Hi, I have a high mite count on one of my hives and am going to try sugar dusting them tomorrow. Is it ok just to sprinkle the sugar dust across the the frame top bars (brushing it in between the frames) or would you advise removing each frame in turn and dusting the bees directly on the frame?
many thanks
First, only dust the brood chamber, so remove your honey supers first.
2nd, no need to remove each frame. Just dust above the frames and then brush any remaining p.sugar off the top bars off into the hive. For best results, do this at least 3 times and about 7-10 day intervals.
You may get varying methods, but this is the jist of it.
Best of luck,
Derrick
Thanks for the info.
Sugar dusted the bees today as per above. Before the dusting the daily mite drop was about 30. A few hours after the dusting there was a drop of about 300, is this pretty much what I should expect?
I've never done a count before or after dusting. But you should have a higher mite count after dusting as this is the reasoning behind it. Dusting them initiatives grooming/cleaning, thus resulting in dislodging/dropping mites.
I would do this 2 more times (7-10) days apart for the best effect.
Wow, sounds like they did a very good job of cleaning themselves. After the period of dusting, you can do another mite count and see how they are doing.
The ollowing day the mite drop was down to 11, I will repeat the dusting in a week or so.