open feeding

[rober]

does open feeding spread mites? say if feral bees or another beekeeper's untreated bees are feeding would that contaminate my bees?

[Jen]

Well,... I want to say yes. So I imagined myself as a bee with a mite or two on me and I fly to an open syrup feeding station, or a frame set out with some honey on it, or a puddle of honey left behind from a extractor. All of us bees would be rubbing up against each other trying to get a share of the offerings. So yah a mite could transfer to another bee.

On the other hand, a single bee can only stay at the feeding place for a short while until they get their fill, then they head back to their hive. So I think the chances are not nearly as possible as mite transfer within the hive.

[The15thMember]

Well,... I want to say yes. So I imagined myself as a bee with a mite or two on me and I fly to an open syrup feeding station, or a frame set out with some honey on it, or a puddle of honey left behind from a extractor. All of us bees would be rubbing up against each other trying to get a share of the offerings. So yah a mite could transfer to another bee.

On the other hand, a single bee can only stay at the feeding place for a short while until they get their fill, then they head back to their hive. So I think the chances are not nearly as possible as mite transfer within the hive.

I think the same thing as @Jen.  Our state apiary inspector was actually talking about this on a podcast.  I can't remember what university was doing the research, but there was a study done that showed that the amount of mite increase in colonies during the fall couldn't only come from within the hive.  The research pointed to robbing and open feeding both as contributors to increasing mite loads. 

[rober]

alrighty then...i'll not do it. i suspected as much but wanted verification. thanks

funny thing. i was leaving my outyard & noticed a hive top feeder with an outer cover that my mentee had put out as a feeder last spring. the bees had ignored it & after being there since may the syrup was thicker than honey. i dumped it but kept a little to test. it read 11% on my refractometer

[Bakersdozen]

I'm late to the party, but I vote with the others.  It's a good way to spread varroa.  I don't like open feeding any time of the year, but it brings out the worst behavior in the fall.  One of the reasons beekeepers are cautioned about drifting is the spread of varroa so I can see that varroa would be easy to  spread in an open feeding type of situation.

[Jen]

I just shut down some robbing in one of my hives, caught it before it got real bad. I have my robbing screens on, but the robbers discovered the notched inner cover at the top of the hive. So there is a perfect example of mite transfer. Thankfully, an OA towel treatment had just been completed about 3 weeks ago. So if any mites got transferred during the robbing event, they will see their end with the winter treatment coming up in about a month.