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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] treating bees for mites

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Kieran and/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] treating bees for mites
  • Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:05:42 -0500

 I heard of a powdered sugar trick last year from a local guy in TN.   My son lost the best of his 3 hives this winter up in WA state, so he's doing the powdered sugar trick.   A beekeeper up his way developed a system where you slide in a section with a white plastic bottom, coated with cooking oil.   Sprinkle the powdered sugar onto the bees from above, the mites lose their footing and fall through onto the white plastic below.  You check in 10 minutes to see how bad your problem was.  He had hundreds fall off in his surviving hives.  (I can send his email in case you want to know more.)  He spent the $30 per hive that she was charging for the setup, it was worth it to him.  I had always thought I'd have bees someday and never got around to it.  He enjoys his and so did all my friends who've had them.  It's surprising really how many people I've met who've kept bees, but most lost them in all the mite trouble.  One friend said that he'd put his bee suit in a black plastic bag and put it in the garage, his kids thought it was garbage and took it to the dump when they were cleaning up.  Just thought I'd mention that as a cautionary tale.  Think of all the valuable things we might think to protect in a black plastic garbage bag.... keeps out the dust and the mud daubers, sure, but maybe there are better storage techniques. 
    If the powdered sugar works as well as they say, we may see more bees soon.  Also the business of people improving on bees to make bigger cells in the foundation, that seems to have backfired.  Since it took longer for each larva to grow to fill the larger cell, it gave the mites a few extra days to get going.  The local guy said they are going back to foundation the size that bees invented.  I've wondered if the slightly smaller black wild German bees take a slightly shorter time to mature.... anyway, after last year's sudden appearance of yellow honeybees, they are gone this year and only the black wild ones remain.  I'd sure like to know what their trick is.  You know they said back years ago that with the mites only tame bees with humans to treat their mites would survive.  Our experience is that only the wild colonies are surviving.  Year after year they have been out pollinating our early trees and plants, with hardly a tame yellow or belted bee to be seen.  I know there aren't many of them like there should be because they don't show up on the clover later.  Our place is apparently really attractive in the early spring, worth coming to if you are a honeybee.  Last year I had great hopes for the bee population, there were actually honeybees in the white clover in the summer, just like when I was a kid getting my bare feet stung in the lawn.  Whoever had those yellow bees, they were doing great, but apparently they died out in the long cold winter.  It's a shame.  But our local beekeepers seem to be a tightknit bunch, so I think this powdered sugar trick will spread.  Incidentally, my son said that the mite population doubles every 21 days, so it's worthwhile if you have bees to jump on the problem ASAP.    Donna  



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