# hive mortality



## Beeman46 (Apr 4, 2013)

I am a long-time hobby beekeeper(37 years). I live in a rural, mountainous area. We have no pesticides used here. Most of my fellow local beekeepers lost all of their hives this winter though I lost only 6 out of 14. I'd like to hear thoughts about other causes in similar areas.


----------



## offGridNorthern (Jan 1, 2006)

I think I have lost both my hives this year and in speaking to fellow beekeepers in my area (Northern Ontario), it seems that most people are experiencing a high level of loss. It was a strange winter this year ... winter didn't really come until March and we had fluctuating temperatures from November on.


----------



## locpic (Jan 13, 2013)

I only have three hives here in southern Missouri, thankfully they all came into the spring season very strong.


----------



## Beeman46 (Apr 4, 2013)

I spent alot of years ignoring mites until a couple of years ago when I lost 6 out of 6. The following year I started out with new nucs and, after not seeing the honey coming in from what I thought were strong hives, used the new powdered sugar mite test. I was shocked at how many mites I had.
I treated with Miteaway that fall and the hives responded immediately. The next year, after testing positive for mites in the spring I treated again with Miteaway. I had all new queens and immediately lost half of them. I checked with a nearby commercial beekeeper who said it was not unusual to to lose queens to mitaway. I checked again in August and the mites were back, so I treated again. Even though I had good bee population, no honey. I checked again in September and the mites were back. I thought, "what the heck." The label says on treatment a year. By late Sept. the populations were shrinking so I treated with strips and hoped for the best. This spring I checked, after having lost 5 of 14. Not one single mite in any hive and the surviving hives were very strong!


----------



## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

I have heard that the mites have gotten really bad in the last two years....wow!


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Even when a 3 pound package of bees cost 50.00 I could not under stand why people refused to treat for mites even if it was useing drone comb and swaping it out every 20 days. Or dusting with powdered sugar every so many months and useing screen bottom boards. 
I feel not treating for mite you might just as wel take the money you spent for a package and burn it.
I read some place several years ago under ideal conditions a untreated hive *may* make it 4 years.

Vorroa Mites are a fact of life in the USA & Canada. ya have to treat some how.

One of the tools I carry every time I check hives is a capping scratcher. Once the queens I am raiseing I don't need drones I open th edrone cells up and check for mites.










This is a light one, many times there will be 4 or 5 mights attached to the one drone larva. When you see that you need to do some thing quick or loose your bees.



 Al


----------



## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Al, have you ever heard of using mineral oil and fogging a hive to control mites???


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

They have smaller cell foundation that you can use thats supposed to help. I havent tried it myself though. One local beek here is working on breeding program to breed mite resistant queens.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I have a friend that uses strips of those blue shop towels soaked in mineral oil. I don't know if it works as that isn't all he does.
One of my students elected to go with small cell foundation, screen bottom boards, drone comb(she used to ***** about pulling the honey supers off every 20 days though.) and the dusting with powdered sugar. We never did see any mites in the drone comb from her six hives in four years.

that was the only medthod that was 100% at keeping the mites down. Even the new Mite away II says 98% effective.

 Al


----------



## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Al, there is a guy on youtube.. fatbeeman.com that uses a fogger and heats the mineral oil to a fog then places the nozzle up to the bottom entrance and fogs the the hive until the fog comes out the top, he lifts the top cover during this time. He says do this once every 3 weeks and it will suffocate the mites but not the bees. It is the same oil used as a laxative for people. The idea of it sounds nice, free of chemicals, just wondered if you had tried it. Thanks!


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

I've used powdered sugar with good results. Screened bottom boards are pretty much the standard here so I cant say how itd be without them.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Nope never tried the fogger for any type of mite treatment, used to fog the barn when I was a kid on the farm to get rid of flys in the summer and we foged the chicken coop to get rid of the lice.

Lets see with just 25 hives and fogging will take a week till the fog comes out the top, can't imagine a 100 or more colonies scattered over 2 counties.. NO THANKS. Even dusting with powderted suger takes less time.

You can buy a foger for oxie acid to fog the bees too but I just like useing mite away strips of formic acid and it is USDA organic method. 
About 5 minutes per hive to install the strips, equipment required is a resperater and rubber gloves if you plan on useing your hands.

 Al


----------



## Beeman46 (Apr 4, 2013)

Thanks for all the great comments. Nice to know there's some one out there. 
I've never tried the fogger, but will investigate whether anyone around here has used it. I imagine it only gets the mights that are traveling on the bees.
I've been beekeeping for over 37 years and it's alot more complicated now than it used to be. I've been dragged kicking and screaming into "treating" my bees with the myriad of remedies, but a weak or failing hive is such a bummer.
I've read that modern genetic strains have inadvertantly bred out the "grooming" urge that used to keep mites at bay. Anyone picked up a swarm from an isolated area that might be from an old strain that is more mite resistant?


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

That is the main trait we are trying to get in our queen rearing, bees that are hygenic and gromm the mites off each other. That doesn't help much if the mites breeding and rearing go unchecked or instructions are not followed in the treatments used.

Apistan was one of the first treatments in the mite war but bee keepers left strips in the hives after the date to remove them. Mites built a resistance to apastain with those reduced stregth strips.

 Al


----------

