Spring Mites
Spring is fully here- warm days, and the bees are pouring out of the hives. I work in my office right above them, so see them all day. They are packed with pollen, and things seem to be going well. Yesterday, I hived a new package from Matt H, who had extras. So now I am back up to 10 hives, and expect two more in a few weeks. It might be too many on my tiny property, depending on what happens with swarms this year.
I thickened up the syrup for the hives, poured out what I had, and remixed it, thinking it wasnt thick enough so they weren't eating it. But- its been half a week- and they have still barely touched it. I would never have thought this, they are so low on stores, I'd think they'd suck it up. There must be nectar out there, and I saw some of it- just a little- in hive #6.
And, today- the first of the yellow jackets, cruising about, hovering and looking for strays. I read more about these, they sometimes have this schitzophrenic crisis in trying to decide if they want the protein of the head to take back, or the honey in the gut. Sugar, or protein. Pretty mean. I think i might have a big hive starting up somewhere, which was a problem last year.
I was concerned about mites this Spring- I don't recall having seen them this early, but one hive in particular has a lot on the bottom board. So I did a 24 hour count of all the hives- seems like there were 5 to 10 in most. Not a lot- but its very early. Concerning. So I put Apilife-Var in the one hive on Sunday, and a few days later, it rained mites. Below are some images I took with a Celestron 40x digital scope.
Mites are crab-like looking, tough and well designed (intelligently designed). When you see them on a bee, or in particular, on a larva, its disturbing. But- they are everywhere- and just one of the many creatures that live in a hive. I said that to be philosophical about it, as I really detest them and want them all dead.
The first (above) shows a large dead mite in the center, with what I think is a clear carapace next to it- I am guessing they shed these. I've seen lots of mites over the years (who hasn't), but this photo also shows something I haven't seen before, and that is a dead baby mite, up on the left. There were a number of them (this is a photo of some of the detritus on my bottom board below the screens). They have probably always been there, but too small to see, and they don't normally die. So I know the Apilife Var is working.
This is a close up of a different baby mite (slightly enhanced in PS), showing the odd pattern on it back. My beekeeper friend Brian says it looks like another mite- which it does. It doesn't make a lot of sense that a mite would have a picture of a mite on it, but it does. I see that there really are two here, one at the lower left.
This is a short film of the mites hanging with live bee larva. They don't do much in this movie- its from some cells I had to cut out. I think a mom mite births nine little girl mites in a cell, and these are some of the girls, just waking up. Lovely.
I thickened up the syrup for the hives, poured out what I had, and remixed it, thinking it wasnt thick enough so they weren't eating it. But- its been half a week- and they have still barely touched it. I would never have thought this, they are so low on stores, I'd think they'd suck it up. There must be nectar out there, and I saw some of it- just a little- in hive #6.
And, today- the first of the yellow jackets, cruising about, hovering and looking for strays. I read more about these, they sometimes have this schitzophrenic crisis in trying to decide if they want the protein of the head to take back, or the honey in the gut. Sugar, or protein. Pretty mean. I think i might have a big hive starting up somewhere, which was a problem last year.
I was concerned about mites this Spring- I don't recall having seen them this early, but one hive in particular has a lot on the bottom board. So I did a 24 hour count of all the hives- seems like there were 5 to 10 in most. Not a lot- but its very early. Concerning. So I put Apilife-Var in the one hive on Sunday, and a few days later, it rained mites. Below are some images I took with a Celestron 40x digital scope.
Mites are crab-like looking, tough and well designed (intelligently designed). When you see them on a bee, or in particular, on a larva, its disturbing. But- they are everywhere- and just one of the many creatures that live in a hive. I said that to be philosophical about it, as I really detest them and want them all dead.
This is a short film of the mites hanging with live bee larva. They don't do much in this movie- its from some cells I had to cut out. I think a mom mite births nine little girl mites in a cell, and these are some of the girls, just waking up. Lovely.
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