I spent a few hours with the stereo microscope going through the 4 frames I pulled from the three deadouts shown in the previous post. Two hives of the three were brand new Carniolans (were they like $175 each?), the third was hive raised from a queen cell.
All were next to each other (and no other hives in my other apiaries have died). All were on my back roof, and had been there for over 20 years (as hives, I don't mean the same colonies). Where I once had 9 strong hives on the roof, there are now two.
Clearly, and without doubt in my mind based on going through these, these hives died due to mites. They were literally infested. I'll have to review my records, but I think that was despite both a late August and early October Formic Pro treatment. More on that later- I need to look at the log.
A stereo microscope BTW, is an absolutely amazing way to enter into the realm of bees, in a way that is impossible without. The infinite detail, the surprises- and all in stereo (three dimensions), just makes the experience essential. My photos don't even begin to show how great it is-the clarity and dimensionality in an actual microscope is easily 100x better. Plus- they are not that expensive. Not just for bees, but for everything, plants, minerals, other bugs...Get one!
I lay the full comb on the scope, and start turning over the handful of bees that are still stuck to it. The same story repeated itself- about one in 10 had a fat mite, or more, stuck to it.
In the past, with autopsies, I rarely saw mites- like when the hive went down, they exited- but now I wonder if I was looking in the right place. As a colony collapses, you would think the mites-per-bee would skyrocket, and you'd see hundreds. But this is not the case.
In the previous post, you'll see how the bees looked when opening the hives. Dead, a tiny amount, but normal looking individually, like they were asleep.
But here is the first one I turned over under the scope:
Maybe not obvious, but this one had two very large mites stuck to it. See them? Like wings.
And on the top of that bee- about 3 bees out of 50 had this- is a mite stuck to the back of the thorax! Totally protected. Check out how big this mite is! Are winter mites bigger? Do they moult in winter? This is a big mite!
Another bee with a mite sucking on its thorax- or lodged there. Its the red brown thing- not the light brown (which is the actual thorax, though without hair). What a perfect place for a mite:
From the same hive, the horrific scene of a mite inserted under a sclerite- for sure sucking on fat. There's lots to see when you lift a sclerite plate- lots of vulnerable surface, and hard to imagine that there aren't more animals that have evolved to feed there.
Close up- the flat body of the mite, slightly wedged shape, lifts up the scerlite plate perfectly:
In two of the three dead outs, there was brood. I don't know from when- likely they started a cycle of brood rearing two weeks ago- maybe sooner. All brood was dead (of course), but usually white and not rotten. These below are sort of rotting. But you'll see two fat mites in the middle of the picture, trapped under the cappings. and dying there when the hive died.
Also evident in absolutely any cell with mites, or any that once had mites, is the tell tale guanamine at the top of the cell. I assume its there as there is room there for mites to evacuate- but it's wierd- stuck on, and in a pattern sort of. Hard to photograph due to the depth of field.
Here I've peeled back the cell walls and tried to tilt the cell wall to get a better focus. The top of a cell is like a gable roof- sloped with a ridge at the center. On the left, a big mass of guanamine, but a yellow mass too, and on the right, some "balls" of something related, with another guanamine patch in the distance. I can't say they all matched this configuration- but I think they might have. Its organized in a certain way for a reason.
Sometime in deadouts, of you look closely, you'll find the queen. Here's one, a Carni, though unmarked. I am fairly certain I marked them? But maybe not. If not, its a supercedure queen I never noticed.
Same queen, side view....
Near her, evidence she'd started a January laying:
Lastly- bright bee bread. Looks pretty delicious. All three hives were fat with pollen and honey stores.
Do I have any conclusions, or plans of action, or advice, regarding mites? Quite possibly I am unaware of new treatment protocols, or Randy Oliver's latest, or the latest info, as I have sort of turned that all off after following it all completely uselessly for the past 10 or 15 years. It's evident to me that no one has the answer, and anyone that thinks he or she does, doesn't have mites yet. No one even knows how bees are killed by mites. or how the viruses what work in tandem kill them. Despite massive research.
Last year I dropped from 40 to 25 hives, now I am pushing toward 10 survivors, of various strengths. I'll have to decide in a month if I pump more $$ into doing this by ordering more hives. Or maybe I focus on splits and raising queens.
But is this even sustainable? I love selling honey and people around here are absolutely thrilled about local honey- but I can't do that with 10 hives. Lots to consider.
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