Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the wings of young bees—queens, drones, and workers are all susceptible—lay eggs
and produce young. Inside the tracheal tube (about the thickness of a human hair) the
emerged mites pierce the tube and feed on the bee's blood, the hemolymph, that bleeds
through the wound.
If infestations become excessive (and if left untreated, they probably will) bees die
early, colony honey production suffers, and during the winter, most or all of the bees
will die. Perhaps, in the spring, you will notice bees crawling near the entrance, but per-
haps not.
Tracheal mites have been present in the United States for nearly thirty years, and
nearly all of the strains of bees susceptible to these mites in the United States are gone.
Queen producers did little to select for resistance during the first decade they were here
and bees died by the billions. At almost the same time varroa mites came to the United
States; the two combined have been disastrous.
Two chemical treatments surfaced during this time. Mitea-Thol, a menthol crystal
treatment, is placed on the top bars in the fall (when bees are most susceptible to infest-
ation). The fumes are lethal for the mites, and only irritating for the bees.
No matter where you live, an effective treatment called a grease patty is made as fol-
lows:
• Obtain a can of solid vegetable shortening—3 pounds (1.5 kg) is common.
• Get a pan large enough to easily hold twice this amount of shortening.
• Put the shortening in the pan, and slowly warm it on your stove.
• When the shortening reaches the translucent stage, and is not quite liquid, begin
adding 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of regular sugar. (The formula is 3:1, sugar to shorten-
ing.)
• When all the sugar is added, add an additional ½ pound (0.2 kg) of honey (from
your bees or from a safe source). Stir in.
Tracheal mites live inside a honey bee's trachea. A trachea, or breathing tube, is roughly
the diameter of a human hair.
• Turn off the heat, and add 1 ounce (28 g) of food-grade peppermint flavoring. Stir
and mix well.
• Let cool.
