Well I did the shake

Myron Rotruck · September 08, 2006, 11:56:20 PM

I did a sugar shake on one of my weaker hives first. I did not see a mite there. Then went to hive two which at one time was my strongest hive. I noticed deformed bees coming out of the box and falling to the ground. This is when I posted my deformed bees here and got some good information. So I looked in one afternoon and saw a mite or two, so I found out what I needed to do to get the sugar shake going and the results were astounding. I sugared this hive and in five minutes or so I lifted the hive off the bottom board and there were mites all over the bottom board so I dumped those mites on the ground. I put the hive back on and waited another hour and pulled the bottom board again and once again mites were on the board. What do I need to do with this hive now since I have such an infestation of these mites?

A WORD OF WARNING!!!!!!!!!!
Be careful with pocket knives. I was using mine to help release the bottom board from the hive and in doing so my knife slipped and I stabbed myself in the back of my hand clear to the bone. Needless to say I bled like a stuck hog.

Brian D. Bray · September 09, 2006, 04:51:38 AM

Stabbed yourself? Where was your hive tool?

With an infestation like you describe you now know why what was once your strongest hive no longer is. It is best to do several series of sugar shakes each year. At a minimum one in May and one post honey harvest.

The proper course of action would be to continue to do a sugar shake on each hive every ten days for the next month. A series of 3 shakes spaced 10 days apart is the recommended treatment. Going into wintering mode with such a large infestation means the hive is in peril from dying due to the mite population within it. I would do an extra shake (a 4th) to further reduce the number of mites. The bees will convert the powdered sugar to stores so you accomplish two things at once.

Myron Rotruck · September 09, 2006, 10:21:50 AM

I went to look at how the weakest hive was doing this morning after the sugar shake yesterday afternoon, and I see they had left the hive and swarmed up under the hive. It looks like they are going to refuse to stay in that powdered sugar, I did'nt put that much in their. I don't know if I catch them and put them back in the hive if they will stay or not. Has anyone else had this problem. Let me know what you think. Thanks

Myron Rotruck · September 09, 2006, 01:10:18 PM

I went into this weakest hive that I thought had left the hive and went underneath the hive because of the sugar shake. Well when I got into the hive I thought this looks funny it seems like I have about the same amount of bees that I did have. I took the smoker and run this swarm that was under my hive back up to the front, and they started going in, and it was'nt long before the fight started. I put the top back on the box and in about thirty minutes I went in to look at each frame, I found a ball of bees on one frame, I started smoking the ball very gently then I saw a queen that had no mark on her, one of the worker bees grabbed her and they both fell to the ground where I took my foot and killed them both. So I kept looking though the frames and found my marked queen, see was in good shape. So I put the hive back together, and most of the fighting as quit. If I keep what is in the hive now, I am going to have a decent hive. I can't belive a swarm this time of year, or even where they came from. I only have two hives here on the place. I looked into the other one (the one with all the mite in it) and it appeared that all that hive was still there. Has anyone else heard of swarms this late in the year.

Mici · September 09, 2006, 03:33:32 PM

i have. i have even heard that two queens overwintered in 1 (one, yes one) hive.
for this swarm im not very sure, i know that my menthor is warning me about queen cells, i'm not very sure but, if the old queen is laying poorly and is not doing well, the bees raise themselves a new queen, at this time of the year. probably that swarm was made this way, but usually i think the young queen kills the old one, I THINK

Brian D. Bray · September 09, 2006, 11:28:13 PM

On supercedure to worker bees will kill the old queen to insure the new queens survival. They will do this up to a week before the new queen hatches.
To queens have overwintered in the same hive--a mother daughter combination where the old queen wasn't killed from some reason, maybe the bees were afraid the new queen might be defective in some way.

Mici · September 14, 2006, 03:11:45 PM

Well i did a shake, actually i powdered them. i took out frame after frame, and made sure i sugared every single bee. yet, 3 days later, not 1 mite is visible. now, i know we have very few mites this year but still, i'm a bit concerned about it. what did i possibly do wrong?