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Author Topic: tracheal mites  (Read 2293 times)

Offline funbee1

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tracheal mites
« on: August 29, 2012, 01:06:25 am »
It's my first year keeping bees so I let this go to long due to ignorance. Over the summer I noticed there were always lots(a hundred or so) bees crawling around in front of one of my three hives. Didn't think too much of it but later noticed that they couldn't fly. They would climb a blade of grass and then fall off.

I've done some reading and it sounds like tracheal mites. I will look closer for "K" wings. If it's mites will it spread to the other hives? and does the menthol crystal treatment work well?

Is there any way(besides a microscope) to know it's TM?

I read that a colony can suffer with these for years.

Thanks for any input,
scott

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: tracheal mites
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2012, 03:06:20 pm »
Tracheal mites have pretty much gone away as a problem since people stopped treating for them.  They still exist, of course, but not treating has selected for resistance.  I'd look for "K" wings, but don't confuse deformed wings for "K" wings.  Deformed (crumpled looking wings) are more likely from DWV (Deformed Wing Virus) and it's spread is accelerated by Varroa mites.


My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Offline funbee1

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Re: tracheal mites
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2012, 10:22:23 pm »
Thanks for the reply. I didn't think anybody was going to comment for a while.

I have been watchting the crawling bees and they all have their wings spread but they are spread and beating. I grabbed a few of the weaker looking bees and examined them. Their wings are completley shriveled up, almost no wings at all!

I didn't see any mites on them but today I installed the boards for my screened bottom boards. I will pull them tomorrow at 12:30(24 hours) and do a mite count.

I should have less than 21 on the weaker hive and less than 30 on my best hive right?

I sprayed the bottom boards with "Pam" to catch the mites.....hope it works.

Thanks to all the experienced guys helping us newBEES!

Offline Richard

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Re: tracheal mites
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2012, 01:34:44 am »
This is my first year beekeeping also.  About a month ago, I started seeing bees with DWV.  Not a lot at first.  I also began to see bees doing burial flights with pupae that had been pulled from their cells.  At the time, I had a 48 hour drop count of 61.  I couldn’t really find any definitive answer you can hang your veil on for the million dollar question….What is the threshold?  Since my bees seem to have good hygienic behavior, I decided to observe and prepare to treat if necessary.  I “hoped” they could manage the pest without my intervention…yeah, wishful thinking.  I monitored drop counts periodically to see if things changed.  Drop counts did actually decrease to 20-25 for a 24 hour period.  But…I began to see a daily increase in the number of bees with DWV on the ground and pupae being flown off.   I decided to go ahead and begin the first round of treatments with HopGuard on the 8/26 and have monitored the drop count daily since beginning.  Tomorrow I’ll insert the second round of strips.  Being my first ….and only hive, I was concerned that if I didn't step in things were going to get ugly.  :-\

Round 1 Mite Counts
Day 1 – 270
Day 2 – 160
Day 3 – 25
Day 4 – 22
Day 5 – 16
Day 6 - 19

Richard

Offline carlfaba10t

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Re: tracheal mites
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2012, 06:39:06 pm »
How big are these mites and how do you count them?Does anyone have any pictures of mites? :?
Carl-I have done so much with so little for so long i can now do something with nothing!

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: tracheal mites
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2012, 03:20:08 pm »
>Their wings are completley shriveled up, almost no wings at all!

This is deformed wing virus, not tracheal mites.  It is spread by Varroa.  A few are normal.  A lot is usually not good.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

 

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