I am new here and have not yet scoured the site for natural rememdies for bees. Natural is my preferred method in all things. I am relatively new to bees and am leary to try unknown cures/preventions for them as I am affraid I may hurt them. Not sure I have put this post in the right place for as many as possible to read it or not, but I hope so.
I have so many questions as I have put this off for such a long time. Was affraid that people would think I was a ding bat for using natural remedies or preventives on my bees. I have studied disease prevention and natural remedies for well over 25 years after leaving the medical realm, and am still by no means an expert. Think there is no such thing.
I did notice a vinegar vaporizor mentioned here which I am excited to read about. Raw apple cider vinegar is anti viral, anti bacterial and anti fungal, we drink this daily here, just never thought to use it for my bees. Use it for dogs inside and out, horses, humans inside and out, bunnies, ferret and birds, but not the bees (yet anyways). The list of benefits is pages long. People normally, myself included use raw apple cider vinegar and colliodal silver together which brings up my first question.
I asked list members awhile back on a CS list about possibly using colliodal silver on the bees for foul brood and was told that one of the list members had done that and felt the CS killed off his hive. I never read the thread. I am not sure how that could have happened, maybe somehow upset the delicate balance of bacteria a bee has? MAybe what he was treating killed the bees. CS kills positively charged kills bacteria, things going through a one celled stage such as larva and algae and in excessive doses can slightly upset human bacteria, but nothing major. It can kill anything with more than one stomache as a minute upset in bacteria in one of the stomaches and not the rest can cause serious problems. But it works beautifully on everything with just one stomache. I used it full strength (10 ppm) in one cup applications to my Netherland Dwarf rabbits (2 pounds) with the incurable wry neck. It took daily one cup doses, for three weeks in a row, but it cured it completely and forever and never altered any beneficial bacteria at all. There is a ton of mis information and controversy on colliodal silver, but bottom line is it works, even with small pox. What I do not know is if it does in fact kill the bees and why. It may be a wonderful help with keeping the hives healthy because not only does it kill over 600 bacterias, all virus and all fungus. Nothing can become immune to it as it is not toxic, it smothers bacteria, virus and fungus to death, it doesn't kill it through poison. Nasa uses it to recycle urine, because it beats chlorine in killing unfriendlies and unlike chlorine is non toxic. I have used it personally daily for well over 7 years, but not on my bees directly. I have sprayed the hives with it though. I have to say though that I use colliodal silver and copper, and have also used hydrogen peroxide (which we drink also) to replace chlorine in my pool and my bees drink it without harmful effects.
Clay water is what I am now interested in finding out about as far as bees are concerned. It is the single most covered up cure...... period... no matter which realm you choose to treat with. I have used clay and clay water for 30 years for MANY things, it is truely awsome. Injesting clay or clay water is packed full of minerals. Kills gram positive bacterias, and attaches to fungus and virus, and heavy metals and absorbes it binds it and carries it from the body. I can not imagine in my wildest dreams it would hurt honey bees, but quite the contrary. I have not tried it yet. I will this spring as my girls (one small, soon to be two I hope) have made it through this awful winter, yippee.
Spa's all over the world have used it for wraps and body soaks and hot springs for years, well since Cleopatra at least.
In hospitals, walls cleaned with clay water stayed sterile 3 days longer than any other cleaner used, I can imagine what it would do for the bees. Imagine, eating and cleaning with dirt! LOL Would have to be careful dusting with it though, it could suffocate the bees. Mixed with water it could be sprayed. ***Nothing out there, and I mean nothing, no herb, can surpass the properties of clay for healing inside the body or out.**** I hope this may be an answer for us all with the bees.
Coconut oil is something that we have replaced all oils in my house with. I have tried to think of ways to get it to the bees. Has to be healthier than hydrogenated oils and fats. It melts so easily, even at 76 degrees. It would be difficult to use in the hive mixed with anything any part of the year except fall/winter. It is VERY antifungal, anti bacterial AND anti viral. It doesn't hydrogenate even when heated, it is the only oil that doesn't. It is seen by the human body as a perfect and pure protien and provides a jump of energy 5 minutes after eating. It provides heat! Low thyroid people are warm at last! It is particulalry helpful with lung ailments (through ingestion) and not at all recognized as an oil or fat so it is never stored up in us (cholesterol) . But would a pure protien hurt the bees? The hydrogenated stuff doesn't kill them, maybe the coconut oil won't either. And it has major benefits for winter and fall treatment. Has anyone used coconut oil with their bees?
I hear that bumble bees are the natural enemy of the yellow jacket has anyone else heard this? I have made some make shift bumble bee hives out of cans and straws in hopes of drawing more of them onto the acreage this year. Would this in turn be making yet another problem with the honey bees?
I need to read about this new colony collaspe disease, and I hope I read something tthat will let me know clay will help with this. Thank you, thank you for posting this in pdf form for us to read.
I so hope I have placed this post where many will see it. There may be some hope for cures, including mites with the clay! So many types of clay to choose from, french green clay what the Russians used to pull radiation from the bodies of their animals (cattle) and people after the Cheronobyl melt down. Red terramin clay, what NASA uses to reverse and prevent osteoperosis, white bentonite, for dental troubles, pain, cancer, and et., et., et.....
thanks again for this file and the opportunity to ask and tell all of this info, it was a few years in the making!
bt