to treat or not to treat: checking hives for mites
We are well into September and winter is on my brain. It’s been a strange first year with these girls. I’d be lying if I said that it has gone just as I had imagined. I’ve learned so much just from doing the things, even when I wasn’t sure if I was right in doing so. Maleficent is finally causing me to feel hopeful. I looked at her the other day and noticed her numbers have greatly increased and there are a whole bunch of new baby bees recently out of their cells. There are 3-4 almost full frames with brood and larva. That bottom box is teaming with bees and there is lots of honey stored and the second, top box is still not fully drawn out with new comb, but they are working hard. After chatting with Amanda, I decided that I might steal a frame or two of honey from Amidala’s honey super which is all extra. I’ll add the frames to Maleficent’s top box for a little insurance. I had wished that Maleficent could be 3 boxes strong for winter, but I might have to put it in mother nature’s strong and capable hands.
The next thing on my mind regarding wintering is mite count. Beekeepers love to talk about mite counts. The first time I treated the girls I did it without getting a mite count. It’s not the worst thing to do, it’s better than not treating at all. But, how do you know if a treatment is successful if you don’t track the counts, before and after treatment. There are more than one very effective ways of checking for mites in a hive. The method I used is called, alcohol washing.
I received my instructions as requested online by email to my state agriculture conservation & forestry department. The state apiarist mailed me this brochure (to the right) and two metal meshes cut into circles to fit two different sized mason jars. That’s right the ones you probably have kicking around in your cupboards or on your counter from when you had those pickles or jams gifted to you last holiday. You probably won’t need to buy one of these if you ask around, but it never hurts to have some in case you get some spare honey to enjoy!
So, you have your pamphlet, and you have a jar with your free metal mesh screen. Next you need a white basin and half cup measuring scoop. I bought both of these items at the Dollar Tree for $1.25 each. You also need 50-70% isopropyl alcohol also known as rubbing alcohol. You might have this in your medicine cabinet already, but I recommend you pick up some extra to have on hand. It is recommended that you do an alcohol wash once a month.
First you will want to pick a day that is hopefully sunny or at least your hive is well lit. The day I did my check was a little breezier than I would have liked but the temperature was 81 degrees fahrenheit, and it was partly cloudy, the sun did come out as I was getting ready to start filming. As a rule, when cracking your hives, you do not want high winds or rain. When doing full hive inspections, full sunlight is always best for visualizing eggs and larva within the cells.
When you get into your hive to do this little procedure, as you are inspecting your hive for all the usual things, you should look for a frame with brood toward the center of your brood chamber, that is larva in open brood cells and capped brood. When measuring mite counts, sampling the nurse bees is most effective and yields a more accurate count. Mites attach to the nurse bees in order to gain access to the pupa in the brood cells. They feed on the pupa and then lay eggs to reproduce.
It is a good idea, as usual to look carefully at each frame you move, watching for your queen. You want to be very sure the frame you choose to wash does not have your queen on it. I’m not joking here; I checked three times before washing and because I am a Nervous Nelly, I even checked the dead bees before I disposed of them. I have had such a summer worrying whether I had a queen in my hives and was she laying eggs. I was not going to be responsible for losing another especially this close to cold weather. If you see her on your frame, you can move her carefully if you feel comfortable or you could choose another frame.
With your chosen, queenless frame position it over your white basin. With your jar with 1/2 cup of alcohol covered with the solid cover and the mesh cover nearby, shake the frame firmly over the basin. Bees will fly away and that’s ok, the nurse bees will stay in the basin, you can carefully shake them all to one side of the basin and scoop out 1/2 cup of bees and dump them into the jar with the alcohol. At this time, I will put my hive back together and then finish the procedure. Some will do the count and if conditions are right, you can immediately treat the hive before you reassemble it. It is up to you and your process. I made a video of my recent alcohol wash, and it is linked below I hope you check it out and find it helpful.
In the coming weeks my goals include: Complete one more formic acid treatment and another alcohol wash right before winterizing the hives. Temperatures will likely be too low at that time to do another formic treatment so I will have to investigate an alternative treatment called oxalic acid. This may require a purchase of more gear. More on that later! Beyond the washing and treatments, I am hopeful for both girls to continue to draw comb in their hives and make more babies and more honey! I plan to buy boxes for at least one maybe two more hives. I will need to build and paint the boxes and build the frames. Then I will be ready for a healthy hive or two in the spring that may want to swarm. I plan to continue to share this diary and make videos of my adventures. Hope to have you join me along the way.