Originally discovered in Singapore in the 1950s, varroa destructor was first discovered in the United States in 1987. How it was introduced to the U.S. is unknown, but it’s suspected that it came over as a result of people buying bee colonies from other countries. The mite is like a small tick and the female burrows into the brood cells where the be larvae is and lays her eggs. So when the baby bees come out of the cell, they already have the mite attached to them.
Varroa mite (varroa destructor)
The bees can live with the mite attached, however as the mite feeds off of their haemolymph (circulatory fluid, a.k.a. blood) it can proliferate genetic conditions, such as bees being born with no wings or missing legs. This, in the long run, weakens the colony and eventually causes it to die off.
Baby bee emerging from cell with mite attached — see small brown dot on her back.
When I first discovered the mite I immediately called the person who sold them to me. He suggested I use Checkmite+, a product made by the Bayer Corp. The second he opened the package I knew I didn’t want to put that shit on my bees. It smelled like a mix of propane and petroleum. The miticide comes in strips and you hang them in the hive for 42 days. The bees walk over the strips and the mites die and fall off. The strips contain 0,0-Diethyl 0-(3-chloro-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-1-benzopyran-7-yl)phosphorothioate (coumaphos). Yikes! No deal.
That evening I started doing some research on organic, non-chemical treatments for varroa infestations. I found the work of James Amrine and Bob Noel of West Virginia University who are responsible for the creation of Honey-B-Healthy, an organic nutritive that helps bees stay healthy following a mite infestation (among other things). Jim and Bob had a recipe for grease patties made from essential oils and other natural ingredients (wintergreen oil, vegetable shortening, sugar, salt, etc.) that they put in the hives. The bees eat it and the mites react negatively to the wintergreen oil and can’t stick to the bees because they’re so oily so they fall off. Then I ordered a sticky bottom board that hold on to the mites when the fall to the bottom of the hive. Jim said he’s got a 90 percent kill rate using the HBH, the grease patties and paper strips soaked in formic acid, another non-chemical, organic solution. So that’s what I’m going to do.
I’ve already made the grease patties and put them in the hive. The bees were NOT happy at first and were hanging outside the hive. But within a 1/2 hour they were back to normal. Here are some photos. All I can do is use these products and pray!
The varroa mite on one of my bees — see bee at center with red dot in the middle of her back.
Making grease patties.
I put a “grease roll” near the hive entrance so the bees feed on it as the enter and exit the hive. The patties will site on top of the brood chamber where nurse bees will feed on it.
The bees were very annoyed today. We moved the hive into a more sunny spot for the winter, so they’ve been adjusting to their new location. They were very assertive while I was putting the patties in and our dog, Mocha, made the mistake of walking too near the hive — the result was a nice sting in the ear.
Checking to make sure the bees can enter and exit over the grease roll.
