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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • To: Meredith Friedrick <friema16 AT gmail.com>, Marty Hanks <marty AT justbeenc.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Unscientific survey
  • Date: Sat, 04 Jun 2016 22:20:19 -0400

Meredith,
No apologies necessary. Since I kicked off this confusing exchange perhaps I can clarify.

Marty may have misunderstood my original post. I was NOT advocating using powdered sugar as a mite treatment. I use the standard sugar shake jar with ~300 bees method to assess the varroa load in my colonies. When varroa counts are high I treat my colonies with approved beekeeping acaricides - pesticides that kill mites. The mite counts in my colonies (and others that I have tested this year) are lower than I have seen in past years. My posting was intended to see if other beekeepers were experiencing similarly low varroa counts using the sugar shake jar method of testing.

Marty’s message refers to a method of varroa treatment commonly called powdered sugar dusting. Marty apparently uses powdered sugar (which he abbreviated “PS" in his post) as one element of his varroa control regimen. You can find references to the powdered sugar dusting method online. http://scientificbeekeeping.com/powdered-sugar-dusting-sweet-and-safe-but-does-it-really-work-part-1/  It involves dusting the entire colony with powdered sugar. In theory the majority of the bees would be sufficiently covered in powdered sugar to dislodge the mites. Marty’s email indicates that he also considers this powdered sugar mite treatment as 'dry feeding.' Presumably as the bees clean themselves up they gain some nutritional benefit from the powdered sugar.

FYI - research based studies of the powdered sugar dusting method of varroa control show only minimal effectiveness in reducing the mite load in a varroa infected colony. Presumably that is why it is only one element of Marty’s entire varroa control regimen.

Regarding Marty’s sentence "Dry feeding your bees while treating should be considered the best option especially when PS is a 2 for 1. I presume it means that when Marty uses the powdered sugar method of varroa treatment he feels like he is accomplishing two goals at once. He is treating for varroa. He is feeding his bees. 

Two considerations occur to me when thinking about the minimal effectiveness of the powdered sugar dusting method. 1) The bees in a sugar shake jar are vigorously shaken in powdered sugar to dislodge the mites. Simply dumping powdered sugar on the bees, even if you managed to cover the majority of the 50,000 bees in a strong colony, most likely wouldn't sufficiently coat the bees in powdered sugar to assure that the varroa mites would be dislodged. 2) Most powdered sugar also contains corn starch. I prefer that my bees have nectar that they have chosen in nature to bring into the hive for their nutrition rather than a sugar/corn starch mix that has been dumped on them that they have to clean up in the hive. I trust the bees to know their nutritional needs better than I do. 

So I take a different perspective than Marty. While the powdered sugar method of treatment is considered a treatment, it is generally considered an ineffective treatment. While sprinkling bees with powdered sugar may provide nutrition for the bees, to my mind it is an unnatural and inefficient way to provide nutrition. Just as no two bees are alike, no two beekeepers approach colony management in the same way. 

Marty,
I apologize for the poor phrasing of my earlier post. I did not intend to confuse you or any other listserv readers. 


John Rintoul

No trees or bees were killed in the distribution of this message, but countless electrons were seriously inconvenienced.




On Jun 4, 2016, at 7:22 PM, Meredith Friedrick <friema16 AT gmail.com> wrote:

I apologize -- I'm a newbee. 

What does this sentence mean: 

"Dry feeding your bees while treating should be considered the best option especially when PS is a 2 for 1."

Thanks!
Meredith Friedrick

On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Marty Hanks <marty AT justbeenc.com> wrote:
John

This is the experience i see in all my hives. Up to 40 at one point. PS shakes are our main "treatment" besides IPM boards, full sun, splits & natural selection (survivor stock breeding) its our go to. Varroa have become resistant to 3 chems, but have yet to grow 10 more arms to hang on better! 😀😜

Dry feeding your bees while treating should be considered the best option especially when PS is a 2 for 1.

Sadly its not a silver bullet solution as it only works on exposed varroa. So timely treatments are key. Early spring, on new swarms or packages, 10 days after splits and in late fall. That is more critical.

One side note id share its best to not do it in a dearth. Especially if it rains. Most of the PS falling through the screen & mixing with rain can create robbing issues. Trust me...😣

Marty

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 4, 2016, at 11:24 AM, John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com> wrote:
>
> I've done sugar shakes on each of my 3 hives and the hives of 2 new beekeepers that I am helping. So far none of the 5 hives has had more than 1 mite. It seems weirdly low to me.
>
> I have not yet seen a small hive beetle this year either. 2 of my hives are in deep shade where SHB numbers are reputedly high. In past years I have usually seen 10-20 SHB corralled on top of the inner cover in my hives. Not one this year - yet.
>
> Of course we all need to stay 'varroa vigilant'©, but I am curious know whether other Orange County beekeepers are experiencing similar differences in hive predator numbers between this year and prior years.
>
> John Rintoul




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