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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 87, Issue 20

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  • From: Neil Lewis <lewisn@georgetown.edu>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 87, Issue 20
  • Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:46:55 -0400


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treating bees for mites Friday, April 16, 2010 1:05 PM
From: "Kieran and/or Donna" holycow@frontiernet.net
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

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 b
lack 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

Donna,

The device you describe is called a 'screened bottom board'. They are quite popular now. One purported function they play is allowing mites to fall to the ground if you take the plastic bottom out, or onto the oiled bottom if you leave it in. They also allow one to check mite levels, as you mentioned, by the daily number of mites stuck on the oiled bottom board, and to check other aspects of the hive by examining the debris left on the bottom. Many people think that if the bottom is removed they provide better ventilation for the hive. Their value in keeping mite populations in check (as in providing ventilation) is extremely contentious among beekeepers. So is the powdered sugar method of keeping mites in check. At best, powdered sugar will only dislodge mites on bees, not mites that are in the capped brood (i.e. the developing larvae), and there are large numbers of the latter. So you must be prepared to repeatedly dust the hives with sugar. I've tried this method, and would not rely on it to keep mite populations under control. The bees also do not like it, and especially in late summer it really gets them angry. It may help slow mite population growth in the spring and summer, but you will probably want to treat in late summer or early fall with something guaranteed to be much more effective. I have found a commercial thyme essential oil based product called Apiguard to be very effective when applied in September here in Maryland. It will kill way more mites than powdered sugar. If you just dust with powdered sugar, then you are playing Russian roulette in regard to getting your hives through the winter. (Incidentally, bees are fine in long cold winters; if they die it is usually due to factors such as mites, bad ventilation, moisture in the hive, skimpy food supplies left on by the beekeeper, rather than cold as such.)

As for cell size, there are many who think that the commercial foundation on which bees build their comb was built to an unnatural size and that this encourages mite population growth. The theory is, as you mention, that smaller bees would mature earlier and provide less time for mite populations to rise (since mites mature in the capped brood). Some people swear by small cell, but a recent survey of research on it in one of the major bee magazines found bees on small cell to do no better in regard to mites than bees on regular foundation.
If you want to find out the state of play regarding mites and different ways of dealing with them, check out the website scientific beekeeping by Randy Oliver.

One thing to note about anecdotal claims about how this or that works, is that most people are relying on their experience with just a few hives. There are so many variables involved in a beehive that it is, in my view, impossible to tell what really works or does not under such conditions.
Neil Lewis
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fn:Neil Lewis
n:Lewis;Neil
org:Georgetown University;Department of Philosophy
email;internet:lewisn@georgetown.edu
title:Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Graduate Admissions
tel;work:202-687-4529
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  • Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 87, Issue 20, Neil Lewis, 04/17/2010

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