March 2002

Brenda’s Buzz Line

Hello from Gabriola! Due to time restrictions of the editor, this newsletter is late and short.

Spring is here, but so is the snow. Be sure to check your bees are not starving. Brooding has or will start very shortly.

At the last meeting, integrated pest management was discussed. The best approach to prevent loss from disease and pests is to ensure your bees have the nutrients required for good health and using systems that minimize the build up of pests.

Bees need pollen or a pollen substitute (protein) and sugar (carbohydrate) to start brooding. In early spring supplementation of protein and carbohydrate will stimulate nesting and get the populations growing quicker. If it stays cold the bees just will not build up as fast, regardless of the amount of supplements. However, ensuring your bees are not stressed by a lack of resources, will reduce their susceptibility to getting sick. If your bees have no stores left, it’s time to consider helping them out a bit.

Systems that help to reduce mite problems include: breeding for hygienic behaviour (when bees are able to detect problems within a capped cell and remove the larva prior to full development); breeding for grooming behavior; use of a modified bottom board; feeding of grease patties; destruction of drone brood; use of essential oils as a feeding stimulant (be wary of poisoning potential); and dusting with powdered sugar to knock of mites. Conrad’s web page at the Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection (http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/vir/pp/ipmweb/ipmpages/beepest.HTM) discusses many of these systems. As well, Conrad’s personal web page has many links to other bee sites (http://nanaimo.ark.com/~cberube/varipm.htm).

Club Fees Due!

Club fees are due at the next meeting. They are $50 this year. This includes $5 for our club, $25 dollars for liability insurance up to $2,000,000 and $20 for the BCHPA, which pays for your BeeScene and the Agri Digest.

Club Insurance is cheap!

After some discussion at the last meeting of the merits of buying insurance through the club or to purchase privately, I planned to call around and get quotes from a few insurance companies. Well, I didn’t get around to doing more than one call to my own insurer.

My agent said I was not covered through my home policy and asked what I was paying through the club. She didn’t even look into a cost because she knew she could not even come close to our fee. She suggested that their policies would run into a few hundred dollars.

Erik also inquired into private coverage and his agent quoted an increase of $65 over what he now pays. If you already have farm insurance, you may wish to check with your agent, but it seems our club insurance is a good value in the industry. As my agent said, “Individuals buying into Master Policies through clubs will get a much better price.”

Next Meeting

Forth Wednesday, March 27, 2002 at 7:30 p.m., at Fairview Community School. Located at Second street and Howard Avenue.

Room is located off second street parking lot. Two doors down from the Gym.

Testing for Varroa

Testing for varroa before treatment will help beekeepers to treat only when infestations reach critical levels. This is important in preventing the over use of chemical treatments and preserving their effectiveness for when they are truly needed.

When the use of any “one” method of treatment is used continually year after year, the mites will build up resistance. As beekeepers, we must allow the mites to cross breed and have several generations (if possible) before using the same chemical treatment used previously.

For example, when Apistan is used each spring and fall, the resistant mites will breed with other resistant mites and create more resistant offspring. By allowing the mites to breed without treatment, their gene pool will be more diverse and the mites that survived the last attack will mix their genes with mites that are not resistant, thereby having a better chance that the genes passed on are the non-resistant genes.

That is why it is essential to test before treating! The theory is, if you can use other methods to prevent the build up of mite populations, then you may not need to treat every hive every year.

There are three methods for testing the level of mites in your hive. Using all three will confirm the level of infestation. In order, they are sticky board, sugar roll and drone comb sampling/trapping.

Sticky boards are used for a 24 hour period (without treatments) to measure the natural mite fall. A sticky board can be purchased or you can use stiff cardboard coated with vegetable oil, covered by a #8 mesh to prevent the bees from walking on the board or cleaning it off.

The number to use for a threshold (point for which treatment is critical) is not absolute due to regional differences in climate etc., however a conservative threshold of 3000 mites in your hive would give you about 50 mites dropping a day. If you wish to be less conservative you may allow 4000 mites in your hive with 100 dropping per day. If your hive seems to be close to these thresholds, use the second testing method to double check levels.

Sugar Roll better than Ether

Resent research has shown that the icing sugar roll method is more effective for counting mites on bees than the ether roll method AND the bees can fly away after. Less than half the mites fall off the bees in the ether roll method and about half the mites fall off during the sugar roll method.

Place a tablespoon of icing sugar and a ¼ cup of bees (150-300 young bees from a frame in the centre of a colony’s brood nest) into a wide mouth-1 litre jar. Roll and cover the bees with the sugar. Generally if there are 15 or more mites per 100 bees, mite control should be employed, but this threshold has not been experimentally verified.

Drone Brood Testing

Drone brood is the preferred breeding ground for varroa. Breaking open the drone brood will confirm if mites are present, but not necessarily in what numbers. However, continuous destruction of drone brood will significantly retard the build up of varroa.

Theo’s Field days

You are invited to join Theo Fredrich every second Saturday of the month for a field day at his place. Theo will be working his (and the club) hives and encourages interested members to come. Meeting time is 10:00 am at 2798 Cedar Road. To confirm, Theo’s number is 245-4214.

Bee Swap

For Sale 2 box hives - $195 each, 1 box hives $125 each. Available end of April. Phone John Appledorn at 724-6639 or 724-5390

Grease Patties

Grease patties have been shown to be an effective treatment for tracheal mites. Some research has also shown effects on varroa mite levels. The essential oil is optional and can not legally be used as a treatment for varroa mites (although there is research to show it helps), however the oils can be used a flavouring to get the bees to eat the grease.

Here is a recipe from the West Virginia University web site www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa:

grease patty - 4 cups of sugar (=873.2 grams) plus 2 cups of Crisco (=434 grams) = 1308 grams total, 1308/453.6 = 2.88 lbs. Add ¼ oz. Or 8 cc wintergreen per pound = 2.88 x 8 = 23.06 cc of wintergreen oil, = almost 5 teaspoons or 4 ¾ tsps of wintergreen oil. (can substitute tea tree or patchouli oil) Wear gloves, as the wintergreen can be toxic through the skin. Make 2 oz. patties (two per hive – one over each brood box) and this will treat 5.8 hives.