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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alicia Reenders <a.reenders AT gmail.com>
  • To: Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com>
  • Cc: bees <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] varroa
  • Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 15:54:36 -0500

Lewis,

Thanks for the continued reminder to be on top of the varroa checks. I
checked early in August and didn't see anything, but didn't do a very
good job with my collection for the sugar roll. Due to your continued
reminders, I checked again and counted 25! I used the method mentioned
in the link you said.

This is my first hive and I have a very strong population. I didn't
think I would have a problem, but I'm glad you prompted me to check
again. I'll be using Api Life Var. Hopefully the weather will hold
out.

Thanks,

Alicia

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com> wrote:
> Mary Lou,
> I was just wondering how you were monitoring the mites.  If you have used
> the sugar roll method or a sticky board and not found any mites, you are in
> good shape.  If you are looking for mites on bees and have not seen any, I'm
> a little worried.  I feel like by the time we start seeing mites on bees, we
> have already crossed the threshold of too many.
> A new beekeeper called me the other week and told me that he had not seen
> any mites on his bees.  I told him I'd stop by on Saturday and we would take
> a look.  He had 3 hives.  We did a sugar roll on the first hive and counted
> 17 mites (above the treatment threshold).  We sampled another hive that had
> a hygienic queen and the beekeeper was confident that there was not a mite
> issue.  We shook 20 mites out on that sample, again above the treatment
> threshold.
> I feel like it's a little late in the year to be monitoring mites and
> checking stores but better late than never.  Late August is a good time to
> start getting a feel for the mites and deciding what hives we want to treat
> when the weather breaks.  Also the later in to the winter we get, the more
> difficult it gets to feed the bees to make up for missing stores.
>  Again...Better late than never.
> The things I have been thinking about lately concerning getting my bees
> through the winter include...
> 1)  Monitoring and treating mites as necessary.  I will admit that I may
> treat hives that might not need to be treated.  If I have 10 hives in a
> yard, I will treat all of them.  I use formic and the treatments are less
> than 4 bucks each.
> 2)  Making sure I have a good population of bees downstairs and and good
> stores of honey upstairs.  I feel like just a little bit of feeding through
> the July/early August dearth helps to keep the queen in gear, giving a
> reasonable population of bees in September/October.  I am feeding a few
> hives right now to add weight.
> 3)  I am checking to make sure I have pretty good ventilation in the hives
> so that I do not have too much moisture in the hives.  I feel like the bees
> can handle the cold very well.  If they get wet, they will likely get in to
> trouble.
> 4)  Entrance reducers on to protect from mice.  I also tend to have a yellow
> jackets in my yards and they can be a menace in the late fall if the
> entrance is wide open.
> I hope others will chime in with their methods for increasing the chances of
> getting bees through the winter.
> Remember that a package of bees is in the $80 range so investing in feeding
> $20 of sugar and doing a $5 mite treatment might be worthwhile (and your
> bees will thank you).
> Your milage may vary.
> Cheers,
> Lewis
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 3, 2010, at 3:26 PM, Mary Lou Bethune wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Has anyone used ApiLife Var   for varroa mite?  It’s organic.  WE don’t seem
> to have the mites but it looks like they are running short of honey again.
> Anyone else seeing this?
> WE don’t feel that we can feed them all winter.
> Mary Lou Bethune
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