Mite

Nice sunny morning and the girls were out flying early. As the temperature rises, so do the fumes in the hive. One needs around 20°C for the vaporization to work effectively. Naturally, it is any way warmer in the hive.

I was a little surprised to see that one hive showed quite a few of the varroa mites, another one just a few and two seemed to be mite free. I am a little worried it may be due to a small "mistake" I made after putting the acid pads in the hives as the plastic sheet that then covers the bees was not on properly and perhaps the fumes were not as effective.

I will wait another 24 hours and see if the pads have dried out. Then feed the girls a bit and in a week, repeat the treatment when the "sealed" brood, which may contain varroa mites, have emerged.

The Blip shows a dead bee, simply one found on the ground. No idea why possibly age (they only live for 6 weeks in summer) or perhaps even it was the one that stung me yesterday! It's actually not that fresh and somewhat dehydrated but it was only in the photo to show the size of the varroa mite which had fallen victim to the acid. You can probably just see the two arms/legs/jaws protruding on the long side with which they attach themselves to the bees. The small yellow/orange dots are bits of pollen that have also fallen off.

Apart from harvesting honey one can also collect pollen, propolis and Royal jelly but one needs lots of hives and often special equipment such as a pollen trap which knocks off the sacks on the bees legs as they enter the hive. One can place plastic mesh sheets in the hive that encourage the bees to cover them in propolis which is their building glue using it to seal holes in the hive and stick things together. If a vole got in the hive, they would sting it to death but wouldn't be able to carry it out, so they seal it in propolis thus in effect mummifying it.

I personally don't bother with any of these things but do strongly believe in the use of propolis extract diluted in alcohol which I buy in small 10ml bottles. Propolis contains all sorts of substances (around 50) and is different from region to region. I find it excellent when one has the first sign of a sore throat, putting a few drops on a sugar lump and slowly letting it melt in the mouth. Also had excellent results with minor toothache. They say, old beekeepers when starting a day's inspections would scrape a bit of propolis from the hive and stick it between gum and cheek during the work and claim to never have tooth problems. It's also great for putting a drop on small scratches and grazes and a bottle should not fail in any young mothers handbag when on holiday to sooth the results of grazes from rocks on the beach and for those itchy bites and stings.

Of course, the wax, that one regularly has in the course of beekeeping, can be melted into blocks and either traded-in with your bee equipment supplier for new sheets of "foundation" (pre-stamped thin sheets of wax hung in the hives to give a head start) or sell/use to make candles.