I don't think bees usually have fat in their
diet... They are very specialized feeders. The mites attack the brood, but maybe
the brood would not be too happy covered in dormant oil..??
A friend of mine adds apple cider vinegar to
the syrup feeder in the Fall. In what quantity, I don't know. It would create a
more acid environment while still be familiar and edible to bees and people...
It would change the pH in the hive and make it a less favorable environment for
mites... He claimed that it worked...
Hélène, zone 3-4
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 3:29
PM
Subject: [NAFEX] treating bees for
mites
Have any of you beekeepers tried spraying
the frames with undiluted cooking oil--such as canola or
olive oil?
This would serve dual purpose of suffocating
the mites and their eggs while giving the bees a
needed helping of fat.
Dormant oil has long been used to control mites on
fruit trees,but it is a petroleum product
(still perhaps less toxic than synthetic
miticides or formic
acid.) |
Bill
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My son up in Olympia WA lost his best hive this winter, so
he's bought some kit that a local woman developed. There's a
screen with a white plastic plate under it, you coat it with
cooking oil and slide it in under a hive section. Then you
put another screen on top and sprinkle powdered
sugar. (Someone told me about the powdered sugar
last year, so it was working for him too.) Dave
says that the powdered sugar interferes with the mites ability to
hang on, they fall off by the hundreds onto the white plate where
they stick to the cooking oil. He says the mite population
doubles every 20 days, which is why they can kill a hive so
quick.
Donna
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
treating bees for mites
Friday, April 16, 2010 1:05
PM
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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