Disease/Mites

[JordanM]

If i do not do anything to my bees will they get a disease or mites.

[rdy-b]

yep they will get something no matter what you do but some say there are benefits to certain management practices that include small cell -and your bees will be able to deal with the problems of mites vectoring disease- 8-) RDY-B

[Understudy]

If i do not do anything to my bees will they get a disease or mites.

Every hive has a few mites in it or perhaps a few small hive beetles in it (depending on where you live). If you do nothing to your hives are they doomed? No. bees live in the wild without our intervention and do just fine.

When a hive becomes unhealthy is when it's an issue. The biggest problem for a hive is when the number in the hive drops to a point where they cannot maintain the hive. Then wax moth, Varroa, small hive beetle or other can get a foothold where the bees cannot recover from.

Fouldbrood and diseases can become part of a hive even if it is healthy but that is more an exception than the rule.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

>If i do not do anything to my bees will they get a disease or mites.

I didn't treat mine with anything from 1976 until 1999.  But those last few years I started losing them to Varroa.  After I want to small cell the Varroa got under control and after I got to feral survivors I had even less Varroa.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm

In my experience, if you do nothing at all and use large cell foundation your bees will usually die somewhere between one and two years from when you start.

[JP]

If I was starting from scratch I would use all small cell, but I didn't. Fatbeeman says you can fog hives with mix of wintergreen oil and foodgrade mineral oil for mites and this is organic. That's what I will be doing, been doing sugar shakes but fogging is easier when you get a bunch of hives going.

....JP

[Cindi]

Remember, a rule of thumb, if you see one mite, you can venture that there are 100 lurking in the cells, and they then produce females and males, each laying in a cell, the numbers can be staggaring.....if you don't look after them, yep, colony collapse in a couple of years....no ifs, ands, or buts, small cell is certainly good from all that I have been hearing and reading.  Bees emerge a little faster, hindering the mite propagation process, plus many other factors.  Have a beautiful and wonderful day, love our life. Cindi

I was shocked when I did sticky board monitoring last year, how many mites fell when I vapourized with oxalic acid fumes, hundreds of mite fell, when I only saw 10-15 per colony on the sticky boards.  I have posted mite counts in a previous thread.

[sean]

If I was starting from scratch I would use all small cell, but I didn't. Fatbeeman says you can fog hives with mix of wintergreen oil and foodgrade mineral oil for mites and this is organic. That's what I will be doing, been doing sugar shakes but fogging is easier when you get a bunch of hives going.

....JP

Correct me if i am wrong but did fatbeeman also say you could soak your smoker material with the wintergreen oil/mineral oil and smoke the bees? 

[JP]

He mentioned fogging and using different things like walnut shavings in the smoker for mites. He also mentioned you could mix wintergreen oil in water and apply it with a spray gun.

....JP

[sean]

any info on the methodology and concentration?

[JP]

any info on the methodology and concentration?

Sean, try black walnut shavings in your smoker for mites. That's probably the easiest route to take.

....JP

[sean]

we dont grow walnuts in jamaica.(not the right climate i suppose) I am googling allelopathic plants now to see what tropical plants i could probably use. 

[JP]

we dont grow walnuts in jamaica.(not the right climate i suppose) I am googling allelopathic plants now to see what tropical plants i could probably use. 

Woodworkers and cabinet makers might be ablt to hook you up Sean.

....JP

[sarafina]

>If i do not do anything to my bees will they get a disease or mites.

I didn't treat mine with anything from 1976 until 1999.  But those last few years I started losing them to Varroa.  After I want to small cell the Varroa got under control and after I got to feral survivors I had even less Varroa.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm

In my experience, if you do nothing at all and use large cell foundation your bees will usually die somewhere between one and two years from when you start.

I just took a weekend class in backyard beekeeping and the instructor has kept bees for about 10 years.  He said he does not use chemicals, but he does use a small hive beetle trap in the bottom and re-queens every year.  I assume he has large cell foundation since he talked about standard wax=coated plastic foundation.  While SHB traps and re-queening is not the same as "nothing", I thought his approach was interesting.

[Robo]

  He said he does not use chemicals, but he does use a small hive beetle trap in the bottom and re-queens every year. 

I'm not sure how a SHB trap and re-queening does anything to prevent varroa. 

[JP]

  He said he does not use chemicals, but he does use a small hive beetle trap in the bottom and re-queens every year. 

I'm not sure how a SHB trap and re-queening does anything to prevent varroa. 

I can see requeeining with a more hygienic queen helping but shb traps helping with varroa? Nope.

...JP