Acceptable Mite Count

[TwT]

HERE i GO SHOOTING THE MOON, I recommend getting bee's that you dont have to do a mite count :) , I know it is hard to believe for most, but bee's are surviving today without using chemical treatments and without small cell, now both might help but you will always fight mites until you get bee's that survive, people use to think Tracheal mite's were bad then they found bee's resistant to them, the same is working for varroa mites but it is in the early stages, but not at the beginning, it is working out because some beekeepers like me refuse to treat and get feral hives that some have some age on them, plus buy a few bee's from beeks that haven't treated in years like PBA Brothers, these all are the bee's that you want...... well go a head and attack me, I dont care I just type what I think,,,,,,,,  :-P

[annette]

Here is a quote from Michael Bush

"The thing to do is measure the mite drop in 24 hours BEFORE you treat.  Then measure it WHILE you treat.   Then in a few days measure it AFTER you treated.  Then you have a better idea what kind of dent you put in the population.  15-20 natural drop in 24 hours is not bad."

Also when I had a very bad infestation in one of my hives I told Michael I would rather use chemicals and not have my hive die. He answered me that using the chemicals would contaminate the wax and eventually the hive will die anyway.
He recommended I continue doing the powdered sugar dusting once a week for about 1-2 months until the count gets better. I followed this advice and now my counts are down.

It is a hard decision and I know this natural way of doing things is not for everyone, especially if you have lots of hives. Believe me, it has been hard on me going in every week and smoking them and taking the hive apart to get all the supers and I have only 2 hives. I am also a hobby beekeeper and can do the natural way. It took me 5 weeks to get the mite population to acceptable levels.

But it is like a catch 22. It seems that if you use the chemicals, you lose the hive anyway. I am now trying to go small cell to put an end to this problem with the mites.

Read about the small cell regression on Michael's website.

You can use grease patties made from equal parts crisco shortening and granulated sugar to keep the tracheal mites at bay. This is not a big deal to do.

Hope I did not confuse you more

Annette in soon to be 100's again Placerville

[Michael Bush]

>so if apiguard is non-invasive than why do people use powdered sugar?

Thymol (apigaurd) still stinks and it's still very temperature dependant.  Powdered suger is not temerature dependant and will not make your honey taste like listerine.

[buzzbee]

Michael,
Correct me if I'm mistaken,but around here they treat when the supers are off the hive.May not be practical everywhere.

[Michael Bush]

>Correct me if I'm mistaken,but around here they treat when the supers are off the hive.May not be practical everywhere.

It's a good plan.  But bees move everything, including honey, around at will.  If you read any of the old books about cut downs, they often talk about the bees moving the honey out of the brood nest into the comb honey sections.

[buzzbee]

Apiguard in the fall,dowda spring and summer?