Tell me about peppermint/wintergreen grease patty applications

[ccar2000]

I am interested in the use of peppermint/wintergreen grease patties and their use in Varroa control. Is anyone currently using this form of control? What about the timing of application, can it be used while honey supers are on or will it taint/flavor the honey?

[AllenF]

One question before you start is do you have small hive beetles?  If so, the grease patty is a all you can eat buffet for them and you will loose the hive.   That is why it is not used much anymore for tracheal mites. 

[ccar2000]

No, I do not have SHB in my area. I live in the high desert and it is too dry of a climate for them. I am wondering if anyone is successfully using the peppermint/wintergreen grease patties for Varroa control. I understand that they already do work well for tracheal mites but I do not believe I have a problem with tracheal mites.

[AllenF]

I don't know of anyone using it personally, but I know there are many different recipes out there.  Use them in the winter time with out your honey supers on ans there is no worry of tainted honey.  

[theblessedlife]

How do these work?  I heard a fellow in our bee club say something about putting "grease patties" on his hives last month.  I really was not sure what he was talking about.  I guess what I want to know is---what is the purpose?

[BjornBee]

Grease patties:

They were traditionally used for tracheal mites. CRISCO (not other types shortening) is very close to the smell of young bees just hatched. So the idea is to confuse the mites and have them not know which bees to seek out. They need the young bees and not the older bees to properly reproduce. So it really is not about resistance or eliminating t-mites, but leveling out the mites to all bees, thus lowering the reproduction as only a certain amount of mites will find suitable young bees.

Enter the use of essential oils. Through attempts of control varroa with essential oils in such things as FGMO fogging, and other procedures, it is just assumed that adding essential oils to about everything is a good thing. It is not. The true beneficial effect of essential oils is the introduction of a "smell" to enhance grooming. Bees have a hygienic behavior of cleaning out larvae infected with varroa, but there is also grooming and hygienic behavior that bees exhibit when they are coated with a foreign smell. So adding essential oils to grease patties has evolved towards this use with v-mites. (Bees by the way already can enhance "grooming" by the begging of other bees to groom mites off the bee asking for assistance.)

Note: T-mites has not been an issue for almost all bees for the past 5 years or so.

So does grease patties with essential oil have a positive effect on v-mites. Sure. Initially, it enhances grooming behavior and as the bees track the oil around, the bees groom oil residue from their bodies. That would happen regardless of whether you add essential oil or not. Early use of Crisco patties never used essential oils. And for the most part, patties were used almost all year round by many beekeepers. But getting bees to track around oils for enhanced grooming can be as easy as placing a stream of canola oil on the top bars with each inspection.

But what about today and with the addition of essential oils? Many feel that leaving patties on all year with oils, degrades the bees response to rid themselves of this foreign matter. The longer the patties are on, the more likely the smell just becomes part of the hive smell and the bees become accustomed to it. So it may make better sense to use them a few times per year on a short term, and enhance the bees hygienic and grooming behavior. Keep in mind that foreign smells can interfere with natural pheromones and communication within the hive. And I'm not all that convinced that it does not get in the honey, etc.

Hitting the hive with some essential oil has the same effect as smoking your hive. The bees rid themselves of a foreign smell by enhanced grooming and hygienic behavior.

Over the years, many also used grease patties to feed antibiotics into the hive. This is not suggested any longer as the antibiotics take to long to be used up. The use of antibiotics via long term use of grease patties was probably the number one reason for resistance.

For me, grease patties make no real sense. They are always confused with feeding since the term "patty" is used to describe a couple different things, they are used for too long of periods of time, cause problems with SHB, and are not really needed in the hive. If you have no t-mite problems, and you probably do not, then there is no good reason to place grease patties in the hive.