will solidify on a surface that is right in front and too close.
6 Amp/hr 18V Makita LXT Batteries also available here
Respirators must be worn when vaporizing — Check out our range here
Eye Protection must be worn.
Cleaning of these devices is important — Watch our Cleaning Video.
Take the weight of the nozzle with the InstantVap Support Stand.
Included with each Turbo:
1 × InstantVap Turbo Vaporizer (choose your battery socket)
1 × Oxalic Acid Dispenser
1 × Cleaning Cap
2 × Spare O-Rings
Batteries not included
The finer details:
- Dynamic adjustable temperature: 230–260 °C (optimum 260 °C)
- Power: 18–20V; 400W; 22A
- Approx. 1Ah required for heating; each additional 1Ah = ~7 × 2g treatments
- ~13s per 2g dose at optimum temp
- Stainless-steel, acid-resistant frame & dispenser
- Roll-on dosing dispenser, 1–4g scale, one-press release (extras available here)
- 6mm brass outlet pipe, easy to clean, designed to resist clogging
- Stable in hive hole, supports its own weight
- 100mm free space in front of nozzle recommended
- Double-wall furnace for stable performance in cold, windy weather
- Built-in over-discharge battery protection (~15.2V)
- Weight: approx. 1.6kg
- Warranty: 1 year
The InstantVap Turbo is powered by common power tool batteries (choose one system at time of purchase):
- Makita LXT 18V
- Milwaukee M18
- Bosch ProCore 18V (Black & Red)
- Dewalt XR/FlexVolt 18–20V
- Metabo 18V
- AEG 18V
- Ozito 18V
- Hikoki/Hitachi 18V
The device is compatible with only one type of battery. Please select carefully. Price does not include any batteries.
