Taking photographs during hive inspections has been helpful for me to study frames later and see warning signs that I missed during a hive inspection. It's hard to spot the occasional honey bee with a handicap when I'm looking at an entire frame full of bees moving quickly in all directions. Also, I try to keep my hive inspections as short as possible, for the honey bees' sake.
Luckily, when I was reviewing pictures of the queen bee from two weeks ago, I was able to spot a couple bees with "K-wings," which is when the individual wings in each wing-set become disjointed and extend at odd angles, looking like a "K."
K-wings can be a sign two things: nosema (which is essentially bee dysentery) or tracheal mites. Bees suffering from nosema usually have splattered bee poo on the front of and inside the hive, which usually occurs in winter or with weaker colonies.
Tracheal mites are very common microscopic pests that can only be detected by eye through observing symptoms. They live in and clog the bee's trachea, preventing our sweet honey bees from being able to breath, and are transmitted between honey bees in close quarters. Symptoms other than K-wings include:
Bottom line: my honey bees have tracheal mites.
The good news is that there are easy solutions to helping honey bees fight off tracheal mites! Some treatments can only be done when honey intended for human consumption is removed from the hive (e.g., adding menthol crystals) and others can be done with honey left on the hive (e.g., organic treatments [acids] or grease patties).
I opted with feeding the girls grease patties to inhibit tracheal mite movement between infected bees and non-infected bees. Grease patties are fine to have on the hive during honey flows, as long as they only contain vegetable shortening and sugar (salt optional). If it were winter or a flow-dearth with no honey supers on the hive, wintergreen essential oils can also be used in the patties to improve bee health and repel varroa and tracheal mites. The grease patties I used contain Crisco, raw honey from my bees, and salt. I flattened my patty out pretty flat in between parchment paper to make sure that I don't squish bees during installation.
Luckily, when I was reviewing pictures of the queen bee from two weeks ago, I was able to spot a couple bees with "K-wings," which is when the individual wings in each wing-set become disjointed and extend at odd angles, looking like a "K."
K-wings can be a sign two things: nosema (which is essentially bee dysentery) or tracheal mites. Bees suffering from nosema usually have splattered bee poo on the front of and inside the hive, which usually occurs in winter or with weaker colonies.
Tracheal mites are very common microscopic pests that can only be detected by eye through observing symptoms. They live in and clog the bee's trachea, preventing our sweet honey bees from being able to breath, and are transmitted between honey bees in close quarters. Symptoms other than K-wings include:
- weak bees walking around on the ground in front of the hive,
- bees who try to but are unable to sustain flight, and
- colonies absconding (abandoning) perfectly suitable hives.
Bottom line: my honey bees have tracheal mites.
The good news is that there are easy solutions to helping honey bees fight off tracheal mites! Some treatments can only be done when honey intended for human consumption is removed from the hive (e.g., adding menthol crystals) and others can be done with honey left on the hive (e.g., organic treatments [acids] or grease patties).
I opted with feeding the girls grease patties to inhibit tracheal mite movement between infected bees and non-infected bees. Grease patties are fine to have on the hive during honey flows, as long as they only contain vegetable shortening and sugar (salt optional). If it were winter or a flow-dearth with no honey supers on the hive, wintergreen essential oils can also be used in the patties to improve bee health and repel varroa and tracheal mites. The grease patties I used contain Crisco, raw honey from my bees, and salt. I flattened my patty out pretty flat in between parchment paper to make sure that I don't squish bees during installation.
I put this thin grease patty on the top-most brood box and shimmied it back and forth a little before laying it down so that I didn't smother anyone. After removing all the extra parchment paper from the sides, the honey bees immediately took to the patty.
They are such adorable, good honey bees.
In other news, I still haven't caught a swarm via my hive trap or through actually catching a clustered swarm. I'm hoping that I get one soon!! I'm told that locally adapted honey bees have a much higher survival rate than packaged bees (approximately 30% vs. 50%). It would also be nice to have two colonies to compare. There are some great videos out there of what it's like to catch a swarm and I idealize it to be a pretty incredible experience!
In other news, I still haven't caught a swarm via my hive trap or through actually catching a clustered swarm. I'm hoping that I get one soon!! I'm told that locally adapted honey bees have a much higher survival rate than packaged bees (approximately 30% vs. 50%). It would also be nice to have two colonies to compare. There are some great videos out there of what it's like to catch a swarm and I idealize it to be a pretty incredible experience!