Hot here. Mites. Know Little, Do Much.
The Seattle area is at the tail end of a record breaking heat spell-well into the 90's, and way above previous records. We are burning up. As is typical lately, this is untypical, and makes everything in my past bee records irrelevant. This year, it appears to be very minimal for blackberry, and maximal for Big Leaf Maple (a few months back). Do bees like this? I haven't harvested the blackberry yet-and I could be underestimating how much they have gathered- but it doesn't seem like a lot. Maybe a full super each?
Normally, I wait until the Knotweed is done- in August- and extract both crops together- but this year I think I will go ahead and extract this week- or as soon as this flow is capped. I have 20 hives at this point, and 6 or so are new for this year, so I will likely be pulling honey off of only 12 or so.
The reason I want to do it now- and not wait- is because of the mite count. Yesterday I did a 24 hour count on 7 hives I have here at home, and found some very high numbers (highest was 137, lowest 30). I read this very excellent article by Randy Oliver (and the others articles he links to), to once more try to understand better what good practice is with mites. I have had, this Spring, and last year, large numbers of them- and killed thousands. And I treated once this year in April already. I have not met other beekeepers (of the few I know), who have suffered similar infestations around here (but also don't really know if any of them test).
Lots of mites is a mixed message- as lots of mites means, in part, that the bees are doing well and propagating. But of course, it also means that the bees are super vulnerable, and if nothing is done, they will die. I haven't seen this- a hive that was overwhelmed and just died off- but I have certainly seen massive mite infestations.
Randy points out that its the exponential growth of mites that's the main concern, not the current number- but what it is going to be and how quickly a hive will get there, and the goal is getting a strong winter crop of bees, bees that will survive, and minimizing mites to minimize the possibility of viruses. He also lampoons the thought process that we all have that wishfully thinks there is not a problem, so one doesn't test. I do that all the time. One item that caught my eye in the article, is his statement that seeing DWV was already an indicator that things were out of hand. Since I have been treating more regularly, I see it less often- but about two weeks ago- I started seeing it again.
Which should have been a wake up call to act. And will be, in the future. Control mites, control cleanliness, control moisture...keep ahead of queen death. I guess that's it? I am constantly stupefied by how little I know.
(Side note. At a Tacoma hardware store, next to the watering cans shaped like animals, was a plaque, to a Hawaiian- Japanese man, who had founded the watering can company, and was well loved by many on Maui, and, I try to quote from memory, said: " I knew little, and did much with it, unlike many people, who know much, but do very little." )
Here are boring pictures of 5 of the 6 hives I have at home, and their current height. I went through #4- the first picture- today- and will pull 3 blackberry supers off that- and let them work the rest. I think the others have more supers then I intended as a few represent combinations of hives. There are Boardman feeders on each hive- but just with clean water with a little salt in them.
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| Looking down from my roof onto a lower roof with 4 hives. |
The reason I want to do it now- and not wait- is because of the mite count. Yesterday I did a 24 hour count on 7 hives I have here at home, and found some very high numbers (highest was 137, lowest 30). I read this very excellent article by Randy Oliver (and the others articles he links to), to once more try to understand better what good practice is with mites. I have had, this Spring, and last year, large numbers of them- and killed thousands. And I treated once this year in April already. I have not met other beekeepers (of the few I know), who have suffered similar infestations around here (but also don't really know if any of them test).
Lots of mites is a mixed message- as lots of mites means, in part, that the bees are doing well and propagating. But of course, it also means that the bees are super vulnerable, and if nothing is done, they will die. I haven't seen this- a hive that was overwhelmed and just died off- but I have certainly seen massive mite infestations.
Randy points out that its the exponential growth of mites that's the main concern, not the current number- but what it is going to be and how quickly a hive will get there, and the goal is getting a strong winter crop of bees, bees that will survive, and minimizing mites to minimize the possibility of viruses. He also lampoons the thought process that we all have that wishfully thinks there is not a problem, so one doesn't test. I do that all the time. One item that caught my eye in the article, is his statement that seeing DWV was already an indicator that things were out of hand. Since I have been treating more regularly, I see it less often- but about two weeks ago- I started seeing it again.
Which should have been a wake up call to act. And will be, in the future. Control mites, control cleanliness, control moisture...keep ahead of queen death. I guess that's it? I am constantly stupefied by how little I know.
(Side note. At a Tacoma hardware store, next to the watering cans shaped like animals, was a plaque, to a Hawaiian- Japanese man, who had founded the watering can company, and was well loved by many on Maui, and, I try to quote from memory, said: " I knew little, and did much with it, unlike many people, who know much, but do very little." )
Here are boring pictures of 5 of the 6 hives I have at home, and their current height. I went through #4- the first picture- today- and will pull 3 blackberry supers off that- and let them work the rest. I think the others have more supers then I intended as a few represent combinations of hives. There are Boardman feeders on each hive- but just with clean water with a little salt in them.
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