5/14The 24 hour mite count for the Russians was disappointing. I purchased them this year, because they were supposed to be mite resistant!!! I would estimate around 100 mites. Not good!
The appropriately named varroa destructor mite, the scourge of today's honeybee, is a parasite that lays eggs inside of a capped brood cell on the larvae (see picture). The bees hatch, the mites hatch, the mites attach to the bees and suck their insect blood (Hemolymph). The bees then become susceptible to the disease varroatosis.
The Screened Bottom Board
My hives sit on a bottom board that has a metal screen. This increases circulation and also keeps fallen mites from crawling back up into the hive.
The Sticky Board
An easy way to check for varroa mites (they are visible to the eye) is to cover a poster board with vaseline and insert it under the screened bottom board. Mites will fall off of the bees and get stuck in the vaseline. That keeps them from crawling back up into the hive. So not only is it a detection device, but a way to trap the mites without having to use pesticides.
There are different opinions about varroa: 1) treat with pesticides a couple times of year, no matter what; 2) there will always be varroa--use your judgment about when the infestation is high and when to treat; 3) don't ever use synthetic chemicals, so that the population of bees will develop mite resistance over time (mites are becoming immune to treatment).
Well I'm in camp #3 this year--no pesticides. At risk of losing the bees, I will try some natural techniques for controlling the mite population.
The Powdered Sugar Technique
I sprinkled powdered sugar on the bees using a flour sifter. I lightly covered the bees located closest to the top of the frames (and hopefully bees in between the frames). The idea is that the sugar will stimulate grooming activity among the bees and that the mites won't be able to hold on to the bees and will fall off. Mr. Simpson taught me this technique last year.
Essential Oils and Naturally Occurring Chemicals
I will check my book on natural beekeeping for essential oil options and maybe explore this angle as well. (Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, Ross Conrad) Stay tuned.
1 comment:
John Jones, Stone Mountain, Georgia
I am curious about your mite counts and hope that you will share your counts and any other statistics. The 100 count is scarey. All of the researchers say 60 max and they you have to do something quickly to knock the count down. 80 percent of the mites are in the brood cells. I just did a treatment on an 8 frafme hive with two deeps and had about 250 mites after the treatment. The count will be high for about 14 days as the bees are born and the dead mites fall. I am at day 9 and have declined to 66 mites last night 9-17-2008. http://stonemountaingeorgiabeediary.blogspot.com/
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