Beekeeping > Pests and Diseases

Grease patties for tracheal mite

<< < (2/2)

iddee:
It seems as times have changed. I was taught in the late eighties to add menthol to the patties to kill the mites in the bees. maybe later evidence discounted that. I guess I just didn't keep up.

Perry:
I believe it would accomplish the same thing Iddee. The bees breathe the menthol vapour and the mites in the bees trachea die.
At least I would think it would do the same thing in a patty?

Jen:
Did formic acid in October, hoping that will work for the trach.

Is there a way to tell if your bees have trach mites?

Perry:
Get yourself a microscope, or send in a sample to a lab.
Forgive the title on the link. It does have a good description though.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-detect-tracheal-mites-in-your-beehive.html

Crofter:
Killing the mites in the bees is maybe not the best approach; those bees will be dead in a number of weeks anyways. Preventing the infestation of new bees stops the process as the mites perish quickly if they cant get into a young bee.  Most bees seem to have developed resistance to tracheal mites and most treatments for varroa mites hammers them too. There are some recent reports though of infestations sneaking back and not being recognized.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page