Unfortunately, Toby's hive (which I didn't send to WSU) was showing signs of an exploding mite population: mites visible on adult bees when I inspected the hive and even some bees with deformed wings. The queen even stopped laying. Signs of trouble! So I went ahead and started a treatment with Formic acid. I checked it again today and did a "sugar shake" to measure the mite load. Here's how it goes:
I put a piece of screen in the lid of a mason jar.
Opened up the hive...
Stuck about 3/4 cup of bees in the jar with some powdered sugar.
And then you shake the sugar and mites out onto a paper plate.
Hmmm. It turned out to be 2.4 mites per 100 bees. So lower that it was before most likely. I think this seems to work a little better than the sticky board.
how do the bees handle the dusting with the sugar? as far as dusting the hive with powdered sugar would that have some prophylactic effect ... or just make a mess? l
ReplyDeleteI did dust several times during the year but can't tell that it helped much. This seems to be more of a diagnostic tool than a treatment.
ReplyDeleteI did dust several times during the year but can't tell that it helped much. This seems to be more of a diagnostic tool than a treatment.
ReplyDelete